Gulliver's Travel Ignorance

to foster happiness in this environment, however, this contradicts his views of happiness in his other work, Gulliver’s Travels. While it seems that happiness is acquired through, ignorance and deception of the truth in A Tale of a Tub, in Gulliver’s Travels, happiness is acquired through the exact opposite, curated knowledge. In Gulliver’s Travels, knowledge seems to be a source of happiness, but also a hindrance depending on its breadth and distribution. When Gulliver is in Brobdingnag, he is surprised by the ignorance of the King and his people. The King is astounded by Gulliver’s description of cannons and gunpowder and wishes not to know anymore about it or to spread this knowledge to his people. Gulliver criticizes the King for his

However, it is this ignorance that allows them to avoid massive war catastrophes, and maintain a peaceful village. The King has no desire to dictate the lives of his people and of neighboring countries through violent means. He instead chooses to dictate the knowledge of his people, which allows them to live and a balanced, ordered life, albeit, ignorant life. The balance of knowledge is crucial to the maintenance of happiness, and by choosing to abstain from cannons, the King is able to sustain his happiness and that of his village. Although he withholds particular information from his people, the King ensures that his people know what is necessary for them to succeed and live happy lives. He acknowledges that knowledge, like that which Gulliver has disclosed, can be dangerous to both the safety and the happiness of his people. Like the cliché, ignorance seems to be bliss, however, this ignorance is balanced with crucial knowledge necessary for excelling in life. Gulliver criticizes the knowledge of the people of Brobdingnag after criticizing that of the King,

When describing the more learned men, Imlac reveals that although they may be happier than the ignorant, they are still not entirely happy. He says, “the Europeans, are less unhappy than we, but they are not happy. Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed” (355). So perhaps there is no happiness, just a lessening of unhappiness, which is still quite a cynical way of perceiving the world compared Pope, and not dissimilar from Swift’s own cynical view on happiness. This idea is further perpetuated by Imlac’s happiness compared to that of the other attendants living in the Happy Valley. When questioned by Rasselas on his amount of happiness as someone who has seen the world and is now confined to the Happy Valley, Imlac answers, “I know not one of your attendants who does not lament the hour when he entered . . . I am less unhappy than the rest, because I have a mind replete with images, which I can vary and combine at pleasure” (357). Although the Happy Valley limits the ability of his experiences, Imlac is still able to reduce his unhappiness through his knowledge of the outside world. Similar to Swift’s idea of happiness, Imlac is able to lessen his unhappiness through deception and imagination, by recalling images and conditions that are unlike his current condition in order