Elements of Criticism: In Two Volumes

Chapter 12. Ridicule

253 u chapter xii u Ridicule To define ridicule, has puzzled and vexed every critic. The definition given by Aristotle is obscure and imperfect.* Cicero handles it at great length;† but without giving any satisfaction: he wanders in the dark, and misses the distinction between risible and ridiculous. Quintilian is sensible of the distinction ,‡ but has not attempted to explain it. Luckily this subject lies no longer in obscurity: a risible object produceth an emotion of laughter merely:§ a ridiculous object is improper as well as risible; and produceth a mixt emotion, which is vented by a laugh of derision or scorn.㛳 Having therefore happily unravelled the knotty part, I proceed to other particulars. Burlesque, tho’ a great engine of ridicule, is not confined to thatsubject; for it is clearly dis-tinguishable into burlesque that excites laughter merely, and burlesque that provokes derision or ridicule. A grave subject in which there is no impropriety, may be brought down by a certaincolouring so as to be risible; which is the case of Virgil Travestie;¶ and also the case * Poet. cap. 5. [Poetics 1.iv.] † L. 2. De oratore. [De Oratore II.54–71, 83.] ‡ Ideoque anceps ejus rei ratio est, quod a derisu non procul abest risus. Lib. 6. cap. 3. § 1. [VI.3.7: “Consequently, the cause of laughter is uncertain, since laughter is never far removed from derision” (referring to De Oratore II.58.236).]§ See chap. 7. 㛳 See chap. 10.¶ Scarron. [Paul Scarron (1610–60), La Vergile travesty en vers burlesque (1648–53): French poet and dramatist, first husband of Mme de Maintenon (who married Louis XIV in 1685). His burlesque poems and other works were frequently translated into English from the 1690s.] 254 chapter xii of the Secchia Rapita:* the authors laugh first, inordertomaketheirreaders laugh. The Lutrin is a burlesque poem of the other sort, laying hold of a low and trifling incident, to expose the luxury, indolence, and contentious spirit of a set of monks. Boileau the author gives a ridiculous air to the subject, by dressing it in the heroic style, and affecting to consider it as of the utmostdignityandimportance.Inacompositionof thiskind,noimage professedly ludicrous ought to find quarter, because such images destroy the contrast; and accordingly the author shows always the grave face, and never once betrays a smile. Though the burlesque that aims at ridicule, produces its effect by elevating the style far above the subject, yet it has limits beyond which the elevation ought not to be carried: the poet, consulting the imagination of his readers, ought to confine himself to such images as are lively,andreadily apprehended: a strainedelevation,soaringaboveanordinaryreachof fancy, makes not a pleasant impression: the reader, fatigued with being al- waysuponthestretch,issoondisgusted;andif hepersevere,becomes thoughtless and indifferent. Further, a fiction gives no pleasure unless it be painted in colours so lively as to produce some perception of reality; which never can be done effectually where the images are formed with labour or difficulty. For these reasons, I cannot avoid condemning the Batrachomuomachia , said to be the composition of Homer: it is beyond the power of imagination to form a clear and lively image of frogs and mice, acting with the dignity of the highest of our species; nor can we form a conception of the reality of such an action, in any manner so distinct as to interest our affections even in the slightest degree. The Rape of the Lock1 is of a character clearly distinguishable fromthose now mentioned: it is not properly a burlesque performance, but what may rather be termed an heroi-comical poem: it treats a gay and familiar subject with pleasantry, and with a moderate degree of dignity: the author putsnot on a mask like Boileau, nor processes to make us laugh like Tassoni. The Rape of the Lock is a genteel species of writing, less strained than those mentioned: and is pleasant or ludicrous without havingridiculeforitschief * Tassoni. [Alessandro Tassoni (1565–1635), La Secchia rapita, 1624.] 1. Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, 1712. ridicule 255 aim; giving way however to ridicule where it arises naturally from a particular character, such as that of Sir Plume. Addison’s Spectator upon the exercise of the fan* is extremely gay and ludicrous, resembling in its subject the Rape of the Lock. Humour belongs to the present chapter, because it is connected with ridicule. Congrevedefineshumour2 tobe“asingularandunavoidablemanner of doing or saying any thing, peculiar...