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CHAPTER XX

WIT AND RIDICULE

        Wit often employs metaphor, double sense, equivocation, and brevity, so as to play with the audience, give information, and make it think. Aristotle, who had analyzed so many different forms of thought, refers also to wit, though in a rather incoherent and incomplete way. In his "Rhetoric" he says: "Also the greatest number of elegancies arise from metaphor, and from additionally deceiving the hearer (more correctly surprising the hearer's expectation); for the point becomes more clear that he has learned something from the meaning being opposite of what it was supposed, and the mind seems to say, ‘How true is this! I, however, was wrong."'

       The arousal of subconscious ideas by means of similarity and contrast, by synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms constitutes the essence of wit. "In all such cases," says Aristotle, "if one introduce the term appropriately under an equivocation or metaphor then there is wit. The same, too, is that commended saying of Anaxandrides, ‘It is honorable to die before doing aught worthy death'; for it is the same as saying, ‘It is worthy a man to die when he is not worthy the punishment of death, when he has not committed acts worthy that punishment.' Now the form of the diction of these sentences is the same; but in proportion as the idea happens to be enunciated in fewer words and with antithesis, in the same proportion is it more approved. And the reason is that the information becomes by means of the antithesis fuller; by means of brevity more rapid." In another place Aristotle displays rather unusual contempt for the hearer as he tells us that one should be brief, to the point, and not put many questions "by reason of the imbecility of the hearer. On which account we ought as much as possible to compress even our enthymems." The principal object of good wit is not to confuse the listener, but to stir him up, to make him think and to bring about the right exercise of the mental powers which is one of the greatest pleasures of man.

        Wit employs double sense, equivocations, metaphors, simile, brevity. Still all these are but the implements, not the essence, not the actual spirit of true wit. These implements may be used in the construction of sentences which are thoroughly flat, silly, and stupid. The characteristic of wit is the sudden, unexpected realization of new and strange views brought by simple means within the mental horizon of the audience, or the realization of something customary, usual, habitual, and familiar bearing the aspect of the unhabitual, unusual, uncustomary, and strange. Wit should therefore be regarded as a form of words and sentences which suddenly opens a new horizon, gives a surprising, sudden new view, accompanied by an agreeable shock, stirring up to activity masses of mental and emotional systems with their subconscious reserve energy, arousing feelings of power due to greater mental activity, deeper insight into things, and wider knowledge of the world. Wit, therefore, does not deal with the ludicrous only, it may touch on the grave, and, in fact, it often does deal with serious matters of human life.

        The main thing, however, is the fact that in wit we experience a sudden, unexpected, surprising arousal of subconscious reserve energy. The force in all wit is the sudden stimulation of mental activity. In wit the saying is brief, pithy, not only because the hearer is usually stupid, but because the hearer is supposed to be stimulated to do thinking for himself and to be able to draw conclusions independently. The pleasure derived from wit is self-activity, the arousal of subconscious reserve energy. The person who hears a witty saying, realizes the meaning, and is enabled to draw the hidden inferences, feels stronger mentally, experiences an uplifting of the spirit.

        The object of wit, as I pointed out, is stimulation of subconscious reserve energy, the calling forth of mental self-activity. The pleasure consists in the free, spontaneous activity due to the stirring of his subconscious, reserve energy. The function of wit is to widen the sphere of human thought, to strengthen his energies, and, to call forth in him the joy of being, action, and life. In this respect wit is similar to ridicule, but wit radically differs from ridicule by the fundamental characteristic of the absence of and emphasis on relations of inferiority. There is present in wit the feeling of joy due to an increase of being and activity, development, and growth of mental life, but without any relation of inferiority; there is in wit the presence of excellence of spirit without the relation of degradation.

        We have pointed out the fundamental error made by many writers on the subject of laughter in that they confuse wit with ridicule, the ludicrous, and the comic. They consider the witty as something inherently laughter-raising, and hence they, identify the witty with the joke, the jest, and ridicule. This is a radical error. Wit and ridicule are by no means identical. Ridicule falls under the category of wit, but the witty may have nothing to do with ridicule. There are witty sayings, anecdotes, and stories in which the ludicrous has no place. Many folk proverbs, the proverbs and parables of the Bible, Æsop's or Hindoo fables are witty, but they lack the element of the ludicrous. Similarly, charades, puzzles, enigmas are witty, but we cannot regard them as having even a shadow of ridicule. Plato's myth of the creation and education of man, as told by him in his "Protagoras," may be considered not only as beautiful, but also as witty, although there is not a grain of ridicule in it. The simile of the soul to a charioteer and two horses in "Phaedrus," the story of Gyges in the "Republic," the metaphor of Love in the "Symposium," as an immortal dæmon born of Poros or Plenty and Penia or Poverty, may all be regarded as excellent illustrations of good wit from which ridicule is entirely absent.

        As an illustration of our point of view we may take the story told by Aristotle in his "Politics" of Eubulus, who, when Autophradates was going to besiege Atarneus, told him to consider how long the operation would take, and then reckon up the cost which would be incurred in time. "'For,' Eubulus said, ‘I am willing for a smaller sum than that to leave Atarneus at once."' These words of Eubulus made an impression on Autophradates, and he desisted from the siege. Aristotle also mentions the story of the tyrant Periander, when the herald was sent by Thrasybulus to ask counsel of him in regard to government. Periander said nothing, took the herald to the field, and cut off the tallest ears and brought the field to a level. The herald did not understand the meaning of the action, but came and reported to Thrasybulus what he had seen. Thrasybulus took the hint that he was to cut off the principal men in the state. Such stories are witty, but there is nothing in them of the ludicrous.

        Many of the sayings in the Confucian "Analects," paradigms, maxims, aphorisms by philosophers, poets, and wise men, such as Heraclitus, Antisthenes, Montaigne, Pascal, Schopenhauer, or the Bible, are witty, but they cannot be regarded as a matter of ridicule. A series of illustrations will help us most in the differentiation of wit and ridicule. We may take at random a few of the witty Biblical proverbs and sayings:

        As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that sends him.
        As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.
       Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
      The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.
       Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.
        Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint.
        As in water face answereth face, so is the heart of man to man.

        We may take as examples the witty and pithy sayings of Ecclesiastes :

        A living dog is better than a dead lion.
        All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
        Be not righteous overmuch, neither make thyself overwise, why shouldst thou destroy thyself?
       The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to the man of understanding, nor yet favor to the man of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

        Confucius, the grave Chinese sage, likewise has his witty sayings:

        I have not yet met with a man who loves Virtue as he loves Beauty.
       Some one asked him, "What say you of (the remark) ‘Requite enmity with kindness'?"
       "How then," he answered, "would you requite kindness?―Requite enmity with straightforwardness (justice) and kindness with kindness."

      We may take as illustrations a few Oriental proverbs, the wisdom of folklore:

        A devil with experience is better than an angel without.
        Speak little and you will hear much.
        He who speaks the truth must have one foot in the stirrup.

        Montaigne is full of wit:

        The fear of the fall more fevers me than the fall itself.
        I find that our greatest vices derive their first propensity from our most tender infancy, and that our principal education depends upon the nurse.
        We are never present with, but always beyond ourselves. Of what is the most subtle folly made, but of the most subtle wisdom?
       From the rare and quick agitations of our souls proceed the most wonderful and wildest frenzies; 'tis but a half turn of the toe from the one to the other.

        Similarly Pascal:

        Man is the feeblest reed in existence, but he is a thinking reed.
        It is the contest and not the victory that gives us pleasure.
        It is easier to suffer death without thinking of it than to think of it when in no danger of suffering it.
        A horse does not trouble itself about the admiration of its fellow.
        The last thing we can settle in the composition of a thing is how to begin it.

        We may cull a few witty sayings made by the genius of Shakespeare:

        Fear and scruple shake us.
        All things that are, are with more spirit chased than enjoyed.
        A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross.
       The world is still deceived with ornament. Ornament is but the gilded shore to a more dangerous sea.
        My blood speaks to you in my veins.
       When fortune means to men most good, she looks upon them with a threatening eye.
       O, that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth! Then with a passion would I shake the world!
       He that stands upon a slippery place makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up.
       Jealousy is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.

      We may also take a few of the witty sayings of the ancient Greek philosophers and sages:

       That judges of important affairs should hold office for life is not a good thing, for the mind grows old as well as the body.―Aristotle
        Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.―Aristotle
        Man's character is his fate.―Heraclitus
        Bear all thou canst; for Can dwells nigh to Must. ―Pythagoras
        One to me is as good as ten thousand, if he be the best.―Heraclitus
        Strength of body is nobility in beasts, strength of character is nobility in men.―Democritus
       My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.―Democritus
        Truth is in the depth.―Democritus
       One should attend to one's enemies, for they are the first persons to detect one's errors.―Antisthenes

        We may give a few witty sayings of American sages:

        He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,
        And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.―Emerson
        Man lives by pulses.
        We thrive by casualties.
        The poets are liberating the gods.
        The quality of the imagination is to flow, and not to freeze.
        Divinity is behind our failures and follies also.
        A man is like a bit of Labrador spar, which has no luster as you turn it in your hand, until you come to a particular angle; then it shows deep and beautiful colors.
        Temperament is the iron wire on which the beads are strung.―Emerson

        We may also refer to Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac”:

        The cat in gloves catches no mice.
        Little strokes fell great oaks.

       We may conclude with a few verses from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam," whose poetry is full beauty, grandeur, and wit:

        A study of all the examples chosen from many writers, poets, and sages of various countries and different ages goes to show that wit is the opening of new horizons before the mental eye by means of the usual and the habitual associated with the unusual and the unhabitual; and again by dissociation of elements and traits of the customary from their habitual surroundings and reassociation with the strange, the unusual, and uncustomary. Along with it there must be present an awakening of reserve energies, both in him who makes the witty remark and in him who hears it and appreciates it. When the association belongs to the class of superior and inferior, then does the ludicrous arise. Wit may deal with relations of inferiority, but the emphasis is not necessarily on inferiority as it is in all the forms of ridicule. Wit is that form of thought and its expression which gives rise to free, spontaneous mental activity due to the arousal of subconscious reserve energy.

        We may add that the popular, now vulgarized, saying that "brevity is the soul of wit" is but a superficial, glittering generality not based on the real nature of wit. Brevity in itself may be silly and stupid. It is only when the customary, the usual, the habitual relations of life become transcended by a sudden manifestation and play of reserve energy, it is only then that true wit comes into being. Wit is the result of union of widely different and contrasting ideas. Wit is the outcome of the clash of colliding, remote, customary concepts. As the heat, light, and life of new worlds are born out of collisions of cold, lifeless masses gravitating in space, so is wit.

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