Hadlyburg Essay, Research Paper

The movie “Hadlyburg,” which is based on Mark Twain’s short story, is a strong satire. In this movie the inhabitants of the town of Hadlyburg, who were priding themselves on their unparalleled honesty, where really just as susceptible to temptation, and not as honest as they believed themselves to be. This was displayed when the nineteen people who received a letter from the stranger informing them of the phrase that was in the sack of gold had all submitted it to the reverend who was in charge of holding the sack. It was not until it was realized that none of the people who had submitted the statements actually gave the stranger the twenty dollars until the citizens of Hadlyburg realized that they were not as honest as their reputation. Another satirical situation is when Edward and Mary who were one of the nineteen who had received the phrase that they thought would get them the gold submitted it to the reverend. This situation is uses satire to show how people in general, not just the inhabitants of this fictional town, refuse to address their flaws, dishonesty in the case of Hadlyburg.