The Soul of Man Under Socialism

Oscar Wilde is well-known for his use of satire—humor that critiques some aspect of society. Although the argument Wilde makes in this essay is itself serious, he often uses satire to draw attention to capitalist society’s failings and to undermine potential counterarguments. For example, in his discussion of the “duties” property entails, Wilde remarks that “they said [property has duties] so often and so tediously that, at last, the Church has begun to say it” (8). Wilde levels his most direct critique here at the Church—the implication being that something must be “tedious” to appeal to it.

Satire is particularly vital to Wilde’s account of The Danger of Authority, in which he often mocks various authorities to critique their influence, especially over the arts. At one point, he writes that journalists “always apologise to one in private for what they have written against one in public” (52). This is an exaggeration, but it undercuts the press’s status by accusing it of hypocrisy. Ultimately, Wilde paints those he criticizes as not merely wrong but laughable, which affords him a rhetorical advantage. In his telling, his opponents are not worthy adversaries but simply people whose ignorance, cowardice, or self-delusion prevents them from seeing the inevitable force of his own arguments—or, as he says, to see that “[t]o ask whether

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