A Short Biographical Sketch of the Author:
Jonathan Swift, the gifted man for writing remarkable satires and allegories, was born in 1667 in Ireland to English parents. He was brought up in comparative poverty in Ireland, indicating that he grew up in an unstable society torn by fundamental political and religious differences. His father died several months before he was born and his parent’s marriage had been, by his own later account, rather imprudent. So he was brought up in modest circumstances depending on his uncle who later paid for him to get an education.
However, Swift attended Ireland’s best schools, including Trinity College in Dublin, which is where he was in 1689 when civil unrest forced him and other Protestants to flee Ireland for England. In England, Swift began to work as secretary to scholar and former Parliament member Sir William Temple and lived at his home until Temple’s death in 1699. Swift was exposed to many new books, ideas, and important and influential people during this time. Swift was committed to Christianity by intellectual conviction. He wanted a career in the church. But, unfortunately, his satirical writings, such as A Tale of a Tub and Battle of the Books (both 1704) offended Queen Anne, who made sure he could not get a decent position. As a result, his ecclesiastical career was confined to the Church of Ireland.
Swift had direct and personal experience of revolutionary instability of a kind few of his English contemporaries would have had. His father and uncle had settled in Ireland as late as the restoration, being thus among the newest, most rootless, of the alien English racial and religious minority. The peasant’s life in Ireland which had a large population had a profound effect on Swift due to the severe degradation suffered. There is a debate that argues that the Yahoos in Swift’s text are in fact a representation of the peasants: of Ireland.
Swift took an active part in politics. Swift was a Whig, an English political party, all of his life. Although Swift was non-Catholic, he stood up for his country. The Whig party did not allow Swift to stand up for Ireland because the Whigs were affiliated with Queen Anne. The conflicts between Swift and the Whig party started because of his dedication to the Anglican Church. Swift ignored the Whigs and resigned. In -1710, he joined a more conventional group, the Tory party. Unfortunately, the Tory party fell apart four years later.
While this political confusion was occurring, Swift was significantly making an impact on his time period. His satires contributed to the change in society’s perspectives on many things. Swift started writing political pamphlets on the Whig party. These pamphlets gained fame all around England as did Swift. Soon after, his name was common all over the British Isles. After the conflicts with Queen Anne and the Church, Swift released A Tale of a Tub. This satire mocked the monarchy and supported the position of the Church.
Swift continued to write important works, including A Modest Proposal (1729). He was defensive about anything said or done to Ireland. A Modest Proposal is mainly about England’s attempt to weaken Ireland’s economy and political power. Swift implies that Ireland is invincible and can solve any problem it is faced with. Swift’s pseudonymously written The Drapier’s Letters, published in 1724, denounced England’s plan to force the. Irish used a new currency that would prevent the Irish from trading with other countries. Swift hated how England took advantage of the Irish. This popular and controversial essay actually forced the English to discard their currency plan, making Swift an Irish hero to this day. He spent several years writing Gulliver’s Travels,’ which was eventually published in 1726. The book was an instant success.
He remained dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral until 1742 when Swift was declared of unsound mind. He was suffering from a disease, which affected his writing tremendously. He could not continue writing because of his mental illness. Eventually, he was sent to a mental institution, where he died in 1745. He was buried next to Esther Johnson in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
About Gulliver’s Travels:
Swift wrote many satires and allegories throughout his lifetime, but the most popular was Gulliver’s Travels. Although in its abridged form the book is popular as a classic children’s adventure story, it is actually a biting work of political and social satire by an Anglican priest, historian, and political commentator. Structurally, the book is divided into four separate adventures; or travels, which Dr. Lemuel Gulliver undertakes by accident when his vessel is shipwrecked or taken over by pirates. In these fantastic tales, Swift satirizes the political events in England and Ireland in his day, as well as English values and institutions. He ridicules academics, scientists, and Enlightenment thinkers who value rationalism above all else, and finally, he targets the human condition itself.
Historical Background of Gulliver’s Travels:
The age in which Swift lived is sometimes called the Augustan Age. The period experienced a growing admiration for classical Rome, particularly the reign of Emperor Augustus, among the writers and artists of the time. Satire emerged as a popular literary genre. Writers were satirising the weaknesses of society and politics. This dominant trend of the age influenced Swift too.
The history of Ireland is full of British invasion and oppression. During the reign of Elizabeth, about a hundred years before Swift’s birth, Ireland came completely under English control. But, the difference continued. The religious difference was remarkable. Most of the Irish had remained Roman Catholics after the English went over to Anglican Protestantism in the sixteenth century. Swift’s family was Anglican, and they were part of the elite living in Dublin that was known as “the Ascendancy”, because it included the most powerful people in Ireland.
During the English Civil War, radical English Protestants oppressed the Irish Catholics, depriving them of property and civil rights. The oppression continued even in Swift’s time. Though King James II granted religious freedom to Catholics, Catholics were again deprived of many of their rights when Britain became a limited monarchy under the control of the British Parliament. In England, religious freedom for Protestants who were not Anglicans was limited. Swift protested against many of these limitations of freedom and against commercial restrictions on Ireland.
Two political parties were dominant during Swift’s time – the Whigs, who represented merchants and non-Anglican Protestants called “Dissenters; and the Tories, who wanted to strengthen Parliament represented wealthy landowners, and also wanted to strengthen the Anglican Church and make the King more powerful. Swift, an Anglican dean, was a Tory.
In the eighteenth century, England was fast flourishing economically. The Bank of England was established, trading in stocks and bonds became important, the cities grew, international commerce increased, and the Royal Society was established to conduct scientific research. Swift satirized many of these tendencies in Gulliver’s Travels and elsewhere.
In the field of literature, prose writings, especially travel and adventure stories, were gaining popularity. Novels were often the more fanciful form of literature. Satires were also very popular. Swift, as a writer, was not immune from the dominant trends of his age.
Plot Summary of Gulliver’s Travels:
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels details a sailor’s journey to four very different fantastical societies. In the first voyage “A Voyage to Lilliput”, Gulliver, the narrator of the book, is the only person to reach land after a shipwreck. He awakes to find himself tied down by tiny men; the Lilliputians. Gulliver agrees to cooperate and is untied and taken to the capital where he meets Lilliput’s Emperor. He agrees to serve the Lilliputians and is granted partial freedom in return. Gulliver prevents an invasion from Lilliput’s enemy, Blefuscu, by stealing the enemy’s ships and is given a high title of honor. He makes friends and enemies at court and learns details of Lilliputian society. After putting out a fire in the palace by urinating on it, he is accused of high treason for polluting the palace. He is sentenced to be blinded and starved. However, Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu, finds a boat, sails out to sea, and is picked up by an English ship.
Two months after his return to England, Gulliver leaves on his second voyage “A Voyage to Brobdingnag”. He lands in an unknown country to get water and is abandoned. A giant reaper picks him up and takes him to a farmer, who wants him to be on exhibit as a freak. The Queen of Brobdingnag buys Gulliver and presents him to the King. The farmer’s daughter, Glumdalclitch, who had befriended Gulliver, is hired by the King as Gulliver’s guardian and nurse. Gulliver quarrels with the King’s dwarf but describes England in detail to the King. Gulliver is carried around in a box and tours the kingdom. He fights birds and animals and finds the King’s Maids of Honour, who undress before him, disgusting him because of their great size. Gulliver’s box is picked up by a gigantic eagle and dropped into the sea; he is picked up by an English ship and returns to England.
Shortly after his return, Gulliver leaves on his third voyage “A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggage, and Japan”. His ship is captured by pirates, who set him adrift in a small boat. He. arrives on the flying island of Laputa, which flies over the continent of Balnibarbi. The people he meets are interested only in abstract speculations. Their King asks Gulliver only about mathematics in England. Gulliver learns that the island is kept flying by magnetism. He travels to Balnibarbi, and he is shown the Academy of Laputa, where scholars devote all their time to absurd inventions and ideas. He then goes to Glubbdubdrib, an island of magicians. The King is waited on by ghosts, and he calls up the ghosts of dead historical characters at Gulliver’s request. He then goes to Luggnagg, where the Struldbruggs have eternal life but not eternal youth. After spending time in Japan, Gulliver returns to England.
On his fourth voyage “A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms”, Gulliver is set on shore in an unknown land by mutineers. This is the land of the Houyhnhnms: intelligent, rational horses who hold as servants repulsive animal-like human beings called Yahoos. A dapple-gray Houyhnhnm who becomes his master is unable to understand the frailties and emotions in Gulliver’s account of England. The Assembly is distressed at the idea of a partly-rational Yahoo living with a Houyhnhnm, votes to expel Gulliver. He makes a boat and is picked up by a Portuguese ship. On his return to England, Gulliver is so disgusted with human beings that he refuses to associate with them, preferring the company of horses.
Major Characters in Gulliver’s Travels:
Lamuel Gulliver: Lamuel Gulliver, the central figure in and the narrator of “Gulliver’s Travels” is a good-natured, hard-working, curious man, but a most ordinary one. As a character, Gulliver is quite inconsistent. At times he seems to be the mouthpiece for Swift himself, voicing the author’s opinions. At other times, he is quite proud and arrogant, even unlikable. In the first book, Gulliver appears naive and innocent. He is rather shocked at the corrupt and illogical practices of the Lilliputians. In the second book, Gulliver is among the giants. But, his inner depravity as a human being is exposed as he talks about his own civilization and art of war with the Brobdingnagian King. In the third book, Gulliver becomes the detached and half-cynical commentator on human life from without. Here he appears as a figure of human common sense in relation to the absurd astronomies and projectors of Laputa and Lagado. However, it is the happenings in the fourth book that deeply moves Gulliver. By the end of the book, Gulliver is unmistakably a misanthrope (hater of humankind), preferring the company of horses to humans, even his own family. This “madness” is the result of his fourth and final voyage, in which he was confronted with the imperfections of humanity. But Gulliver is not Swift; Gulliver’s misanthropy can not be attributed to Swift. Gulliver is a medium through which Swift launches his satiric bolts against his desired objects, e.g., political corruption, human pride, fruitless scientific efforts, and, above all, mankind.
Emperor of Lilliput: A fingernail taller than his subjects, the Lilliputian Emperor is a handsome man with strong features, an olive complexion, and a regal bearing. Swift has carefully delineated the tyranny and pride of the diminutive Lilliputian Emperor. He has turned the court into a place of intrigue and conspiracies. He is a tyrant who hankers after absolute power. He is spitefully proud and pride completely blunts his conscience and it leads him to pursue absolute power. This is evident in his desire of subjugating completely his Blefuscudian foes. The Emperor of Lilliput exemplifies pride and cruelty:
Skyresh Bolgolam: High Admiral of Lilliput and counselor to the Emperor, Skyresh Bolgolam is the enemy of Gulliver from the start. He brings Gulliver a list of demands or conditions for Gulliver to stay in Lilliput and also teams up with Flimnap to draw up articles of impeachment, which are leaked to Gulliver by an unnamed member of the court.
Brobdingnagian King: The Brobdingnagian King is a simple man who has few ideas about political intrigues and intricacies. He has turned his kingdom into a utopia that is ruled by ideal customs, laws, and procedures. He is a figure of common sense and kindness. In Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels the Brobdingnagian King is contrasted sharply with the Lilliputian Emperor.
Lord Munodi: Lord Munodi is the former governor of the rebellious city Lagado on Balnibari, the island oppressed by the Laputans on the third voyage. Unlike his neighbors’ fields and homes, Munodi’s house and land are intact and prosperous because he ignored the newfangled advice of the Projectors, scientists who insisted that farmers try new “improvements” that in the end were disastrous. Munodi represents the sensible man who does not toss away tradition and insists that newer is always better.
Pedro de Mendez: The captain of the Portuguese ship that rescues Gulliver on his fourth and final travel, he is extremely kind and sympathetic to Gulliver, helping him to return to England. Gulliver has been traumatized by his most recent travel and the realization that mankind, in general, is more Yahoo than Houyhnhnm. Thus, while Mendez is a contrast to the Yahoos, Gulliver has trouble appreciating goodness of Mendez. Swift likely created this character to remind the readers that even if mankind is corrupt and selfish, individuals exist who are kind and good.
Houyhnhnms: The Houyhnhnms are horses who are guided by their flawless rationality. They represent utopia, they are the perfect race in Gulliver’s mind. The Houyhnhnms have an ideal society and are unfamiliar with the concepts of lying, deceit, jealousy, or hatred. Critics have long argued whether Swift presents the Houyhnhnm as an ideal society or whether they, too, are set up for satire. In their land, the Houyhnhnms control the human-like ignoble Yahoos. Yahoos are vicious humanlike creatures. Gulliver is very ashamed of being in the same form as these Yahoos and really wanted to stay with the Houyhnhnms but they reject him for being so much like a Yahoo. Gulliver’s experiences in the land of Houyhnhnms turn him into a misanthrope. Though the Houyhnhnms are rational animals, they lack passion.
Yahoos: The Yahoos are a barbaric race of filthy, repulsive humanoids who live in the country of the Houyhnhnm. They resemble human beings so much that the Houyhnhnm have trouble believing that Gulliver is not one of them. They represent mankind at its very worst.
Themes in Gulliver’s Travels:
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a complex book and hosts a number of themes. Satirizing the human condition is one of the major themes of the book. Swift exposes the flaws of human nature through a microscope. The work is often regarded as misanthropic anatomy of human nature; a mockery of our society. Swift uses the tale of a susceptible traveler exploring strange lands to reveal the innate * depravity and moral degeneration of human beings. In the first Book,
Swift exposes the corruption of Lilliputians, miniature human beings. The Lilliputians are illogical and spiteful. Pride, selfishness, and hypocrisy of human beings are exposed and criticized in the first Book. In the second Book, Gulliver as a proud man is attacked. The frailties of English society and government are subtly exposed. The third Book satirizes the intellectual part of man– man’s tendency to overlook the limitations of his intellect. In the Book, Swift mocks unproductive activities in the name of scientific inventions. The fourth Book bitterly exposes. the precarious human condition. Man’s debased state is represented by the Yahoos, human-like animals, who are dirty, savage, and barbaric, with no capacity for reason. In the figures of Yahoos, Swift exposes the barbarism of humanity.
Politics is another theme that is central to Swift’s book. The first Book of “Gulliver’s Travels” is a complex political allegory based on Swift’s own experience of politics during Queen Anne’s reign. Many of the happenings and characters in this section can be traced back to a number of significant events and personalities in English politics during the years from about 1708 to 1715. The petty Lilliputian Emperor represents the worst kind of governor, pompous and too easily influenced by his counselors’ selfish ambitions. He is also a stand-in for King George I, from his identification with the Whig party (the fictional Low Heels) to his betrayal of his friend and helper, Gulliver (who represents Swift and his Tory friends Oxford and Bolingbroke), to his ridiculous means of choosing his advisors and rewarding them with meaningless ribbons (which represent titles and other useless favors bestowed by George I on his cronies). Swift also explores the duties and purpose of government in Parts I, II, and IV. By having Gulliver discuss his system of government and: compare it to the ones he discovers, Swift raises questions about the government’s role in public education, provisions for the poor, and distribution of wealth.
Gulliver’s Travels is primarily satire. The book is a satire on four aspects of man – the political, the physical, the intellectual, and the moral. It is not only a satire on human vices and follies but also a satire on government and politics. English government and politics are categorically satirized. Swift also does not lose the slightest opportunity in launching his satirical butt upon women. He also satirizes various professions like lawyers. The book involves contentions like whether the Gulliver’s misanthropy reflects Swift’s attitude towards humankind or whether Swift is a misogynist. The idea of a utopia, the idea of a perfect society, is also hinted at in the final part of the book.
Structure of Gulliver’s Travels:
Structurally, Gulliver’s Travels is divided into four parts, with two introductory letters at the beginning of the book. These letters, from Gulliver and his editor Sympson, let us know that Gulliver is basically a good person who has been very much changed by the amazing journeys to follow. Part I follows Gulliver’s journey to Lilliput and its tiny people; Part II to Brobdingnag and its giants; Part III to several islands and countries near Japan; Part IV follows Gulliver to the country of the Houyhnhnm. The first and second parts set up contrasts that allow Swift to satirize European politics and society. The third part satirizes human institutions and thinking and is subdivided into four sections that are set in Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, and Luggnagg. The first two sections are seen as a critique of sciences and scholars; the Glubbdubdrib section looks at history; and the Luggnagg section at Swift’s fears about getting old. The final section moves from criticizing humanity’s works to examining the flawed nature of humanity itself.
Style and Technique:
Swift has employed a narrator, Lamuel Gulliver, to narrate the stories of the book. But, this first-person narrator is not completely reliable. Swift deliberately makes Gulliver naive and sometimes even arrogant for two reasons. First, it makes the reader more skeptical about the ideas presented in the book. Second, it allows the reader to have a good laugh at Gulliver’s expense when he does not realize the absurdity of his limited viewpoint. Swift’s manipulation of Gulliver, in manifold ways, is the most effective device to reach his satirical goal.
Fundamentally, Swift has written his satire in the form of imaginary voyages to fantastic lands. Apparently, it seems to be the most pleasant children’s book enjoyable to the brim, but no one can overlook for long the dark charms underneath. Gentleness, playfulness, irony, sarcasm finely poised argument, and lacerating invectives are so carefully enfolded one within another that it is evident Swift created endless mystery on purpose.
The author uses various techniques in order to bring his ideas home. Gulliver is at once the author and the protagonist of the narrative. This dramatic technique makes Swift impersonal in his attack; he can evade ample charge by imposing on Gulliver’s shoulder. Gulliver, who is a satirist in the first Book, turns into the very object of Swift’s satire in the second Book. Contrast is used as a technique. Physical contrasts are present throughout the book. The Lilliputian Emperor is contrasted with the Brobdingnagian King. The estate of Lord Munodi is contrasted with the other estates. In the fourth Book, Houyhnhnms are contrasted with the Yahoos. Even the Gulliver in one part is contrasted with the Gulliver in the other part. Swift also exploits other devices like irony and humor. In fact, Swift uses all the techniques available to tear off the pride of man, to ridicule his immoral living, to make fun of his boastful reason, his inhuman activities, and his professional corruption.
Gulliver’s Travels is Swift’s masterpiece. Despite the early controversies, critics over the years have come to hail Gulliver’s Travels as the greatest satire by the greatest prose satirist in the English language. Swift intended the book to be both an attack on mankind and its follies and an honest assessment of mankind’s positive and negative qualities. It is also considered a critique of the greatest moral, philosophical, scientific, and political ideas of Swift’s time.
