The Personality of Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift, the great satirist of the eighteenth century was a genius of complex and enigmatic personality. His character was of a "supersensitive" nature. He possessed a strong sense of justice, a keenness of vision, a generous disposition, a sincere adhesion to moral and social beliefs, an affinity for practical jokes and a scorn for science but also displayed excessive pride, arrogance, misanthropy, fits of violent temper and a strain of insanity. Thus his personality can be summed up in his own words, "At best, I have an ill-head and an aching heart."

The Supersensitive

Swift's mother left him in the care of his uncle when he was just a child, which may have caused a distortion in his character. Though his uncle gave him good education, he never ceased to grumble against his relatives. Meanwhile serving as a secretary to Sir William Temple, he regarded every passing remark of his patron as an insult and deeply resented the dependency of his position.

Affinity for practical jokes

Though he was of a serious temperament he enjoyed playing practical jokes on credulous people. While acting as a secretary and chaplain to Lord Berkeley, he played a practical joke on the credulous Lady Berkeley by reading out to her his Meditation on a Broomstick, giving her the impression that it was a sermon by her favourite Boyle. Another joke perpetrated by him was the well-known one on the quack astrologer Partridge, who also took it seriously. This dark humour is also reflected in his leaving his fortune to establish a hospital for idiots and lunatics.

Progressive misanthropy

The early years of poverty and dependence left an indelible mark on his character. He was a man of material ambitions but ...

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...sionate fury,he could at the same time write tender messages to hi near and dear ones. He was full of contradictions but showed such characteristics which may have been developed into ardent Romanticism in the next century but like any other man of unrecognized genius, he was born out of due time. Thackeray even referred to him as "the ruin of a great empire."

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