Sarcasm

Watch out for the sarcastic individual. Behind the skeptical seeming exterior lies a romantic and even striving sensibility that's in danger of breaking out. Sarcasm is like the seeming obedience of an oppressed population. You know the kinds of people who love to make little cutting remarks about everyone else’s life, but seem to have few ideas or passions of their own. Such sarcasm is a perfect defense for those who feel their appetites won’t be satiated. More than that it's the perfect protection for those who fear that their grandiose subterranean wishes will be the recipient of a swift rebuke. The sarcastic individual carries a chip on his or her shoulder, but it’s not the result of the fact that they're ready to lead the charge with their colorful peacock’s feather flying. It’s that somehow they're deprived of certain entitlements of which others freely partake. What other default mode is left to them then to make little snarky quips, when if they really tried to put themselves in the batter’s box, they’d surely strike out. Moliere’s Alceste in The Misanthrope is a famously sarcastic character. However, his view of womankind is fashioned by Celimene, a notorious flirt, who has no ethics or standards, and lives to pull the carpet out from under her suitors. Though he’s sarcastic, he’s always on the verge of revealing a vulnerability that would only confirm his negative view of humanity.