TASK
Satire
A very popular form of writing in the Enlightenment was satire. A satire makes fun of something, generally with the aim of making improvement; however, some satire is designed just to make fun.
One form of satire is to follow something to its seemingly logical conclusion. A good example of this type of satire is Benjamin Franklin’s “Edict by the King of Prussia.” In this work, Franklin takes England’s argument against the colonies’ revolt – that the colonies were settled by Englishmen and therefore will always be English and belong to England – and says that by this logic, England should belong to Germany, because in the late 400s, England was invaded and colonized by the Angle and Saxon tribes from Germany.
Franklin’s “The Speech of Polly Baker” and “On the Slave Trade” are both satires. Be careful reading the second work; some folks mistake the work as being Franklin’s view about slavery. In fact, Franklin was opposed to slavery and his defense of slavery in the essay is a satirical defense.
How is “The Speech of Polly Baker” a satire?) What is satirized in the speech and how does Franklin satirize it? Remember to include specific quotes in your response.
