Political Allegory in Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels is a great novel written by Jonthan Swift. It is about voyages of Gulliver-main character-to different countries. Gulliver's Travels is a political allegory of England at Swift's time. the word allegory means a simple that can be objects, characters, figures or colors used to represent an abstract idea or concepts. Swift uses this novel to criticize the political condition of England at the 18th century and to make a satire of the royal court of George 1 . Gulliver's Travels has established itself as a classic for young people. Its appeal to young minds is due to the fact that it is, on the surface, an adventure story of strange wonderful lands. As a matter of fact, it is taken by the mature reader as an allegory work of England at Swift's time.

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.

Another example is the quarrels of factions inside the island of Lilliput. Which is the struggle between the High Heels and the Low Heels . The High Heels Are most agreeable to the ancient constitution and more in number than the Low Heels, Whereas the authority and power are on the side of the Low Heels because the emperor uses them in the administration of the government . The struggle between these two parties comparable to the struggle between the Whig and Tory parties of Britain . Satirically, Swift uses them to descried the political condition inside England at his time.