Satire in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett

Satire is a powerful technique used by numerous writers in order to reveal and criticize the problematic aspects of their societies. The contextual background of a literary work in this regard may play an instrumental role in such criticism, which is projected through either explicit or implicit satire depending on the choice of the writer. The Scottish writer Tobias Smollett’s last novel, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), written in the epistolary form, is one of these literary texts that draws on satire through the technique of comparison, namely comparing England and Scotland. This article will in this respect present brief relevant information about the novel prior to the textual analysis and then discuss how Smollett makes use of satire, especially social and political satire illustrated from different characters’ perspectives, in order to criticize England through letters with specific references from the primary text and relevant secondary sources.