comment on the prose satire of the age of the 18th century

18th century prose satire in Britain was all about exposing hypocrisy in politics, society, and religion using irony and wit. Writers like Swift and Pope used sharp, often exaggerated storytelling to criticize corruption and human flaws in a very direct but clever way, making readers think while also entertaining them.

During the Victorian period, that tradition shifted a bit. Satire was still there, but it became more restrained and moralistic. Authors like Dickens used it to highlight social inequality and industrial problems, but usually with a clearer emotional or reformist aim rather than the harsher, more biting tone of earlier 18th century satire.