-
Essay / Analysis of Swift's use of satirical techniques in Gulliver's Travels
In an elaborate concoction of political allegory, social anatomy, moral fable, and false utopia: Gulliver's Travels is written with the voice of Captain Lemuel Gulliver, an educated sailor. traveling to distant countries with the aim of contributing to human knowledge. The four books written by Jonathan Swift could well be considered masterpieces, as he uses a clever parody of pseudo-scientific exploration journals and travelogues to launch a veritable assortment of social and political satirical attacks . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIn the first book, Gulliver is shipwrecked on an unknown island named Lilliput, where he encounters a race of people “under six inches”. Curiously, the customs and history of these peoples sometimes resemble those of the English remarkably. Although Gulliver always tells the story in his own voice, his experiences with the people of Lilliput bear a notable resemblance to the actual events that took place between the Earl of Oxford and Viscount Bolingbroke. Captain Gulliver's opening letter to his cousin Sympson is an admirable introduction to Swift's propensity for irony; Even Gulliver's most innocent denials often turn out to be satirical attacks on politics, hypocrisy, and even humanity in general. On the first page he claims not to know the meaning of the word "insinuation", directly stating the names of Queen Anne and her ministers, Godolphin and Oxford. This is in fact a contradiction in itself – as is much of what Gulliver writes, as we later discover. Innuendo is used countless times in books; it is a valuable tool for the satirist because it allows him to implicate a target through seemingly unrelated attacks. Gulliver connects the "people in power" to the "Yahoos", despicable human-looking creatures who appear in book four. His list of expected "reforms" that should result from reading his journals is actually a summary of the criticisms he leveled at society throughout his travels. In the first chapter, "A Journey to Lilliput", Swift's irony appears even in the face of turbulent narrative; When Gulliver wakes up and finds himself trapped, he readily accepts his helpless position. In the hands of the Lilliputian state, he refers to his captors using the most courteous titles, as one would normally address the nobility. Gulliver's joy is apparent in chapter two, but already the descriptions contain a certain amount of irony, illustrated when Gulliver refers to the emperor's "majestic" behavior. With his "Austrian lip", the emperor is a satirical portrait of the Hanoverian king George I, who cannot be described as either "graceful" or "well-proportioned". The corruption of the secretaries of state as well as the inventory drawn up of Gulliver's possessions after a security check suggest real events of the time, the latter alluding to the equally careful investigation which took place in 1715 involving the Whigs and the deposed Tory leaders of Oxford. and Bolingbroke. Swift considered Oxford a giant among the pygmies. A court satire characterizes chapter three; the activities that transpire are clearly intended to characterize the court of George I, or indeed any governmental institution. The style of speech and trivial requirements used to select candidates for high office are ironic, as is Swift's reference to "the careful and exact economy of asuch a great prince”, especially now that he is in “full freedom”. The next chapter includes an interview with Reldresal, the Principal Secretary of Private Affairs (itself a satirical title), addressing the political concerns of the Empire. There are two factions, the "High Heels" and the "Low Heels", both favorable to the king, but the latter is currently in power. This corresponds to the festivals of the high and low churches in Swift's world: the Whigs, favored by George I, and the Tories, a powerful group because the prince allied himself with both parties. Swift's use of "heel" may allude to the real situation; the Prince "limped" with one heel higher than the other. More detailed historical allusions are illustrated in this chapter, with the 'Bloody War' symbolizing the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713) and 'the grandfather of his present Majesty' - a vague reference to Henry VIII and the English Reformation. The execution of Charles I and the dismissal of James II are illustrated in the sentence: "One emperor has lost his life and another his crown." » The white staff of Filmnap in chapter six reflected the white staff, which was the symbol of the office of the English Lord Treasurer. . Gulliver's initial shock at the seemingly absurd customs of the Lilliputian people is an aggressive metaphor alluding to Swift's attitude toward the employment of atheists and the education of working-class children. Swift satirizes the weak accusations against his friends in chapter seven, when Gulliver learns of a plot to impeach him for treason. It is somewhat humorous when Gulliver's informant tells him how the court plans to commit suicide on him: first by blinding him, then by starving him, assuming that he will lie down for the operation. In this classic parody of politicians' arguments, we can see the irony in the fact that the little Lilliputians are totally oblivious to Gulliver's size, perhaps fueled by their illusions of power and inflated self-esteem. Their blindness is underlined by the sentence: “It would be enough for you to see through the eyes of ministers, since the greatest princes no longer do so. » In the second book, the situation is reversed and Gulliver is accidentally abandoned in an unmapped country. region of North America where the inhabitants are twelve times its size. Unlike Lilliput, Brobdingnag bears little resemblance to England, but the political satire continues when Gulliver is introduced as an 18th-century English delegate appointed to justify the human race. When Gulliver dines with the queen, he talks to the king about European culture, but cringes in embarrassment when the king refers to his people as "little insects" who can only imitate human greatness. Here, Swift puts words into the king's mouth that reflect his own vision of human society. The sharpest satire Swift includes in the second journey comes in chapter six, when Gulliver attempts to impress the king by talking about his "dear native land." . Although eloquent, Gulliver's speech is ironic in itself, revealing a number of human follies. A light cross-examination takes place when the king, after careful consideration, presents Gulliver with his final and devastating judgment: "I can only conclude that the greater part of your natives are the most pernicious race of odious little vermin on which the nature has ever allowed crawling. the surface of the earth". This is an example of exaggeration, a common technique in satire; using an extreme case is one of the best ways to help the audience recognize the presence of a vice and, like all satire , recognition must precede correction The ironic and rhetorical arrangement of the entire chapter is the product of the mind..