Today it seems that writers consistently strive to find a relationship between the hero and the audience, hoping to spark more interest in their readers or viewers - most of the time this is achieved through the retelling of their own personal experiences, a story that was told to them, or, possibly, a fabricated story with a main character that the audience can easily relate. That being said, many pieces this semester revolve around the notion of the writer and the persona, particularly in travel literature. By taking a closer look at Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Samuel Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," and Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage - Canto III, one can identify the technical differences in each writer's position dealing with the issue of the writer versus the persona idea in each work. As we move from Swift's character, Gulliver, to Coleridge's old traveler, Mariner, and then finally to Bryon's hero, Childe Harold, one may discover that this distance between the writer and the protagonist, who the author has created himself, becomes increasing less. Instead of a clear separation between the writer and the main character, as we find in Gulliver's Travels, it is more difficult to disconnect the author from the protagonist in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage - Canto III, which arguably fits many heroic characters that we find in literature and film today.
In the satirical piece Gulliver's Travels, written by Jonathan Swift, the main character, Lemuel Gulliver, travels on four separate voyages and is forever changed by the knowledge he gains, regarding the different lands he visited. In the first voyages, Gulliver finds himself living with the miniature society of the Lilliputians. Next, he travel...
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...e real places that Bryon visited as well. By examining this piece to its entirety, and not just Canto III, one will discover that the places Childe Harold visited are all places that Bryon went himself in order to find inspiration for his work.
Childe Harold's adventures fit more closely with heroic tales today because it more factual than Gulliver's Travels and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." In order to maintain the audience's interest in literature and film, one can state that writers look for inspiration from either a story that the have heard or probably an elaboration of their own personal experience because they want to increase the size of their audience by retelling a story that could actually happen. Therefore, the writer and persona relationship that we see today is closely linked on purpose just like Lord Bryon's work, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
In movies, novels, and life, people are named as heroes. The heroes we establish and the heroes we recognize, however, may not meet the criteria for a mythic hero. A mythic hero ventures forth on his journey, and comes forth from the hero’s path to greatness. Joseph Campbell, a mythologist who studied many of the great human myths and religious tales, realized, in studying these myths and tales, that there were certain steps that every hero went through. Campbell called this “The Hero’s Journey”; it is based on Carl Jung's idea that all human beings have an archetype. After Campbell studied a lot of the great myths and realized this pattern, he published his findings in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Ever since then, authors have used “The Hero’s Journey” as an outline to tell their stories. “It is important to note that not all of these individual steps are present in every hero’s tale, nor is it important that they be in this exact order” (Vogler 20). The Hero with a Thousand Faces gives a sense of significance as it looks into the inner mind and soul. The author, Joseph Campbell, performs two extraordinary accomplishments: compelling his readers that myth and dream, those are the most effective and everlasting forces in life and a unification of mythology and psychoanalysis with a gripping narrative. One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby.
Every hero goes through multiple stages accompanying many obstacles on his or her journey. Although the journeys may differ in detail, structurally, they resemble a sound format. Along the designed adventures, the heroes come into contact with characters that possess fixed personalities or “archetypes.” The stages and archetypes of stories are somewhat predictable, but may take shape in peculiar forms. Both exemplifying heroic characteristics, Sir Gawain from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien and Thomas Becket from Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot structurally go on the same archetypical journey, but diverge in the lessons they learn and where the characters start and end in their journeys.
Murphy, B. & Shirley J. The Literary Encyclopedia. [nl], August 31, 2004. Available at: http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2326. Access on: 22 Aug 2010.
“The Hero’s Journey.” Ariane Publications, 1997. Course handout. AS English I. Dept. of English, Woodside High School. 26 October 2013.
All stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and movies. They are known collectively as The Hero’s Journey. Understanding these elements and their use in modern writing is the object of our quest. Used wisely, these ancient tools of the storytellers craft still have tremendous power to heal our people and make the world a better place (xxvii).
For centuries, authors have been writing stories about man's journey of self-discovery. Spanning almost three-thousand years, the Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer's Odyssey, and Dante's Inferno are three stories where a journey of self-discovery is central to the plot. The main characters, Gilgamesh, Telemachus, and Dante, respectively, find themselves making a journey that ultimately changes them for the better. The journeys may not be exactly the same, but they do share a common chain of events. Character deficiencies and external events force these three characters to embark on a journey that may be physical, metaphorical, or both. As their journeys progress, each man is forced to overcome certain obstacles and hardships. At the end of the journey, each man has been changed, both mentally and spiritually. These timeless tales relate a message that readers throughout the ages can understand and relate to.
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.
In the cleverly written and witty story of Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, the reader is taken on a journey that targets the strengths of weakness of different societies. Swift ingeniously incorporates the use of the main character, Lemuel Gulliver, and his experiences through the discovery of several islands in order to relay messages about his own country’s system of politics, society, and use of scientists.
Gulliver’s Travels, written by Jonathan Swift, is the story about Lemuel Gulliver, a man from England trained as a surgeon. Gulliver sets to the seas when his business hits the dumps. The story is told in first person point of view. Gulliver narrates the adventures that take place during his travels. The characters in this story are Lemuel Gulliver, the emperor, the farmer, the farmer’s daughter, the king and queen of Brobdingnag, Lord Munodi, the Yahoos, and the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver is the main character of this story.
Gulliver’s Travels has set a standard for satirical writing for a long time, and Swift’s imaginative ability and talent can explain a lot of the text’s continued popularity. People can approach Gulliver’s Travels like a children’s book, and not search for deeper meaning. They read the story as a fantasy, and seek only to be entertained. Gulliver’s Travels is valuable and enjoyable for its plot and surface elements alone, but a deeper level of meaning and significance can be achieved if we take note of the satirical elements in the novel. Although to gain a full appreciation of the satire, the reader needs to be somewhat familiar with the events of Swift’s time.
Jonathan Swift's story, Gulliver's Travels, is a very clever story. It recounts the fictitious journey of a fictitious man named Lemuel Gulliver, and his travels to the fantasy lands of Lilliput, Brobdinag, Laputa, and Houyhnhmn land. When one first reads his accounts in each of these lands, one may believe that they are reading humorous accounts of fairy-tale-like lands that are intended to amuse children. When one reads this story in the light of it being a satire, the stories are still humorous, but one realizes that Swift was making a public statement about the affairs of England and of the human race as a whole.
Gulliver's Travels is written as Lemuel Gulliver's account of his voyages to the strange lands of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, the kingdom of Laputa, and the land of the Houyhnhnms. Swift's opinions on the English politics of his time are disguised in Gulliver's strange encounters, allowing the reader, rather than Gulliver, to discover them. Gulliver remarks about his encounters in a straight forward way, reporting on the cultures instead of analyzing them.
Gulliver's Travels is a novel that touches on many subjects. One of the lesser points discussed is how Gulliver seems to be searching for acceptance and for his identity on his many journeys. Upon entering any of these strange foreign lands, Gulliver makes it a point to learn the language. This is because knowing the language of a foreign land is a crucial part to your acceptance in that country. Another thing that Gulliver adapts in each of these foreign places is their manner of dress. Great pains are taken in each country to dress Gulliver in the kingdoms latest fashions. While on his journeys, Gulliver tried his part in many roles to find one that fit him and would grant him acceptance with the peoples of each land. I will discuss Gulliver's role in each society and if he is ever truly accepted by any of the peoples he meets.
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.
Gulliver's Travels is one of the most beloved satires of all time (Forster 11). Yet, careful analysis shows it to be very complex with not one definite interpretation. A very surface reading may leave one feeling that the point of the book is "don't be Yahoo." This is the message that David Ward feels Gulliver the character is giving and says that it is no more complex than Orwell's, "four legs good, two legs bad." But this grows out of the fact of Gulliver's nature. A synthesis of the opinions of the writers I read paints Gulliver as an average man of average courage, honesty, compassion, and intellect, a typical Englishman. But there is nothing typical about Gulliver's Travels.