Comment on Swift’s satire on science in “A Voyage to Laputa”.

Or, What does Swift satirize in the third part of Gulliver’s Travels? Answer with illustrations.

Or, How far is the “Flying Island” significant in the third book of Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels?

Or, Comment on Jonathan Swift’s attitude towards science as enumerated in his book Gulliver’s Travels.

Or, Why does Swift satirize science in the third book of Gulliver’s Travels? Illustrate with textual references.

Or, Discuss the satire on science in “A Voyage to Laputa” of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

Or, For what purpose and in what manner does Swift’s satirize science in Gulliver’s Travels.

Or, How does Swift satirize the abuses of science in Gulliver’s Travels, Book-III?

Or, Critically evaluate the third book of Gulliver’s Travels as a satire on science.

Or, Why and how science is satirized in Gulliver’s Travels.

Or, Comment on Swift’s satire on science.

Answer: Jonathan swift is one of the greatest satirists of English literature. He has keenly observed the deformities of society and attacked them with a benevolent purpose. He always attacks the bad side of society so that these absurdities may be mended. Actually, satire means an attack on the follies and foibles of society. A satirist must aim at perfection. In this respect, Swift is a great satirist. He has criticized the useless scientific practices of the then society. He has mainly attacked Royal society.

Swift’s trend of satire originated while he was working in England from 1710 to 1714. Then, Swift, Pope, and others built up a club namely scribblers the members of the club selected their topic on which they has to satirize. Swift’s task was to satirize the mathematics and science of the then society. He writes satire on science and Mathematics and tater he incorporated it in his Travel’s third voyage, the voyage to Laputa. Now, we are going to explore the voyage to show how he has all packed the malpractices of science in Laputa.

Gulliver, the mouthpiece of swift, was amazed to see the awkwardness of the people of Laputa. They are absorbed in Mathematics. They are also fond of music. Their dresses are decorated with pictures of musical instruments and geometrical sketches. They always keep servants. They are so much absorbed in Mathematics that they are not conscious of their own self. Their servants always keep flappers with them. To attract their attention they strike at their heads ears and eyes. They are almost abstracted. They do not look at the way they are going along. Their servants always keep a careful watch over them lest they should stumble against the steep rocks or lest they should run the risk of falling into the pit. Though they are fond of geometry, they make dresses that are not fit for the wearers.

The tailors of Laputa take the measurement of the wearers with a quadrant carefully. But the dresses which they make are ridiculous and useless to the civilized man like Gulliver. The mathematicians are So much absent-minded that even in their presence their wives make love with others but they cannot realize it swift’s satire reaches its climax when he says that a wife of a minister flees from the flying island and comes to the lower island. There she is discovered in the rags of an ugly deformed fellow who beats her daily but she dies not to leave him. Thus the abstraction of the scientists and its consequence has been severely criticized by Jonathan Swift.

Swift’s satire on science reaches the climax when he attacks the Grand Academy of Lagado. In this Academy, the scientists are excessively absorbed in their experiments. One scientist is trying to extract sub-beam from the cucumbers. He is on the verge of abstraction. Another scientist is busy reducing human excrement to food. He is absent-minded even to himself. His clothes are full of filth but he does not care for it. Another scientist is always busy making silk out of the con web. A scientist is busy with an experiment on how to cultivate the land with hogs. They are trying to build houses whose foundations are upwards and the roofs are downwards. A scientist is trying to soften the rock and uses it as a pillow. They are going on with the experiment that the language should be used without verbs. In fact, they are so much abstracted in the baseless scientific experiment that they have lost the power of realizing reality. Even none of the walls of their houses is straight. Thus Swift has severely criticized the malpractices of science.

However, in the context of the delineation as stated above we come across that Swift has given vent to his hatred of the malpractice of science. But we should never think that Swift is a hater of science. Actually, he hates only science which is not for the benefit of mankind. Thus he represents himself as a great lover of the human race.