Gullivers_Travels_-_Satire

Satire combines a serious manner with humour and wittiness so that “institutions of man’s devising may be remodelled.” Satire’s very purpose is to critically assess the nature of society and inspire innovative outlooks, whilst driving reform through identifying hypocrisy an aim to better society. Swift sees a satirist’s role as being “to cure the vices of mankind” and hence remarks on the foolish and corrupt nature of people and society. Through Gulliver’s Travels and ‘A Modest Propoal’ Swift draws attention to how human beings fall short of being ideal. His purpose is to “vex” rather than to “divert.” Ewald directly states that, “As a satire, the main purpose of Gulliver’s Travels is to show certain shortcomings in 18th Century English Society. In Gulliver’s Travels, Swift doesn’t use a fantastical style – one that made no claim to truth or accuracy – would have weakened the satire whereas a factional reportorial style serves as an ideal tool for biting commentary on the pettiness of human nature and the political and religious institutions of the era. In Gulliver’s Travels, Swift comments on the foolish and corrupt nature of people and society by imitating the style of a standard travelogue which is seemingly based on fact. This contrast serves to exaggerate the absurdity of the people and places which Gulliver comes in contact. In Book 1 of the Travels, the Lilliputians standing “not six inches high” are an ironic comment on humanity’s widely excessive pride in itself. Lilliputian society described as Utopian by them preferring “good morals” to “great ability” and seeing “ingratitude” as a “capital crime” is in fact revealed as a comic distortion of life in Europe and the clash between theory and fact is a technique to provoke a critical response. Swift’s depicts ‘Rope Dancers’, ‘thread prizes’ and ‘horse entertainment’. The various trivial activities, such as ‘Rope Dancers’where ‘whoever jumps the highest without falling, succeeds in office’, satirises the English parliamentary system. Swift satirically makes the comment that decisions in parliament are made arbitrarily. “Whereupon the Emperor published an edict, commanding all his subjects, under great penalties, to break the smaller end of their eggs,” are obvious and funny satirical parallels and distortions of political development in Swift’s time. The “High-Heels” and the “Low-Heels” correspond to the Whigs and Tories of English politics. The violent conflict between the “Big-Endians” and “Small-Endians” represents the Protestant Reformation and the centuries of warfare between Catholics and Protestants. The absurdity of the egg controversy highlights the futility of political and religious prescriptions and makes the point that there is no right or wrong way to worship God. Whereas in the first voyage we can look through Gulliver’s eyes – sharing his astonishment at the Lilliputians’ miniature society , by the fourth voyage we are forced to step back and look not with Gulliver, but at him and his attitude towards the Houynmhnms (structural irony). Swift continues to critique the foolish and corrupt nature of people and society in Part IV of Gulliver’s Travels some of the most corrosive and offensive satire on mankind, the role of reason, attitudes to pastoralism, colonisation, and Gulliver’s views of himself. Swift uses the humour of the fable in his treatment of the Houyhnhms and Yahoos to give light, shame and subtlety to a very dark reflection of the human condition. Houyhnhms for all that they seem like “the wisest people on earth” and represent a “rational and orderly” existence of life appear to be a satire on reason just as the “brutish” Yahoos seem to be a satire on appetites and physicality. Swift used the horse motif to personify inspiration, nobility and familiarity. In doing so he draws on mythological and literary associations of the centaur, Pegasus, the Trojan horse as well as the role of the horse in history and society (object of power, high social rank, and energy). These idealised allusions are subverted and reversed when Swift describes how the Houyhnhmns make lesser races work for them while “exterminating all the brutes.” This big gap between reality and reason is subversive and unsettling as Swift does not intend the Houyhnhmns to be considered human ideals at all. Swift continues his critique on human corruption and foolishness through Gulliver’s rant on war which is a rousing piece of satire and one of the most powerful passages in the text. The long list of weapons (cannons, muskets, carbines, pistols) is an exemplar of Swift’s technique of using outrageous, prolonged lists – exaggeration and inversion. By ironically reducing the “art” of war to a list of weapons and types of tactics Swift comments on the futility of war. Simple terms give way to complicated expressions. “ships sunk,” “plundering, stripping, ravishing” which is violent and shocking. Collectively the passage underlines Swift’s antiwar stance. The satire deepens when Gulliver gives to the Master Houyhnhnm an account of the events and happenings in his own countries and in other European countries. Gulliver tells him host that the war is European countries was due sometimes to the “ambition of kings” ‘Difference in Opinions’ “corruption of ministers.” Again, exaggeration on the arbitrary causes of war serves to highlight its devastating consequences as Gulliver speaks in a factual and deadpan manner of the numerous deadly weapons which the European nations employ for destructive purposes. Swift continues his criticism of corruption and foolishness in individuals and society in his political pamphlet “A Modest Proposal” in which he denounces the exploitation of the weak, prejudice against the poor and dehumanisation of the Irish. Irony is used with skill and the reader must distinguish between Swift's voice and the proposer’s. This structural irony between the “satirical call to consume infants” and the author's real sympathy and anger is a skilled way of shocking society out of its denial about a confronting and shocking social reality. Reversal is used when describing the things "no man talk to me about' which are in fact the true solutions that Swift proposes for Ireland and include taxing absentees 5 shillings a pound and boycotting English goods. The deadpan tone in which several schemes to deal with the "melancholy object...beggars followed by children all in rags” are weighed against one another, adds to the satire together with the reasonable arid factual tone used. The violence of the proposal is masked as rational economic arguments. All up the pamphlet parodies the rationalist economic and scientific thinking greatly admired in 1891 century England. The “modest proposal” uses understatement and includes detailed culinary methods and statistical data to ironically increase the shocking nature of an "unbearable reality.” Such as "I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar's child to be about two shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child.”This is designed to shock the reader into seeing the cruelty of the situation in which the Irish poor find themselves in a moral and political argument is carried out through parody. Swift additionally uses key vocabulary for a satirical effect: "I grant this food will be somewhat dear and therefore very proper for landlords who ...have already devoured most of the Parents". There are clever puns around the term "dear'. On one hand infants' flesh will attract a higher price (more expensive) as it is novel and rich quality. On the other hand a child is "dear'' and loved by its parents and should be dear to all. Swift masks his points through irony and asks the reader to consider what the poor think - all though 18th century public life the concerns of the ruling class were the only points of reference. Swift uses terms such as "parents of these mortals” to point out their humanity and suffering. It is a mark of Swift's skill that we are able to draw an analogy with the situation in his era and our own. Swifts effort to shock us with the consequences of our indifference is timely and relevant to all of us even today. Thus the two texts that I have studied demonstrate the skill with which Swift has used satirical protocols to comment on the foolish and corrupt nature of people and society