The Wasp — 1895 — page 375: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* satirizes high society through slapstick humor. The top panel shows an elegant woman being introduced to two formal gentlemen by a small dog. The middle panel depicts the men literally fighting over the woman, with exaggerated physical comedy—they're tumbling and flailing. The bottom panel reveals the joke's punchline: the woman comforts the men while the small dog walks away, suggesting the "wrong puppy" (the dog, not one of the men) succeeded in attracting or winning something valuable. The satire mocks upper-class courtship rituals and male competition for women's attention, presenting it as undignified chaos. The joke's humor derives from inverting expectations—a literal dog outperforms the "civilized" gentlemen in their social game.