Satire in Romantic Melodrama: Douglas Jerrold

Gary Dyer contends that satire was not any less prevalent during the Romantic period than it was in the 18th century. He highlights satirical poems from that era but fails to deal with satirical plays. Dyer opts for the term "satirical" to broaden the scope of satire. This paper aims to demonstrate the existence of satirical plays in the Romantic period by examining three melodramas: Black-eyed Susan, The Mutiny at the Nore, and The Rent Day by Douglas Jerrold. As a close friend of Charles Dickens, Jerrold collaborates with him to critique societal ills using satire. In Black-eyed Susan, he satirizes the absurdity of the judiciary by portraying the admiral sentencing William, innocent of a felony, to death. The Mutiny at the Nore satirizes governmental injustice towards sailors risking their lives for their country, while The Rent Day satirizes the cruelty of squires evicting tenants for failing to pay their rent. Instead of directly condemning the ruling class, Jerrold exposes their hypocrisy and tyranny towards the working class through satire in his melodramas. This satirical approach can be attributed to Jerrold