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Isn't Gulliver's Travels a children's story? |
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| Imagine my surprise when a nicely dressed, attractive, and seemingly intelligent young lady uttered these words! It was equaled in ignorance only by thestudent who wondered aloud [during our class discussion of the Russian Revolution] if the Lenin that we were discussing was the same Lennon that wrote "Revolution" for the Beatles! |
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| It would be funny if it weren't so sad. |
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| If morals are for children's stories, then surely satire is the moral equivalent for learned readers. Both the moralistic and satiristic approach serves the altruistic purpose of shedding light on injustice, both political and social. To evaluate which method best serves this purpose would be moot, for Swift employed both throughout. |
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| In truth, Gulliver's Travels is probably the most jejune works of satire ever produced! In its time, it was more biting than any of Dennis Miller's rants are today; however, Swift's satire is so deeply hidden that it remains dissipated on the unschooled who happen upon this horrifically wonderful and amusing tale. |
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| Jonathan Swift's first person narrative of Gulliver's Travels makes for an entertaining children's story in itself, for inherent throughout the tale is its simplistic formulations of morality [human equality and dignity] through the satirical use of analogy; furthermore, the underlying tale revealed is a political manifesto of great impudence. The entire work blasts the monarchy of George I [1714 -1727] and the maltreatment of his subjects. Editor Robert A. Greenburg, in Chapter II footnote 3, presents Swift's detailing how Gulliver's items were inventoried by the Lilliputians as a cynical jab at: |
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| . . .the Whig suspicions and investigations of their [Tory] opponents; . . . he is probably alluding to an investigation in 1715 of the Earl of Oxford and Viscount Bolingbroke. Both were leaders of the Tories, and Swift's close friends. Gulliver in Book I often stands for Oxford or Bolingbroke, and occasionally for both. (Swift 19) |
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| There are many examples of Swift's sardonic attack on the monarchy and its trappings; and with help from Greenburg's footnotes, his wit is revealed to be remarkably reckless for his time. One example is Swift's comparison of Queen Anne's disfavor of him with the Empress's taking her revenge on Gulliver for urinating on the palace to quench a raging fire, rendering it uninhabitable. Greenburg clarifies in Chapter V, footnote 2, that the Queen viewed his earlier work, A Tale of a Tub, as "coarse and disrespectful to religion . . . Queen Anne's revenge was to limit Swift's chances of preferment within the Church of England (Swift 38)." |
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| Swift's contempt for the monarchy was not limited to personal attacks; he ridiculed its policies also. In Chapter IV [as explained in Greenburg's footnote 3] he represents three of the most divisive issues in England [Henry VIII's edict denying Papal authority; Roman Catholics against Protestants; Protestant England against Catholic France] with a simplistic story of eggs and which end should be cracked first when eating them. This is an excellent example of Swift's moral-hidden satire. |
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| (Swift 31) |
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Work Cited |
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| Davis, Herbert .Aspects of Swift's Prose.Gulliver's Travels. |
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| NortonCritical Editions.Ed. Robert A. Greenburg.New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1961. |
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| Dyson, AE.;Swift: The Metamorphosis of Irony.;Gulliver's |
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| TravelsNorton Critical Editions.;Ed. Robert A. Greenburg.New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1961. |
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| Lawlor, John.The Evolution of Gulliver's Character.;Gulliver's |
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| Travels. Norton Critical Editions.Ed. Robert A. Greenburg.New York: W.W.Norton & Company, Inc., 1961. |
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| Leavis, F. R.;;Swift's Negative Irony.;Gulliver's Travels. Norton |
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Critical Editions.Ed. Robert A. Greenburg.New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1961. |
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| Quitana, Ricardo.;Situation as Satirical Method.;Gulliver's Travels. |
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| Norton Critical Editions.;Ed. Robert A. Greenburg.New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1961. |
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| Sams, Henry W.Satire as Betrayal.Gulliver's Travels. Norton Critical |
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;Editions.Ed. Robert A. Greenburg.;New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1961. |
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Swift, Jonathan.Gulliver's Travels. Norton Critical ;Editions.;Ed. |
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| Robert A. Greenburg.;New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1961. |
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| Willey, Basil.;The limitations of Satire.;Gulliver's Travels. Norton |
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| Critical EditionsEd. Robert A. Greenburg.;New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1961. |
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