A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

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A satire uses irony or sarcasm to make a point. Many authors use satire to bring society’s attention to political, social, or economic problems in a somewhat humorous way. Some authors even use satire in an attempt to correct the religious practices of the society. Satire is an effective way to highlight problems because it is non-threatening but it grabs the attention of the reader. Jonathan Swift wrote his satirical essay “A Modest Proposal” to bring attention to the political, economic, and social problems of Ireland in 1729. For many years, England, and later the United Kingdom, controlled Ireland. This imperialism started when the Irish king lost part of his kingdom in 1169 and asked for help from the Normans, who were French-speaking …show more content…

On the other side was the Protestant leader Oliver Cromwell, who later took control of England. His goal was to punish the Irish, and he came with an army murdering hundreds of thousands of Irish people. Those whom he did not murder he forced off their land and onto rocky soil making it hard for them to farm (Arthurton). The English throne went back and forth from Catholic to Protestant, and each new king tried to convert the people. When the king was Protestant the Catholics were persecuted by stripping away of their voting and land rights; when the king was Catholic the opposite was true. Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” was written during the reign of James II, who came to the throne and wanted to make the country Catholic again. The loyalty of the Irish Catholics was with James, and those who opposed him also strongly opposed the Irish …show more content…

“The English and the Irish: A Long and Bloody Story.” Experience Ireland(2004): n. pag. Web. 28 Feb 2010. <http://international.udel.edu/udireland/news/1_23_english_irish.htm>
Chowdhury, Ahsan. "Splenetic Ogres and Heroic Cannibals in Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal (1729)." English Studies in Canada 34.2/3 (2008): 131-157. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8 Mar. 2010.
Lestringant, Frank. “Travels in Eucharistia: Formosa and Ireland from George Psalmaanazaar to Jonathan Swift.” Trans. Noah Guynn. Yale French Studies 86(2010) 109-25
Richardson, John. "Swift, A Modest Proposal[/em] and Slavery." Essays in Criticism 51.4 (2001): 404. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8 Mar. 2010.
Swift, Jonathan. "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in
Ireland From Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and or Making Them Beneficial to the Public." The Norton Anthology. Eighth Edition. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006.

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