Discuss Hudibras as an example of Restoration Satire. / Examine Samuel Butler’s use of satire in Hudibras.

Discuss Hudibras as an example of Restoration Satire.

Examine Samuel Butler’s use of satire in Hudibras.

Published shortly after the Restoration of Charles II, Samuel Butler’s Hudibras was a powerful but “low” satire on the Puritans who had been subdued with the restoration of Charles II to the throne of England in 1660. Butler was not a courtier, nor was he a member of the nobility, and the story goes that he died in poverty. Nevertheless, in his attack on the Puritans he outdid many a courtier. Hudibras enjoyed excessive popularity with the courtiers and the king himself who used to keep a copy of it always in his pocket. The poem is formless, crabbed in versification and gross at numerous places, but none can deny the force of punches Butler levelled against the Puritans.

In its form Hudibras is a burlesque of high romance representing puissant knights out to defend virtue. That way it resembles Cervantes’ Don Quixote which is also a burlesque of the same kind. But it has also elements reminiscent of the French poet Scarron who burlesqued the epic of Virgil.

The name “Hudibras” is taken from Spenser’s Faerie Queene. Butler’s Hudibras is a Presbyterian who is hypocritical, covetous, cowardly, and full of pedantic learning. Ralpho, an Independent, is his squire. The hero rides a rickety horse and is equipped with rusty arms. In the company of his squire, he comes out in search of some righteous adventure. However, his squire and he go all the time quarrelling about minute points of religious doctrine, and their quarrels consume a sizable proportion of the poem. Hudib.ras is described to be...................................................................

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