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U N IV E R S IT Y O F O R E G O N M O N T H L Y
against the superstitious religion, indeed, against every form of
tyranny. Voltaire felt deeply on all subjects --connected with man
and he could not sit idle and allow the abuses óf man s right to go
on. His pen -was . his- only,means of attack and hé used that to
best advantage. ? th e follies and vices of every station in life be
came subjects for HÌS wit to play upon. ;ÀU through his writings
are scattered bit's‘ -of1 incisive irotty. Iti the tale called' Zadig he
mocks thè inconsistency of the actions of men and,the fickleness of
human nature; he laughs at the’
doctor, Hemes, who “wrote
a book to prove that Zadig’s eye ought not to have' been cured;
and speaks, perhaps with sarcasm, concerning ' “a learned matt,,
who had composed thirteen volumes on the properties cd the Grif
fin.” His writing is full of- vivacity - and life because he himself
Avas so:thoroughly alive; and through | | all is his very evident
love of humanity. | Such work could not fail to have its effect
and so we find beginning with the promise of a better era: Per-
f haps he may be said,to have had more to do with the overthrowal
of the' Ancient Regime than had any Other influence. This ridicule
of Voltaire’s was' what is often called dry humor) effected merely
by recounting the exact conditions which he wishes to Satirize m
Sti'cfi\ a manner that their utter foolishness fa evident,' Thus he
assails the weaknesses of his own time through little romances,
in themselves- apparently quite-fictitious and perhaps laid far away
from Frànce/ • >-
!
, . . •
r . .
Dickens’ method Of ridicule is very different, he brings to light
the existing evils in England not by' stray bits of pointed lronyl-as
Voltaire did, but by caricaturing his people, exaggerating them to
show the absurd, ¿nd carrying ’these ‘caricatures through whole
books' as a kind'-of > hidden, underlying method of onset
Little
D'órtit” is an example of this’in its disclosure of the cruelty of the
hebtOiW’*' pfisoh. Along With a certain pleasure in the aptness of
his ridicule people began to realize wrong as they would never
have -done had he spetti his time in long harangues or written
'argumetits. They felt the folly of it, were "iti some way impressed
b y the*tfUi5h' Of his View, and, underneath his charming manner
^irtd' que'ef ’ chhtàctéfs, readers,saw the evils around them in new
iighf Wheti Once men are awakened' to an interest in ai airs
•¿M e'idion- is sure to result and so in this case Dickens ridicule
-dr»5^-h»?tto''d*ev hW»«vW,' has had the’ weapon of ridicule mere
than had Addison: H is was a genial, kindly