Question: Write a note on Addison’s humour and irony.

Or, Bring out Addison’s satirical quality with reference to the essays prescribed for you.

Or, Illustrate Addison’s gifts of humour and irony from the essays you have studied.

Answer: To find out the irony and humour from “The Coverley Papers”, we must know what irony and humour are. In the broadest sense, the irony is a figure in which the very opposite of the word is stated is intended. In this figure what is intended is the very opposite of the literal meaning of the words used to hurt someone or something. Here we say one thing when we mean another. On the other hand, humour is the quality to laugh and recognize that something is funny. In other words, humour is the quality of being funny or things that are funny. Now we will illustrate Addison’s gifts of humour and irony from the essays.

Addison is one of the great humorists in English literature. His humour is “of a rare order”. It is “delicately ironical, gentlemanly, tolerant and urbane”. When he is humorous; Addison is always at his best. Humour in his hands became “a subtler and more exquisite thing”. In “The Aim of the Spectator”, Addison’s gifts of humour and irony are clearly seen. He ridicules a class of people whom he calls “the banks of society”. He says these people are altogether unfurnished with ideas, and so they try to “gather” ideas in the course of “the business and conversation of the day”. Though he claims himself as the spectator of society, he exposes himself as a critic. He criticizes what he saw and observed in society. As a subtle reformer and observer, he noticed all the common aspects of the common masses. He longed to remove the follies and foible from the core of society. Addison longs to “reprehend the vices which are too trivial for the chastisement of the law and too fantastical for the cognizance of humanity.” Accordingly, he employed humour and wit for conveying his disapproval and his censure or prevailing absurdities in English social life and manners. Actually, his main aim was to “banish the vices and ignorance from the territory of Great Britain.”

There is also in this essay a passage about women, written in a mood of delicate and playful satire. In a genial manner, the author rails against the fair sex for whom “the toilet is their great scene of business and the right adjusting of their hair the principal employment of their lives”. Continuing in a satirical vein, Addison amuses us by saying that, if these women visit a mercer’s or a toy- shop, so great fatigue makes them unfit for anything else for the rest of the day. Addison also makes fun of those gentlemen who live in the world as only spectators “without having anything to do”. These spectators have no other business with the rest of mankind, but to look upon them. Finally, Addison takes a fling at those men of a little smart genius, who might seek opportunities of finding fault with him and of raising a laugh at his cost.

It is possible to consider Addison’s humorous essays in three distinct groups – those which pertain to the theatre of the opera; those will deal with manners and behaviour; and the Sir Roger de Coverley essays. In all these cases satire predominates, with a super-abundant use of comic irony.

Addison’s essays are full of irony and humour. Professor Courthope quotes the whole of the first-named essay as perhaps the most admirable specimen of Addison’s manner of ridiculing some fashion of taste by a perfectly grave and simple description of its object. We are greatly amused by the author’s reference to the ‘hero’ and the ‘lion’ smoking a pipe together behind the scenes and his comparison of this friendliness with that of two lawyers outside the court-rooms.

Sir Will Wimble is a character portrayed by Addison. He is a young man from a rich family. He does not do any important work. He hunts the fox and here. He also catches fish to present his favourite people. By presenting his fish he joins them in the hour of dinner. Thus he is very fond of showing his expertness. Will Wimble hates trade and commerce. He is very idle. Here Addison criticizes that we should not hate trade and commerce and should not pass our days carelessly. If we expand our business, we will become rich very soon. Thus England will develop in trade and commerce. Addison has depicted another character namely Will Honeycomb who is also an idle and fashionable man. He has characterized Sir Andrew Freeport who is an expert in trade and commerce and becomes a rich man. In this way, Addison has upheld the social picture of his contemporary life and manners.

We also find an ironic and humorous scene when he says that the women of that time were very eloquent and flirtatious. They were always busy in their toilet. They were fashionable and tried to attract others. They wore a skirt and a particular type of garment and for this reason, they resembled a go-cart or perambulator. Spreading rumour and meddling were their habit. They were accustomed to tell upon nothing. They were habituated to pretending to make love with one man but to marry other. In a word, the women of England were morally degraded because they did not hesitate to go to the theatre with their boyfriends. In this way, Addison has shown that the people of England used to go to the theatre hall. Thus he has represented the social and moral portrait of his contemporary society.

The Roger de Coverley essays abound in humour too. Sir Roger de Coverley is a lovable character. His character has a comic side. He has created a wonderful character in his essays. It is Sir Roger de Coverley’s character that he is a country squire. He is an eccentric person but benevolent to the common people. He is an expert in hunting and a religious man. He goes to church on Sunday. He is kind to his servants and attendants but fashionable. At church, he often slept and at the end of their prayer, he tried to talk with the judges. Here we find the ironic scene of Sir Roger de Coverley.

Addison also shows that there were a lot of vices and corruption in English society. These were gambling, drinking, cruelty dwelling, prevention, feud and moral degradation. His contemporary people were superstitious. They believed in ghosts, apparitions and Moll white. Thus Addison has thrown light on every sphere of life. Here we find irony and humour.

To sum up, we may say that the essence of Addison’s humour is irony. Indeed, irony forms a large constituent of Addison’s humour. His irony is not grim, but truly amusing. This amusing quality of his irony serves to soften the edge of his attack. There is no blasphemy in Addison’s humour anywhere, no violation of truth, no coarseness, and no vulgarity. There is no horseplay in his writings, no crudeness, nothing boisterous or farcical. His humour is dignified and refined, not cheap or low.