Swift's Satire In A Modest Proposal

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Swift’s satire, “A Modest Proposal”, was written when many people in Ireland lived in poverty and often went hungry or stole to feed themselves and their family. The proposal puts forward a “solution” to this famine, using satirical strategies to force the aristocracy in England and Ireland to look at the situation the country was in and take action. Swift aimed his proposal at bringing down the seemingly tyrannical rule of the English that had brought Ireland the scarcity it faced. The problems that this famine brings to the English is made present very early to provide a reason that the proposal matters to the reader with Swift saying “helpless infants… grow up [to] either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country …show more content…

In his story, Machiavelli shows the viewers a farfetch'd tale of deception that plays upon the type of person a certain position in society holds. Most of the story is driven behind stereotypes. Machiavelli has roles for lawyers, doctors, priests, and women. The lawyer in the story, Nicia, is a fool. Ligurio says about Nicia “I don’t think there is anyone in the whole world as stupid as he is; yet Fortune has been so good to him.” (Machiavelli, p.441) This view of lawyers is in contrast to what society thinks and what would be hoped of a lawyer. Nicia represents everything a lawyer should not be other than he is wealthy. He is easily fooled by Callimaco when he pretends to be a doctor by speaking simple Latin phrases. Machiavelli is then making fun of doctors, when anyone can be a doctor if they can speak just a little Latin. Doctors are thus shown to be mostly frauds by Machiavelli. These are both exaggerations of the stereotypes often associated with doctors and lawyers, and another exaggeration is made when Ligurio is telling Nicia how they will convince the priest to help when Lucrezia is confessing. He says that the priest will be convinced by “You, me, money, human nature, and the way priests are.” (Machiavelli, p.450) This exaggeration of “the way priests are” shows that Machiavelli saw corruption within the church and wanted to reveal it. Finally, Machiavelli uses women in his play in a way that seems to mock their nature. First, Lucrezia’s mother is convinced with little argument that she should tell her daughter to sleep with a man who is not her husband. The mother “was not exactly a saint in her younger days” (Machiavelli, p.438) according to Callimaco, meaning that she did not hold the same standards as her daughter when having an affair. The use of stereotypes and exaggeration by Machiavelli in “The Mandrake Root” makes this satire light and

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