A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

“A few honest men are better than numbers.” - Oliver Cromwell, circa 1600. Oliver Cromwell came to power in December of 1653 after leading military campaigns in a civil war. The first action he made as Leader of England was killing 41% of the population in Ireland. During this time period, millions of Catholics in Ireland were killed at the hands of Oliver Cromwell, a Protestant. This led to a time period of intense poverty, an abhorrent economy, and dramatically increased crime rates. The Irish were killed, unable to own land, and had to pay high taxes to the English. One of the most popular writings from this time period was a satirical piece by Dr. Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal”. Swifts goals in his writing were to address the horrible

Verbal Irony is the act of using irony to write or state one thing, but it means the opposite. Jonathan Swift uses verbal irony to highlight the troubles within Ireland. By doing this, Swift’s arguments become powerful and amusing. For example, “There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, as too frequent among us, sacrificing the poor innocent babes…”(Jonathan Swift, Paragraph 5, Lines 38-40). In this line Swift states that his proposal will stop the horrible practice of abortion in Ireland. This is an outstanding example of verbal irony. Swift’s entire proposal revolves around killing babies, while in this opening line he describes the “sacrificing of innocent babes” as appalling. Thus, Jonathan Swift uses verbal irony to synthesize potent statements that are likewise amusing to the

An understatement is a presentation of something as less important than it actually is. Jonathan Swift uses understatements to illustrate statements as less important than they actually are, in order to draw attention to them. For example, “And besides, it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice, (although indeed very unjustly) as a little bordering upon cruelty…”(Jonathan Swift, Paragraph 17, Line 128-129). Jonathan Swift writes that some moral people might find this practice of eating children just a little bit cruel. This is a huge understatement of the human life, as Swift describes eating children as only bordering cruelty. The use of understatements helps show how absurd Swift’s proposal is and calls for a rational plan to be created. Hence, Jonathan Swift uses understatement to call attention to statements by making them seem less