Gulliver's Travels - Satire
Gulliver's Travels was written during an era of change known as the Reformation Period. The way this book is written suggests some of the political themes from that time period, including the well-known satire. These themes are displayed throughout Gulliver's Travels, and even sometimes reflect upon today's society.
Many things in the book Gulliver's Travels prove that it was set in the Restoration Period. Some of the ways you can tell this are: the clothing, the speech, the governments, and of course, the lack of technology. But these things do not prove that the book was written in the Restoration Era. Any writer from any time period after the Reformation Period could write a book similar to Gulliver's Travels, which was set in the Reformation Period. What sets Swift's masterpiece apart and actually proves it was written in the time when many things were changing is the use of satire and political ideas relating to the era.
One of the forms of political satire is embodied in the first culture that is met by Gulliver. The Lilliputians are the embodiment of England of the time period. The Lilliputians are small people who control Gulliver through means of threats. "...when in an instant I felt above a hundred arrows discharged into my left hand, which pricked my like so many needles; and besides they shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe" (Swift, 24). England was a small country that had Europe (represented by Gulliver) and many other parts of the world under their control. This example of comparing the political situation in Europe at the time to the story is further demonstrated by using Gulliver against the Blefescan nation, much like a European nation would use a political ally. Another way that Swift uses satire against the society of the time is through the medium of science. During the Reformation period, people were beginning to questions superstitions and theories by using science to explain things. The most famous of these explanations was when Halley discovered that a comet (later named for him) made a predictable orbit around the sun. During the voyage to Laputa, Gulliver commends the Laputians on their study of comets, even saying that ".
“In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Every elementary student across the United States has been taught this tune about the great explorer, Christopher Columbus. Columbus was a very important historical figure, and he has been credited with uniting Europe and America. He was not the first European to discover America, but he discovered a lot of land that was unknown to the Europeans, and he paved the path for Spanish land claims and spread of Spanish culture. As the Anthology of American Literature states, “He changed the way the world saw itself” (Columbus, 14). For this reason, his name and life story has been preserved in history books all around the world.
The first voyage of Gulliver takes him to the isle of Lilliput. There, he must play to a petty and ineffectual government. Swift uses several devices to highlight the Lilliputian stupidity. First, they are physically agile and graceful in comparison to Gulliver, who is portrayed as cumbersome and brutish.
The “presence” of the North American Continent had been known to the persons living there for centuries before arrival. But Columbus, and those who followed him, recognized the significance of the New World; in this sense they certainly deserve credit for having “discovered” America.
The protagonist and namesake of the novel, Gulliver’s Travels by Johnathan Swift serves as a venue for Swift to air his opinions about the state of the world he lives in. Gulliver, a shipman from England, travels around a fantastical world after he is shipwrecked, then thrown overboard by his own crew. The places he visits on his travels are sardonic representations of real world countries, and the people he meets are also representations of the natives each place represents. Gulliver’s view as an outsider, especially of that of an outsider hailing from a country that, at the time, attempted to colonize and anglicize the rest of the world allow for Swift to write a satirical novel on human nature and our views of cultures and people that are
Each of the four books of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels discusses one aspect of human nature. The discussions’ language is rather satirical than an earnest tone. The first book is about the physical aspect, the voyage to Brobdingnag focuses on the “Homo politicus”, the political man. The third book is about intellect, while in the land if the Houyhnhnms we can “meet” the moral man. Now I am going to discuss the appearance of the intellectual aspect in the figurative language of book three.
Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. He was named Christofero Columbo, after the patron saint. His father was Donenico Columbo, a weaver and wool dealer. Columbus had two brothers, Diego and Bartolome. Historians are certain that Columbus was not a noble.
Gulliver’s Travels is a satirical novel about a sailor’s adventures through strange lands; the author of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift, uses these adventures to satirize the English society. The most prevalent satire is used as Gulliver travels through the lands of Lilliput, Brombdinag, and the Houyhnhnms.
In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver learns that experiencing different lifestyles he thought were better than his own actually makes him appreciate his own life with a more meaningful disposition through his journeys to Lilliput, Brobdingnag, and the Country of the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver’s journey to Lilliput effectuated forlorn feelings of his home. Likewise, Gulliver’s trek to Brobdingnag assists in his realization that changing perspectives also alter his attitude towards his homeland. Finally, Gulliver’s expedition to the Country of Houyhnhnms, where horses act civilized on and people act like wild animals. Gulliver soon learns that through his mystical journeys that changing the perspective in which he views the world reverses feelings of gratefulness towards his home. Gulliver’s first journey set sail to the Lilliputians on May 4th, 1699.
The Importance of Perspective Revealed in Gulliver's Travels According to Gulliver, "Undoubtably philosophers are right when they tell us that nothing is great or small by comparison. " This quotation sums up the knowledge a person would gather after doing a vast study of different societies. The nature of humanity is being discussed, rather than physical size. The Lilliputians are narrow-minded people who become angry over trivial matters, while the Brobdingnagians are deeper people, in contrast.
As one can see, Gulliver’s Travel is a good example of Swift’s idea of the English government. The novel satires the way the English government was superficial through the Lilliputian society and the type of government England should had through Brobdingnagians society. Swift was able to make a social statement through his utopia to “push an ideal, ideology, or political demand to its logical extreme in order to make it serve as a warning for society.” (A Novel Approach to Politics pg.21) The utopia served as a satirical comedy to reach out to England to show the mistakes of government.
By reducing the size of the Lilliputians, who metaphorically represents English society, Swift strips them of any real significance and power. Instead, their pride and self-importance makes them believe in a false power. This point is exemplified through Gulliver’s account of how the Lilliputians achieve rank and authority. According to Gulliver,
As the author of A Modest Proposal, it is easy to understand that Jonathan Swift would use similar techniques in Gulliver’s Travels. One of those tools being social satire. Swift lived with many disappointments in his personal life and witnessed mistreatment of others. England in the late 17th and early 18th century was filled with corruption, greed, and pride. He chose to use satire as his weapon and defense against that which he disapproved. “In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift creates several different societies which, in contrast to the real world in which Swift actually lived, could be described as utopian. In doing so, Swift identifies the faults in each society.” Swift points to weaknesses of human nature in Gulliver’s Travels as a demonstration of why utopia is impossible for humanity to achieve.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt and Julia Reidhead. 8th ed. Vol. 6. NY, London: W.W. Norton &, 2006. 2323-462. Print. The Restoration and the 18th Century.
Gulliver's Travels is a great novel written by Jonthan Swift. It is about voyages of Gulliver-main character-to different countries. Gulliver's Travels is a political allegory of England at Swift's time. the word allegory means a simple that can be objects, characters, figures or colors used to represent an abstract idea or concepts. Swift uses this novel to criticize the political condition of England at the 18th century and to make a satire of the royal court of George 1 . Gulliver's Travels has established itself as a classic for young people. Its appeal to young minds is due to the fact that it is, on the surface, an adventure story of strange wonderful lands. As a matter of fact, it is taken by the mature reader as an allegory work of England at Swift's time.
In Gulliver's Travels, through the character of Lemuel Gulliver, Jonathan Swift apparently wishes to modify the traditions of the Lilliputians. The traditions were of breaking eggs from the small end first and "That all true believers shall break their eggs at the convenient end"; other such satirist traditions were to be followed, found in the chapter entitled "A Voyage to Lilliput."