In today’s society, there are many who believe that humans have an innate sense of virtue and morality. They are confident that all human beings are born with a perception of what is right and what is wrong. However, there are others who take the traditional biblical stance, in which it is simply human nature to be sinful. In Gulliver’s Travels, the author, Jonathan Swift shows a strong inclination towards the latter thought: that all people are inherently evil. His disposition can easily be seen through his novel’s outlandish narratives that satire the corruptions of humanity. He puts the main character, Lemuel Gulliver, through four distinct journeys, which all inadvertently reveal vices in human society. In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, the theme of corruption is portrayed through the evils of politics, the deceitful nature of humanity, and the characters’ exploitations of pride.
Throughout the novel, seizes and retentions of power are always accompanied by corrupt means. “He had heard, indeed, some curious Houyhnhnms observe, that in most herds there was a sort of ruling Yahoo (as among us there is generally some leading or principal stag in a park), who was always more deformed in body, and mischievous in disposition, than any of the rest; that this leader had usually a favourite as like himself as he could get, whose employment was to lick his master's feet and posteriors, and drive the female Yahoos to his kennel; for which he was now and then rewarded with a piece of ass's flesh. This favourite is hated by the whole herd, and therefore, to protect himself, keeps always near the person of his leader,” (Swift 241). Some Houyhnhnms observe that the Yahoos often pick terrible leaders who surround themselves with even wo...
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...ls of politics, deceit, and pride are all displayed as a satire to humanity’s flaws. Through these three examples, the reader is able to clearly see the theme of mankind’s corruption in the novel. The biblical standard that all humans are born in sin definitely applies in this story. After all, nearly character, significant or not, shows a propensity to commit evil. Whether Swift was reflecting on the Bible when he wrote this work is uncertain; however, the author made it clear that humanity has a spiteful nature and arrayed it into Gulliver’s Travels.
Works Cited
Shuman, Shirley. "pride in Gulliver's Travels." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 15
Dec. 2013
ItemID=WE54&WID=17659&SID=5&iPin=ETL1110&SingleRecord=True>.
Swift, Jonathan, and Marcus Cunliffe. Gulliver's Travels. New York, N.Y.: Signet Classic, 1983.
Past the political satire and laughable motifs in the book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the purpose of this story is to show everything ignoble and tactless of the human species in general and that humans are truly disgusting. Also exploring the idea of a utopia. Swift uses the literary device of political satire to show how childish and ignorant human acts were. This is because during Swift's time in the eighteenth century, Britain was modernizing at this time. The reader follows the four narrative travels of the main character, Lemuel Gulliver. Each of the four voyages Gulliver has traveled to, is a different society that portrays one of the main ideals of the eighteenth century in Britain. The four places Gulliver has traveled to were Lilliput; being Gulliver's first voyage, Brobdingnag; his second voyage, Laputa; the third voyage, and lastly to the land of the Houyhnhms; being his last voyage and afterwards traveling back home to England. The experience from being exposed to these four societies has had a huge impact on how Gulliver now sees humans.
The definition of a utopia is an imagined place or state in which everything is perfect. In book four of Gulliver’s travels Gulliver discovers a group of people called the Houyhnhnms and the group displays qualities of a possible utopia. The Houyhnhnms are very rational in their thinking, and try their best to stay away from entertainment and vanity. However the Houyhnhnms could not be considered creators of a utopia because they emphasized unrealistic rules and because of their treatment of the Yahoo people within their society. Instead it is the Lilliputians people who display the most signs of a potential utopia in Gulliver’s Travels.
Corruption of political systems in one of the primary themes in Gulliver's Travels. This corruption is a result of selfishness as well as the inability to see things from any other perspective rather than one’s own.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol C. 9th ed. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 2492-2633. Print.
After a series of different looks at society through the first three voyages, Gulliver travels to Houyhnhnmland where the nature of people themselves are given the strongest censure, by being directly paralleled with the loathsome Yahoos. Here Swift bluntly attacks almost every aspect of society, which is then compared to the Yahoos point by point by the Grey Mare. Gulliver and the reader finally identify themselves completely with the Yahoos (see close commentary), and Gulliver decides to abandon Yahooism forever. But, he is then immediately banished from the island by the Houyhnhnm assembly.
"Gulliver's Travels By Jonathan Swift Book Summary." Book Summary. Cliffnotes, n.d. Web. 01 May 2014.
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.
In the fourth voyage, Swift presents a case study for opposing states of nature, with the Yahoos representing the argument that man is governed by his passions, seeking his own advantage, pursuing pleasures and avoiding pain, and the Houyhnhnms representing the argument that man is governed by reason. If this is the case, then Swift’s misanthropy was such that he saw men as the foul and disgusting Yahoos, and made it plain that reform of the species was out of the question. A major fault with this theory is that it leaves no place for Gulliver. When attention is drawn to the figure of Gulliver himself, as distinct from his creator, Swift, he is taken to be the moral of the story. If you can't be a Houyhnhnm you don't need to be a Yahoo; just try to be like Gulliver. The trouble with this idea is that when taking a closer look at Gulliver, he isn't worth emulating. The final picture of him talking with the horses in the stable for four hours a day, unable to stand the company of his own family, makes him look foolish. Another theory is that Gulliver made a mistake in regarding the Houyhnhnms as models to be emulated: so far from being admirable creatures they are as repulsive as the Yahoos. The Yahoos might be ruled by their passions, but these have no human passions at all. On this view, Swift was not advocating, but attacking reason.
In the fourth book of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift uses satire to draw reader’s attention towards his concerns about humanity and uses irony to reveal his cynical views towards human kind. According to the Great Chain of Being, a term developed by the Renaissance that describes a divinely hierarchical order in every existing thing in the universe, human beings are placed a tier higher than animals (http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english /melani/cs6/ren.html). However, by comparing human traits with unpleasant qualities of animals, Swift blurs the definition of human being and questions the hierarchical place of human. In the fourth book of Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver starts his journey as a well-educated European person who is considered to be a decent example of humanity. The first group of inhabitants Gulliver finds on the island where he is dropped off on are the Yahoos. Gulliver is disgusted by the behaviours of these wild creatures at first and he considers them to be animals that are owned by the dominate beings on this island. Gulliver then discovers the Houyhnhnms whom he perceives as brute beasts (Swift 2420) and animals (ibid.) because they share similar physical qualities compare to the horses in England. After a brief interaction with the two Houyhnhnms, Gulliver is taken to the house of a Houyhnhnm whom he will later refer to as his master. Through the interactions with the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver is able to show the ability to reason even though he shares some physical similarities with the Yahoos. Due to this quality and the fact that the Houyhnhnms cannot see his bare skin under his clothes, he is able to live with the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver starts to relate himself more to the Houyhnhnms than the Yahoos becau...
... changed to so large an extent, we could no longer hold him responsible to his former commitments. This idea of Parfit’s is revolutionary, since it makes us rethink our instinct to label concepts in absolutes, and changes our perception of morality and punishment. Indeed, Parfit sought to effect change in society at large, arguing that most of us have a false belief about our own nature, and our identity over time, and when we understand and realize the truth, we realize we should change our beliefs. Gulliver’s lack of innate morality allowed him to be shaped by his surroundings, but the changes he experienced reflect the base nature of mankind and its ability to corrupt the good. Gulliver’s Relation R, symbolic of evil nature, forced his original self to break the promises he had made; the lack of justice in this situation showcases the need for moral progress.
Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels in 1762 with the intent of entertaining many people. Entertainment through satire is what Swift had in mind. To fully understand Gulliver's Travels, one must first reflect upon the following: the plot, character, setting, theme, point of view, conflict, climax, resolution, symbolism, and figurative language. These ideas will help the reader comprehend some of the ideas portrayed throughout the novel, as well as why Swift wrote them.
Many people contemplate telling the truth due to the consequences, but Johnathan Swift has found an original idea and expressed it by writing Gulliver 's Travels. It was a story based on satire and was meant to ridicule the way his country operated. Each part was an original installment meant to criticize the way his country operated in the form of education, politics, science, etc. Swift shamed his government and the politicians involved in the process of running the country, which they did in the most beneficial way for themselves rather than their own people. He uses the conflicts in the countries he visited to discuss the number of problems with England. This book was meant to educate the people of all of the dishonesty their leaders have shown and will continue to show unless there is an intervention. Swift 's comments on the British society are accurate and most definitely helped lift the ignorance of the world to this day.
In Gulliver’s Travel, a novel written by Jonathan Swift, there are many political themes and satirical descriptions of the English government. During Swift’s time, the early 1700s, the Tory government and the Whig government opposed each other. Hoping that they would appoint him to the Church of England, Swift joined the Tories, but he was not appointed to the position by the Queen. When Tory government was in trouble for treason with the French, the Whig government took over, and Swift left politics to publish Gulliver’s Travel to show the disagreements between the two parties and between the Protestant English and the Catholic French, who did not agree on religious values. Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travel also to show his idealized vision for the English society. In the novel, Swift criticizes the government as he narrates the adventures which Gulliver experiences at different islands with foreign and unique groups of people. In a way, Swift creates utopian societies at the Lillitupian Island and the Brobdingnag Island to exhibit the imperfection of government that existed in England. As Gulliver, Swift’s main character, interacts with these societies, he criticizes some of their customs and laws. He notices that these societies are not utopian from his perspective. Although there are many themes throughout Gulliver’s Travels, this paper will focus on part one and two examining the utopian societies Swift creates for Gulliver to experience through his interactions with the Lilliputians and Brobdingnagian people system of government.
Lemuel Gulliver recounts his findings over four of his most impactful voyages in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. In Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver gives his own candid account of all significant characters encountered and manages to fall into almost every influential person’s favor. Swift tactically shapes Gulliver’s encounters with characters from varying backgrounds to compare the behavior of the esteemed nobility with the behavior of commoners. Swift has Gulliver alter his demeanor based on his present surroundings to appeal to those around him and maintain his pride. By doing so, Swift intended to didactically explain his contempt for nobility, his misanthropy, and the dangers of pride.
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.