Swifts Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Swifts Gulliver’s Travels enables us to critically and harshly analyse our world and encourages us to evaluate the customs of early 18th century English society in relation to an ideal humanity. In order to address the injustices prevalent in human constructs and behavior, Swift uses literary techniques to induce a state of extreme self-doubt. The satire's assessment of humanity's positive and negative traits is developed through Gulliver's awkward process of identifying with the loathsome Yahoos and idolising the rational Houyhnhnms. The allegory of a domestic animal portraying more "humanity" than humans exemplifies the flaws of human nature and the tumultuous, uncertain philosophical, ethical, and scientific thought, of Swifts period. The portrayal of the Houyhnhnms involves a direct attack on human nature. Although Gulliver's Travels Book IV makes a satirical attack on human nature in general, it does have specific targets in mind: namely, war and its associated destruction, the verminous, lying, criminal activities of lawyers, and the cruel shallowness of consumerism and wealth disparity. In intellectual terms the text leaves the reader feeling quite disturbed despite the use of humor and adventure telling. This essay will analyse Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 in terms of genre and will explore how the satire uses rhetorical means to provide commentary on rational humanity. In addition the essay will examine how Swift promoted change to early 18th century England by constructing an intricate attack on the philosophical position of his political adversaries.

Swift consistently uses allegory throughout Gulliver’s Travels to induce an extreme sense of self-doubt in the reader. In Gulliver’s fourth voyage, Swift uses th...

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...tential. With the power of satire, Swift shatters our ego to the point that the text makes us question, if in fact mankind is even worth saving.

Reference List

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Mackie, E. (2014). Gulliver and the Houyhnhnm Good Life. The Eighteenth Century , 55.

Nutall, A. D. (1958). Gulliver Among the Horses. The Yearbook of English Studies , 18, 51-67.

Smith, F. N. (1992). The Genres of Gullivers Travels. London, England: Associated University Press.

Swift, J. (1726). Gulliver's Travels. (P. Turner, Ed.) Dublin: Oxford University Press.

Wintle, S. (1994). If Houyhnhnms were Horses. Thinking with Animals in book IV of "Gulliver's Travels' The Critical Review' , 3-34.