Swift’s satirical techniques in Gulliver’s Travels

Or, Comment on Swift’s satirical techniques in Gulliver’s Travels.

Or, What are the objects of Swift’s satire in Gulliver’s Travels?

Or, What satirical devices have been used in Gulliver’s Travels?

Or, Comment on the technique of satire in Gulliver’s Travels.

Or, What does Swift attack in Gulliver’s Travels and how?

Answer: Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a masterpiece in the world of satire in English Literature. Without any doubt, satire is the main weapon by which Swift goes on describing the journey. Swift uses satire in various degrees and appearances in Gulliver’s Travels. He is very simple in describing satires in various sectors. His use of satire is very much successful. That is why; he chooses satire as a weapon to uphold various aspects of real life.

The descriptions in Voyage-I and in Voyage-III are direct and. laconic. He states the incidents in such a way that the fact becomes a satire itself.

Swift is perfect in holding the attention and interest of the readers though they may be unwilling to go through the text. Thus, persuasiveness is another technique of Swift in this regard. In fact, the multiplicity of satiric devices that Swift uses in Gulliver’s Travels has the credit of aiming at his satire as more reactive, interesting as well as persuasive. About Swift’s use of satire, Dr. Johnson comments that Swift “instructs but does not persuade”. A satirist is a successful writer who is persuasive in his/her art. Another critic, James Sutherland goes further in praising Swift as a satirist. He says that Swift is capable of capturing the attention of unwilling or hostile readers through his artistic device of persuasive satire. Swift is perfect in describing an incident in a very interesting and all-reactive way through his persuasive satires.

In Part I, Swift satirizes politics in Gulliver’s Travels. The ancient in which Gulliver is housed in Lilliput most probably refers to Westminster Hall in which Charles-I had been condemned to death. The search of Gulliver by the Lilliputians may have some reference to a committee. The committee had been formed by the Whigs to investigate the conduct of the previous government. Here Swift seems to be satirizing the activities of that Whig committee.

The three nice silk threads which were awarded as prizes to the winners of various contests refer to the various distinctions which were conferred by the English King on his favorites. In other words, Swift is here mocking the English King’s conferment 01 distinctions on political favorites and supporters.

Then Swift satirizes the Big-Endians and the Little-Endians in Lilliput. Here his satire is very amusing to us. At that time, there was a conflict between the Big-Endians and the Little-Endians. It is funny that, while one party believes that boiled eggs should be broken at the big end, the other party insists on breaking the eggs at the smaller end. In this account, Swift’s is ridiculing the conflicts between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. He is making fun of hair-splitting theological disputes.

Thus it is clear that Part-I is largely a satirical representation of the English political and religious life of the time. In Part II, the satire becomes general. Here, Gulliver first gives us his reaction to the coarseness and ugliness of the human body. In Part II, we meet the people of Brobdingnag who are giants in stature and who thus present a glaring contrast to the pigmies of Lilliput. In his account of the Brobdingnagians, he is looking at mankind through a magnifying glass.

The bitterest in this part of the book comes when the King comments on Gulliver’s account of the English parliament, the English courts of justice, and the other institutions in England. The King’s view is that the history of Gulliver’s country seems to him to be only a series of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacres, revolutions, banishments, etc. according to the King, all these are a result of hypocrisy, perfidy, cruelty, rage, madness, hatred, envy, lust, malice, and ambition. The comments of the King almost sum up Swift’s own cynical views about mankind in general.

The satire in Part II does not end here. We have some more of it when the King reacts with scorn and disgust to Gulliver’s account of the destruction which can be caused by means of gunpowder. The King’s reaction is also significant when Gulliver informs him that in his country hundreds of books are written on the art of government.

To sum up, we may say that Swift shows himself as a great satirist in this book by giving us comic satire and corrosive satire. By the use of satire, he is sometimes witty and sometimes indignant. He is very conscious of the defects of mankind. To uphold the defects of society and mankind he satirizes different devices and adopts some techniques.