Jonathan Swift (1667- 1745) was part of the inner circle of the Tory government.
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Transcript of Jonathan Swift (1667- 1745) was part of the inner circle of the Tory government.
With the death of Queen Anne and
ascension of George I in 1714, the Whigs
returned to power and the Tory leaders were
tried for treason.
With the return of the Whigs, Swift left
England and returned to Ireland in exile, to live "like
a rat in a hole".
In Ireland, Swift turned his pamphleteering skills
in support of Irish causes, producing some of his most memorable works, earning him the
status of an Irish patriot.
Across Ireland, poor Catholic children
were living in squalor because
their families were too poor to keep
them fed and clothed.
"A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor
People from Being a Burden to their Parents, or the
Country, and for Making them
Beneficial to the Public”
The tract proposes "a fair, cheap, and easy
method" for converting the
starving children of Ireland into "sound
and useful members of the Commonwealth."
“I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young
healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing,
and wholesome food...”
His proposal is to fatten up
undernourished children and feed them
to rich land-owners. Poor children could be sold at a meat market
at age one.
ADVANTAGES of this Proposal:
•combat overpopulation and unemployment,
•spare families the expense of child-bearing while providing them with a little extra income,
•improve the culinary experience of the wealthy, and
•contribute to the overall economic well-being of Ireland.
Swift next began writing his masterpiece, Travels into Travels into Several Remote Nations of Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts, by the World, in Four Parts, by
Lemuel Gulliver, first a Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then a surgeon, and then a
captain of several shipscaptain of several ships,, better known as Gulliver's
Travels.
Often published in abridged form as a
children's book, Travels is a
sophisticated satire of human
nature based on Swift's
experience of his times.
Each of the four books--recounting four
voyages to fictional exotic lands--has a
different theme, but all are attempts to
deflate human pride.
Part I: A Voyage to LilliputGulliver is
washed ashore and awakes to
find himself prisoner of a
race of people 6
inches tall.
Gulliver assists the Lilliputians in subduing their neighbors
the Blefuscudians by stealing their fleet. However, he
refuses to reduce the country to a province of Lilliput,
displeasing the King and the court. Gulliver is charged with treason and sentenced to be
blinded.
The feuding between the Lilliputians and the
Blefuscudians is meant to represent the feuding
countries of England and France, but the reason for
the war is meant to satirize satirize the religious feud between the religious feud between Catholics and ProtestantsCatholics and Protestants.
Part II: A Voyage to
Brobdingnag
Gulliver is abandoned by his companions
and found by a farmer 900 feet tall, who brings Gulliver home. His daughter
cares for Gulliver. The farmer treats him as a curiosity
and exhibits him for money.
•In between small adventures, Gulliver discusses the state of Europe with the King, who is not impressed.
•Gulliver gets picked up by a giant eagle who drops him into the sea where he is picked up by sailors who return him to England.
Part III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and Japan
After Gulliver's ship is attacked by pirates, he
is marooned near a desolate rocky island
near India and is rescued by the flying island of Laputa . . .
Gulliver is taken to Balnibarbi to await a Dutch trader.
While there, he tours the country and sees the ruin brought about by
blind pursuit of science without
practical results.
He meets the Struldbruggs, who are completely senile, but
immortal. Gulliver returns home, determined never to travel again.
Gulliver returns to sea as a captain. His crew members mutiny and leave him on the first
piece of land they come across so they can continue on as
pirates.
•The Houyhnhnms are grave, rational, and virtuous; they have created a perfect society.
•They only tolerate the Yahoos and use them for menial services.
However, the Houyhnhnms rule that Gulliver, a Yahoo with
some reason, is a danger to their civilization, and he is
expelled.
He is rescued by a Portuguese ship, and
is surprised to see that the captain, a Yahoo, is a wise, courteous, and
generous person.
Gulliver returns home to England.
However, he is unable to reconcile
himself to living among Yahoos.
He becomes a recluse, remaining in his
house, avoiding his family, and spending several hours a day speaking with the
horses in his stables.
THEMES:1.A satirical view of the state
of European governments, and of petty differences between religions.
2.An inquiry into whether men are inherently corrupt or whether they become corrupted.
• The causes of Gulliver's misadventures become more malignant as time goes on - he is first shipwrecked, then abandoned, then attacked by strangers, then attacked by his own crew.
• Gulliver's attitude hardens as the book progresses.
• Each part is the reverse of the preceding part.
• No form of government is ideal.• Specific individuals may be good even
where the race is bad.• Gulliver progresses from a cheery optimist
at the start of the first part to a pompous misanthrope at the book's conclusion.