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General analysis of gulliver's travels
Essay about Gulliver's travels
Analysis of the text gulliver's travel
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Gulliver’s Travels is a satirical novel about a sailor’s adventures through strange lands; the author of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift, uses these adventures to satirize the English society. The most prevalent satire is used as Gulliver travels through the lands of Lilliput, Brombdinag, and the Houyhnhnms.
One example of satire against the English society in Gulliver’s Travels is the political affairs of the Lilliputians. The Lilliputians to gain a high ranking office “competed for them by dancing on a rope for the entertainment of the emperor” (Orwell). The rope dancing is a direct shot at England’s election system, comparing it to doing ridiculous activities that have nothing to do with politics. Also, Jonathan Swift satirized the English Parliament directly by modeling Flimnap, a Lilliputian politician, after England’s first Prime Minister, Robert Warpole.
“… Swift’s model for Flimnap was Robert Warpole, the leader of the Whig’s and England’s first Prime Minister in the modern sense. Warpole was an extremely wily politician, as Swift shows, by making Flimnap the most dexterous of the rope dancers” (Cliffnotes).
Jonathan Swift cleverly roasts English politics with a simple rope dancing competition and politician, Warpole, who is extremely talented at “dancing on rope”.
Another example of satire against England, in Gulliver’s Travels, in Lilliput is Gulliver compared to the Lilliputians. In the novel, Gulliver is shown to be “… Greeted by great acclaim and be made a nobleman” (Dawson), for “offering his services to the emperor… and [bringing] back [Blefuscu’s] entire fleet” (Dawson). However, the emperor of Lilliput wanted them to be made slaves, while Gulliver wanted a peace agreement: “The pro-Gulliver forces prevai...
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...nt mankind deprived” (cliffnotes). The Yahoos are used to satirize what European’s are as human beings: “Why is it that we don’t mind being called Yahoos, although firmly convinced that we are not Yahoos” (Politics vs. Literature). European’s are Yahoos because they can never be perfect and devoid of basic instinct like the Houyhnhnms. Swift is using this image to show English society we are more Yahoo than we can ever be Houyhnhnm.
Lilliput, Brombdinag, and the land of Houyhnhnms are the most relevant satire in Gulliver’s travels. Jonathan Swift uses these places to “roast” the European society. Swift desires for Europeans to realize their flaws and develop them. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a marvelous adaption of English society flawed.
Works Cited
"Gulliver's Travels By Jonathan Swift Book Summary." Book Summary. Cliffnotes, n.d. Web. 01 May 2014.
Jonathan Swift wrote his book Gulliver’s Travels in the first half of the 1720’s. At the time he was writing much more of the “new world” had been explored and colonized, giving Swift with the ability to create a traveller to poke fun at and critique the men who had previously made themselves out to be heroes by creating a fiction often more believable than the supposed truths. Gulliver’s admiration for other societies resembles that of Hythloday and his experience in Utopia. Both of these book show how writers back in Europe wished the explorers would have been more earnest in their descriptions of societies in the new world. Swift especially used his book to comment on the current state of Europe and its politics in the new world.
...lity for what it is but also gives me motivation to either make the world a better place. Through his writings he gives us a choice that I feel is vital and has the abilities to distinguishes his readers from good and evil, the just and unjust. This is a form of writing in relation to all societies that I have never seen before and I feel that it is vital for all to read Gulliver's Travels so that they can look within themselves and see who they are as individuals. Overall, it is my opinion that Jonathan Swifts works on Gulliver's Travels exemplifies a true literary masterpiece. It gives us a true description of society and how we as individuals interact with on another. It tells us of our "corrupt lawyers, politicians, avaricious doctors, mass slaughters in wars over trivial pretexts-aspects of our experience as well as of Gulliver's and reminders that this narrative Gulliver's and his experiences implicates the reader in the moral problem of how to judge-and perhaps how to change-society. In all there is a lot to learn from these writing and tell us a lot about society and how we as individuals need to gain a better understanding our ourselves as well as society as a whole.
The first voyage of Gulliver takes him to the isle of Lilliput. There, he must play to a petty and ineffectual government. Swift uses several devices to highlight the Lilliputian stupidity. First, they are physically agile and graceful in comparison to Gulliver, who is portrayed as cumbersome and brutish.
The first and perhaps most vivid example of strong, emotionally charged Juvenalian satire rests in the heart of the proposal itself. Up until his proposal, Swift convinces the audience that he is an empathetic individual, gently pointing out social plights. The statement “These mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg for their helpless infants” exemplifies what one might think an example of the urbane style of satire a Horatian satirist would utilize, since it seems gentle critiques may be prev...
...ture the attention of the audience by means of “political pamphleteering which is very popular during his time” (SparkNotes Editors). The language and style of his argument is probably why it is still popular till this day. By using satire, Swift makes his point by ridiculing the English people, the Irish politicians, and the wealthy. He starts his proposal by using emotional appeal and as it progresses, he uses ethos to demonstrate credibility and competence. To show the logical side of the proposal, he uses facts and figures. By applying these rhetorical appeals, Swift evidently makes his argument more effectual.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol C. 9th ed. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 2492-2633. Print.
Past the political satire and laughable motifs in the book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the purpose of this story is to show everything ignoble and tactless of the human species in general and that humans are truly disgusting. Also exploring the idea of a utopia. Swift uses the literary device of political satire to show how childish and ignorant human acts were. This is because during Swift's time in the eighteenth century, Britain was modernizing at this time. The reader follows the four narrative travels of the main character, Lemuel Gulliver. Each of the four voyages Gulliver has traveled to, is a different society that portrays one of the main ideals of the eighteenth century in Britain. The four places Gulliver has traveled to were Lilliput; being Gulliver's first voyage, Brobdingnag; his second voyage, Laputa; the third voyage, and lastly to the land of the Houyhnhms; being his last voyage and afterwards traveling back home to England. The experience from being exposed to these four societies has had a huge impact on how Gulliver now sees humans.
The Writings of Jonathan Swift; Authoritative Texts, Backgrounds, Criticism. edited by Robert A. Greenberg and William Bowman Piper. Norton Critical Editions. New York: Norton, 1973.
Lemuel Gulliver recounts his findings over four of his most impactful voyages in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. In Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver gives his own candid account of all significant characters encountered and manages to fall into almost every influential person’s favor. Swift tactically shapes Gulliver’s encounters with characters from varying backgrounds to compare the behavior of the esteemed nobility with the behavior of commoners. Swift has Gulliver alter his demeanor based on his present surroundings to appeal to those around him and maintain his pride. By doing so, Swift intended to didactically explain his contempt for nobility, his misanthropy, and the dangers of pride.
In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver learns that experiencing different lifestyles he thought were better than his own actually makes him appreciate his own life with a more meaningful disposition through his journeys to Lilliput, Brobdingnag, and the Country of the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver’s journey to Lilliput effectuated forlorn feelings of his home. Likewise, Gulliver’s trek to Brobdingnag assists in his realization that changing perspectives also alter his attitude towards his homeland. Finally, Gulliver’s expedition to the Country of Houyhnhnms, where horses act civilized on and people act like wild animals. Gulliver soon learns that through his mystical journeys that changing the perspective in which he views the world reverses feelings of gratefulness towards his home. Gulliver’s first journey set sail to the Lilliputians on May 4th, 1699.
One of the forms of political satire is embodied in the first culture that is met by Gulliver. The Lilliputians are the embodiment of England of the time period. The Lilliputians are small people who control Gulliver through means of threats. "...when in an instant I felt above a hundred arrows discharged into my left hand, which pricked my like so many needles; and besides they shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe" (Swift, 24). England was a small country that had Europe (represented by Gulliver) and many other parts of the world under their control. This example of comparing the political situation in Europe at the time to the story is further demonstrated by using Gulliver against the Blefescan nation, much like a European nation would use a political ally. Another way that Swift uses satire against the society of the time is through the medium of science. During the Reformation period, people were beginning to questions superstitions and theories by using science to explain things. The most famous of these explanations was when Halley discovered that a comet (later named for him) made a predictable orbit around the sun. During the voyage to Laputa, Gulliver commends the Laputians on their study of comets, even saying that ".
What Swift has accomplished by making Gulliver the embodiment of common English values and beliefs and then having him visit far away lands that are really the mirrors of English society is an interesting satirical device. He forces the English reader to unknowingly judge English society, not according to some higher law or pristine observer, but through the lens of their own cherished values. This effectively turns English beliefs and values in on themselves as a test of their merit. Swift echoes this structure by first having Gulliver visit a land of little people, which causes one to observe them with scrutiny. Then Gulliver immediately travels to a land of giants which causes scrutiny of Gulliver, who is now the little one.
One clear example of Swift's use of political allegory is the Rope Dancers, who are Lilliputians seeking employment in the government, All candidates are asked to dance on the rope and whoever jumps the highest without falling is offered a high office . Very often the current ministers are asked to dance to show their skills . For instance, Flimnap, the treasurer, is required to dance on a tight rope to show his superiority to other in this respect. This jumping game may sound innocent to the children, however, politically it significance is far from innocent. Obviously, Swift makes a satire on the way in which political offices were distributed among the candidates by George1. Flimnap stands for Sir Robert Walpole the prime minister of England. Dancing on a tight rope symbolizes Walpole's skill in parliamentary tactics and political intrigues. In general, Swift wants to infer that England's system is arbitrary and corrupted.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels presents a narrator, Lemuel Gulliver, who recounts his various sea voyages to fantastical lands. During each voyage, Gulliver encounters different societies and customs to which Gulliver must adjust to. in order to be accepted into their society The entire novel serves as a commentary on how people everywhere have a tendency to abuse the power given to them.
As one can see, Gulliver’s Travel is a good example of Swift’s idea of the English government. The novel satires the way the English government was superficial through the Lilliputian society and the type of government England should had through Brobdingnagians society. Swift was able to make a social statement through his utopia to “push an ideal, ideology, or political demand to its logical extreme in order to make it serve as a warning for society.” (A Novel Approach to Politics pg.21) The utopia served as a satirical comedy to reach out to England to show the mistakes of government.