Hatred in Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Hartley's Film No Such Thing

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Misanthropy, or hatred of humankind, is one of the strongest feelings that people can have. In his novel Gulliver’s Travels, the author Jonathan Swift explores what causes this emotion. Likewise, Hal Hartley attempts to explain the roots of hatred through his film No Such Thing. Through their works, both men claim that it is not a universal emotion, but rather it is felt only by more evolved creatures. Hatred is a product of knowledge and the sense of superiority it creates in those who posses it.

Swift interprets hatred to be an unpreventable consequence of intelligence. During his fourth voyage, Gulliver lands on the island of the Houyhnhnms, a race of horse-like creatures, and the Yahoos, human-like animals. The Houyhnhnms dominate over the Yahoos, much as humans rule over horses. These creatures hold their servants in disdain, viewing them as lower life forms. The Houyhnhnms are exponentially more evolved than the Yahoos, exhibiting a civilized form of society, while the Yahoos live in ape-like tribes and labor for the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver soon begins to view them in the same light: “There were few greater lovers of Mankind, at that time, than myself, yet I confess I never saw any sensitive Being so detestable on all Accounts, and the more I came near them, the more hateful they grew” (187). Gulliver sees how unintelligent and uncivilized the Yahoos are, causing him to think himself better than they are. The Houyhnhnms also notice the difference between the Yahoos and him: “Every Servant of his House were desirous to teach me. For they looked upon it as a Prodigy that a brute Animal should discover such Marks of a ration Creature” (190). Although the Houyhnhnms initially look upon Gulliver was disdain, assuming that he is one of the Yahoos, they begin to treat him with respect after he demonstrates his intelligence to them. They only hold Gulliver in contempt while they believe that he is as stupid and uncivilized as the Yahoos, but once he proves that he is as well-mannered and intelligent as the Houyhnhnms are, their hatred diminishes. They treat him respectfully when they view him as an equal. Gulliver, on the other hand, becomes more and more misanthropic as he stays on the island. He knows immediately the difference between himself and the Yahoos.

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