Cartoonist Saul Steinberg's Methods of Humor

Two cartoons by Saul Steinberg create a humorous impact from a play on scale. In the first drawing, a knight mounted on a horse is shown prepared to defeat a much smaller dragon, which does not seem eager to fight. In the second drawing, a fisherman is presented in a boat, winding in a fish much larger than himself. Both images capture the viewer's attention because of the sheer unlikelihood of such scales existing. When things deviate from the norm we recognize them as odd or peculiar.

In the knight cartoon, the knight seems to have a neutral facial expression; he looks neither angry nor happy. Despite this neutrality, he has his lance pointed directly at the dragon. The knight is seems ready to kill the dragon, even though it is doing no harm. In contrary to its rider, the knight's horse seems eager for combat. The horse has a very stern facial expression and blows smoke from his nostrils to create fear and intimidation in the dragon. The horse stands on his two hind legs to lift his front high into the air to further show his ferocity. The dragon, with which we typically associate such adjectives as "fierce" or "large", appears to be smaller than even the leg of the knight's horse. It appears that the dragon is too tiny to pose any serious threat and furthermore, he looks afraid. The dragon does not look ready to enter into battle and he appears to be putting up no fight. Steinberg plays with the characteristics of each of the characters in this drawing. The "ferocious" dragon seems weak and fearful, the horse, who typically needs the encouragement of his knight, seems to be the most fierce character in this drawing, and the "heroic" knight is ready to kill an unlikely opponent, most likely to earn fame and respect. The play in scale of this drawing demands attention, however, it is the combination of play along with these expressions of each of the characters that makes it humorous.

In the fish cartoon, the fisherman looks pleased with the bite he feels on his rod, even though the rod has just barely curved. Also, it appears that the fisherman is completely ignorant of the enormous fish that has taken his bait. If he knew of the massive size of his catch, he would probably have a much more fearful facial expression. Similarly, the fish probably does not know what is on the opposite end of the line. The fish seems as happy as the fisherman and has no clue he is about to be hooked. The fish is probably just chasing dinner on the end of the line. The colossal fish does not appear to be vicious or sadistic. Each detail, finely crafted by Steinberg, shows the ignorance of these two characters. The play on scale in this drawing is perpetuated only by these facial expressions of satisfaction.

One of the most striking observations is the "dominant" character being portrayed as the smaller one in each drawing. Steinberg's play on scale is so humorous because it is unfamiliar. Both scenes are absurd because we have a perception of the normal and these scales deviate from that perception. But which character has been magnified or minimized? Perhaps the dragon is an average-sized dragon and the knight and horse are just enlarged. Maybe the fish in the second drawing is average size but the fisherman has been minimized. We judge large-scaled objects in comparison with smaller objects and vice-versa. Therefore, how do we determine which character is truly abnormal in each drawing? These cartoons are ridiculous. It would not be as easy to find humor in these drawings if the dragon was larger than the knight or the fish was small than the fisherman. Steinberg shows us that with simple manipulation of scale, almost any scene can become absurd, surprising, and humorous.