Alain De Botton's View Of The Humorists

The statement on de Botton’s view of the humorist can be considered both correct and incorrect. The humorist does indeed have a position as the voice of the people, but they also have a role as an entertainer. Alain de Botton’s wrote in his book Status Anxiety, “the role of the humorist and the satirical material they provide is essential to the functioning of society today” (Botton, Status Anxiety). Botton’s opinion of the humorists in today’s society is that they are the voice of the people, being allowed to say things that most people can’t or won’t say about their own lives. To do this, these humorists use many techniques, one of the more famous ones being the ever changing technique of satire. According to a quote from Northrop Fry’s …show more content…
Due to these requirements, the use of satire can be traced back decades all the way to the Middle Ages. In fact one of the earliest users of satire is the famed Geoffrey Chaucer in his most famous work The Canterbury Tales. Through this work, Chaucer shares with the reader his views on the changes in Medieval Times by using satire to insult and make fun of his observations. One such example of this can be found in the Pardoner’s Tale where Chaucer uses the character and satire to criticize the Church by having the Pardoner admit readily to cheating beggars out of their money. This story satirizes the work that the clergy did at that time, having the Pardoner selling forgiveness to the highest bidder instead of requiring repentance. People still share views like this about the Catholic Church, and even more humorists still use many forms, topics, and controversies about the Catholic Church as well as various forms of satire to express these views; though they have evolved them from what they were in Chaucer’s time to fit the modern age. One such topic pertaining to …show more content…
This controversy has been a huge issue for a while now. Some parishes of the catholic community have embraced modern times and are allowing same sex couples into the Catholic Church. But there are many who do not believe that something like this is holy and have gone to the point of attempting to excommunicate said couples and their families from the Catholic Church. Due to this use of satire, the humorist does in fact play a part in being a voice of the people; being allowed to express the thoughts the people either can’t or won’t express (Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales). But this is not the only role that is played by the humorist. In Chaucer’s time, the humorist may have only played the voice of the people; using satire to convey the general populations thoughts on specific matters. Today though, the humorist also plays the role of the entertainer to the people. A statement from a paper entitled The Power of Ridicule an Analysis of Satire says that “Satire is a powerful art form which has the ability to point out the deficiencies in certain human behaviors and the social issues which result from them in such a way that they become absurd,