It used to be taken for granted that satire uses nasty means to good ends: it ridicules its targets in order to bring about reform. However, in recent years, the role of satire has been challenged and satirists themselves have quite literally come under attack. Some shocking incidents have prompted serious debate about the relations between free speech and hate speech. This lecture will consider the rights and wrongs of satire in a historical context and in the light of our present situation.

This lecture was recorded by Judith Hawley on the 26th of February 2026 at Bernard’s Inn Hall, London

Judith Hawley is Professor Emerita of Eighteenth-Century Literature in the Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London.

As well as publishing essays on Laurence Sterne, encyclopaedias, Siamese twins, amateur performance and Grub Street, she has edited various eighteenth-century texts, including Jane Collier, The Art of Ingeniously Tormenting, and works by the Bluestocking, Elizabeth Carter.

Her Very Short Introduction to Satire (OUP) will be published in 2026. Currently she is writing a group biography of Pope, Swift and the Scriblerus Club. She has made numerous appearances on radio and TV and is a frequent contributor to In Our Time (BBC Radio 4). As Trustee of The London Luminaries, she has chaired an on-line lecture series since 2021. She has also lectured to the public at the Society for Antiquaries of which she is a Fellow.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/ethics-satire

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That's Not Funny: The Ethics of Satire - Judith Hawley