Sarcasm

Sarcasm is the highest degree of irony, a caustic, exposing mockery filled with anger, contempt or bitterness, which does not conceal but sharpens its negative evaluative thrust. If subtle irony only hints at the opposite meaning, sarcasm openly brands, combining sharpness of thought with a devastating emotional force. Sarcasm is a characteristic means of social satire, invective and the pamphlet, directed against social vices, hypocrisy or injustice. In Ukrainian literature a sarcastic pathos sounds in the exposing works of Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Franko. Unlike good-natured humour, sarcasm is merciless and painful; it presupposes the moral stance of an author who condemns the depicted from the height of their own ideal.