Bipolar satiric patterns in Zakani’s “The Mouse and the Cat” and John Dryden’s “The Hind and the Panther”

Abstract

Satirists have used animal characters to discuss their socio-political problems. In fact, they illustrate immorality, cruelty, and follies in the mirror of satiric allegories, thereby remedying shortcomings in their fables. In this regard, ʿUbayd-I Zakani, in “The Mouse and the Cat” and John Dryden, in “The Hind and the Panther”, employed the satirical techniques of animalization and reduction. Indeed, Zakani used talking animals to demonstrate the social and political contrast between oppressors and the oppressed, thereby providing people with moral instruction during the post-Mongol period of Iran. Similarly, Dryden also used animal characters to show the contrast between true and false religious sects. He defended the true Catholic sect and satirized the false sects, thereby preserving order within the post-Civil War period of England. Thus, this study shows how Zākānī and Dryden, in the selected fables, used similar bipolar satiric patterns to attack human foibles and socio-political corruption in their societies.