Discuss Hudibras
as an example of Restoration Satire.
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
in
Logic a great critic,
Profoundly skill ‘d in Analytic;
He could distinguish, and divide
A hair ‘twixt south and south-west side;
On either which he would dispute,
Confute, change hands, and still confute.
Profoundly skill ‘d in Analytic;
He could distinguish, and divide
A hair ‘twixt south and south-west side;
On either which he would dispute,
Confute, change hands, and still confute.
Of course, Hudibras’
logic-chopping is satirical of the puritanic casuistry.
