Gulliver's Travels by Swift as a Fine Example of Satire
Gulliver's Travels is a book which uses satire, to attack the politics
of its time. Swift operates on two levels; on one level he tells an
enjoyable fantasy story for all ages. On the second level behind the
superficial narrative he comments upon the issues he faces in the
reality of England and makes criticisms.
The story is set on an island called Lilliput, it is inhabited by
little people and it is this which Swift uses as a base for his views
on the world around him. Lilliput is a mirror image of London in 1726,
and it acts as a blank canvas for Swifts thoughts on reality. It
allows him to create anything, so he manages to create different ways
of criticising London.
The way Swift produces these criticisms of his world is by
transferring the moral into a comical or humorous issue. Swift does
this many times, but he is also using to his advantage as an author.
As he is putting across his views he is also pleasing both his younger
audience and older by covering up the criticisms of the books times
with an exhilarating fantasy story.
An example of his humorous technique is when the inhabitants of
Liliput are shown to select their politicians by seeing who is
superior on a tight rope. The politicians are chosen by seeing who can
jump the highest on a tight rope suspended two feet off the ground:
Five or six of those candidates petition the emperor to entertain his
majesty and the court with a dance on the rope, and whoever jumps the
highest without falling, succeeds in the office
Also another humorous event is the ceremony of breaking an egg with
your head, Swif...
... middle of paper ...
...ingratitude, when
Gulliver defeats an entire fleet he is shown a great deal of
congratulations, but when he extinguishes a fire in the royal palace
by urinating on it the Lilliputians see him as a sort of traitor and
treat him with complete ingratitude and ungratefulness. This is
showing the pure simple mindedness of humans and Swift has created
this with the foundation of size, by using a kind of unrealistic and
humorous base he has created many different forms of putting across
his feelings on modern day culture.
This book shows great depth behind words, it shows that a book can
contain more than it seems and Swift has shown this exceptionally well
with the use of in depth thoughts and satire, with this combination he
has created a superb book. This book backs up the saying
You can't tell a book by its cover.
Satire, Humor, and Shock Value in Swift's Modest Proposal. Swift's message to the English government in "A Modest Proposal" deals with the disgusting state of the English-Irish common people. Swift, as the narrator, expresses pity for the poor and oppressed, while maintaining his social status far above them. The poor and oppressed that he refers to are Catholics, peasants, and the poor homeless men, women, and children of the kingdom. This is what Swift is trying to make the English government, in particular the Parliament, aware of: the great socioeconomic distance between the increasing number of peasants and the aristocracy, and the effects thereof.
know all those words, but that sentence makes no sense to me” (Groeing). Matt Groeing, the famous creator of The Simpsons, perfectly describes what it’s like to read and try to interpret satire. Satire is when one says something, but really means something else. It can also be said that satire is very ironic as well. Notably, one of the greatest satirists is Geoffrey Chaucer, who was a poet in Medieval Europe. Chaucer wrote his greatest piece of work, Canterbury Tales using the tool of satire. Canterbury Tales is about a group of people Chaucer “goes with” on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. Each person is introduced and then on the journey they give a brief introduction of themselves and then they tell a tale. The collection of all the characters
“A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, is an essay that uses satire. Merriam-Webster defines satire as: a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad, etc.: humor that shows the weaknesses or bad qualities of a person, government, society, etc. “Satire may make the reader laugh at, or feel disgust for, the person or thing satirized. Impishly or sardonically, it criticizes someone or something, using wit and clever wording—and sometimes makes outrageous assertions or claims” (Cummings, 2012). Swift, best know for “Gulliver’s Travels”, originally wrote this piece as a pamphlet in 1729 under the full title ”A Modest Proposal: For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick.”
Every author has a set agenda before writing their piece of literature. Without an agenda, there is no motivation to write such piece of literature. This holds true with Geoffrey Chaucer. In the 14th century, Chaucer read Boccaccio’s Decameron, and was inspired to write his own version of the Decameron essentially. Therefore, Chaucer came up with The Canterbury Tales. Although The Canterbury Tales is very controversial, it was widely famous at the time Chaucer wrote it. Not only was it popular because Chaucer decided to write The Canterbury Tales in “the people’s language,” but he also spoke for many people at the time who shared the same opinions
The use of humor, exaggeration, irony or ridicule to expose, criticize or make fun people’s stupidity or vices. It is the dictionary definition of satire. The usage of juvenalian satire to criticize was openly and frequently done in the 18th century. Coming to the modern day, horatian satire is used to not only criticize but also make fun of modern times. What must be understood is that the usage of satire in both times was focused on society however; with each particular satire it focused on the different problems within it.
When reading "A Modest Proposal" we can't help thinking how strange Swift proposal is. Why would Jonathan Swift propose consuming and breeding humans for food? But as we continue our reading we see the true meaning of his words. As crazy as a proposal of eating children may sound, the title gives it away that Swifts work is satire. "A Modest Proposal" is not modest if it involves the consumption of children. But as it is a satire must we understand it's not about the consumption of children rather it describes the horrible poverty Ireland was in. Swifts word choice is carefully chosen to describe a grave truth in a comedic way. An example where the purpose becomes clears is in such words, "I grant this food will be somewhat dear and therefore
Mad Magazine, The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live. In our society, satire is among the most prevalent of comedic forms. This was not always true, for before the 18th century, satire was not a fully developed form. Satire, however, rose out of necessity; writers and artists needed a way to ambiguously criticize their governments, their churches, and their aristocrats. By the 18th century, satire was hugely popular. Satire as an art form has its roots in the classics, especially in the Roman Horace's Satires. Satire as it was originally proposed was a form of literature using sarcasm, irony, and wit, to bring about a change in society, but in the eighteenth century Voltaire, Jonathan Swift and William Hogarth expanded satire to include politics, as well as art. The political climate of the time was one of tension. Any criticism of government would bring harsh punishments, sometimes exile or death. In order to voice opinions without fear of punishment, malcontented writers turned to Satire. Voltaire's Candide and Swift's Modest Proposal are two examples of this new genre. By creating a fictional world modeled after the world he hated, Voltaire was able to attack scientists, and theologians with impunity. Jonathan Swift created many fictional worlds in his great work, Gulliver's Travels, where he constantly drew parallels to the English government.
When viewing the word satire the first word that comes to mind while reading is humour. Satire has been used throughout endless comedy shows as seen in the John Oliver show, where Oliver takes everyday political issues and molds a pathway for people to understand the issues in simpler terms through comedy. In music and broadway shows such as the Book of Mormon and even the popular song that swept the iTune charts, Royals by Lorde, have had satirical messages behind the lyrics. Though satire has been portray mostly in a comedic sense, there have been often been times where satire can stray away to harsh and the darker themes of life to get the message across.
On the surface, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver's Travels appears to be a travel log, made to chronicle the adventures of a man, Lemuel Gulliver, on the four most incredible voyages imaginable. Primarily, however, Gulliver's Travels is a work of satire. "Gulliver is neither a fully developed character nor even an altogether distinguishable persona; rather, he is a satiric device enabling Swift to score satirical points" (Rodino 124). Indeed, whereas the work begins with more specific satire, attacking perhaps one political machine or aimed at one particular custom in each instance, it finishes with "the most savage onslaught on humanity ever written," satirizing the whole of the human condition. (Murry 3). In order to convey this satire, Gulliver is taken on four adventures, driven by fate, a restless spirit, and the pen of Swift. Gulliver's first journey takes him to the Land of Lilliput, where he finds himself a giant among six inch tall beings. His next journey brings him to Brobdingnag, where his situation is reversed: now he is the midget in a land of giants. His third journey leads him to Laputa, the floating island, inhabited by strange (although similarly sized) beings who derive their whole culture from music and mathematics. Gulliver's fourth and final journey places him in the land of the Houyhnhnm, a society of intelligent, reasoning horses. As Swift leads Gulliver on these four fantastical journeys, Gulliver's perceptions of himself and the people and things around him change, giving Swift ample opportunity to inject into the story both irony and satire of the England of his day and of the human condition.
In “A Modest Proposal” several forms of satire are demonstrated throughout the story. Satire is defined as the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose or criticize people’s stupidity or vices. (Google) In "A Modest Proposal" Swift uses parody which is a form of satire. Parody is primarily making fun of something to create a humorous feel for it. In “A Modest Proposal,” Swift uses parody to make fun of the people and children of Ireland, expressing the children as delicious food to be eaten.
In the fourth book of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift uses satire to draw reader’s attention towards his concerns about humanity and uses irony to reveal his cynical views towards human kind. According to the Great Chain of Being, a term developed by the Renaissance that describes a divinely hierarchical order in every existing thing in the universe, human beings are placed a tier higher than animals (http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english /melani/cs6/ren.html). However, by comparing human traits with unpleasant qualities of animals, Swift blurs the definition of human being and questions the hierarchical place of human. In the fourth book of Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver starts his journey as a well-educated European person who is considered to be a decent example of humanity. The first group of inhabitants Gulliver finds on the island where he is dropped off on are the Yahoos. Gulliver is disgusted by the behaviours of these wild creatures at first and he considers them to be animals that are owned by the dominate beings on this island. Gulliver then discovers the Houyhnhnms whom he perceives as brute beasts (Swift 2420) and animals (ibid.) because they share similar physical qualities compare to the horses in England. After a brief interaction with the two Houyhnhnms, Gulliver is taken to the house of a Houyhnhnm whom he will later refer to as his master. Through the interactions with the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver is able to show the ability to reason even though he shares some physical similarities with the Yahoos. Due to this quality and the fact that the Houyhnhnms cannot see his bare skin under his clothes, he is able to live with the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver starts to relate himself more to the Houyhnhnms than the Yahoos becau...
Absence of the ceaseless values of acceptance and self-recognition draw light to how individuals are negligent of one another in social situations, whilst implying that they are superior to others. Swifts satirical essay Hints, is an argument questioning the stationary social values of the early 1700s, in contrast to his society questioning Religion (if God even exists) and other aspects of life. In establishing his argument of the rule of three, Swift employs irony in the rule of three of ‘a ‘true friend, a good marriage and a perfect form of government.’ As such, Swift condemns these assets to be unrealistic as a consequence of the inhibited, anxious temperament of society. By pinpointing this, he wants the audience to wake up. The humorous
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.
Gulliver's Travels was written during an era of change known as the Reformation Period. The way this book is written suggests some of the political themes from that time period, including the well-known satire. These themes are displayed throughout Gulliver's Travels, and even sometimes reflect upon today's society.
Geoffrey Chaucer was a on a mission when he wrote The Canterbury Tales. That mission was to create a satire that attacked three major institutions. Raphel displays, “Medieval society was divided into three estates: the Church (those who prayed), the Nobility (those who fought), and the Patriarchy. The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is an estates satire.” Chaucer wanted to shed light on the institutions that were taking advantage of the everyday man. Chaucer does this by making up tales about certain people that she light to the undercover world of the institutions. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses satire to attack the Church, the Patriarchy, and the Nobility.