"I don't hate mankind, I just love individuals." | Jonathan Swift
The most charming comments on Gulliver's Travels come from Swilt himself. In a letter he wrote to Alexander Pope regarding the book, he makes several points. First, he says that the greatest end of all his labors is to "bother rather than remove the world." Secondly, he declares that he has ever "hated all nations, professions, and communities, and that all his love is for individuals." In explaining this remark, he says that he hates the tribe of lawyers, physicians, etc., but that he loves particular lawyers and doctors. In this connection he goes on to say that he fundamentally hates and detests the animal called man, though he loves John, Peter, and Thomas with all his heart. Third, Swift claims that he does not have animal rationality in his definition of man and that in his view man is only rationis capax. In other words, Swift does not believe that man is a rational animal, although he believes that man is capable of becoming rational so he makes the necessary effort. Expressing his views in this way, Swift further states that is not found to be very good about Gaulliver's Travels building has been erected.
The Irrational Man
In another letter to Alexander Pope Swift writes: "Drown the world, I am not content to despise it, but I would be angry with it if I could say with security that I do not hate men, it is you who hate them because you would have them as reasonable animals and you are angry or disappointed with them because they are not reasonable, that is to say that he does not regard men as reasonable creatures, but he does not regard men as he likes them nor does he dislike humanity by condemning its irrationality.
Why did Swift write Gulliver's Travels? The character of his misanthropy
The gist of these statements by Swift is that he is not in a complete misconception that he hates mankind collectively but loves all classes and particular individuals of people, that he does not consider men rational although he considers them capable of becoming rational and that his main purpose in writing Gulliver's Travels (and other books) is to make people understand their own You had to be snarky and hurt their feelings.
Proving that humans are not rational thus emerges as a major motivation behind Swift's writing about Gulliver's Travels.
Nor is there any doubt that Swift was entirely successful in exposing the irrationality and other follies and absurdities of mankind in general. Connected with the main purpose was Swift's desire to expose the faults, errors, and injustices committed by specific individuals such as Robert Walpole, Queen Anne, and others.
Swift's Dislike of Political and Religious Conflict
In keeping with this design, we find Swift exposing through Gulliver the folly of religious conflicts such as those that existed (and still exist) between Roman Catholics and Protestants. The Big-Endians and Little-Endians in Lilliput represent the divisions of Christianity. Here the dancing on a tightrope represents C. Walpole's skill in parliamentary strategy and political intrigue; the crawling under a wire is a satirical allusion to the snobbery of the king's political favorites. The colored ribbons that were the prizes given to the winners represent the ribbons of the Order of the Garter, Thistle, and Bath. These awards serve the same purpose in the case of political patronage candidates as carrots do where they are shown to donkeys. The conflict between the High-Heels and the Low-Heels represents the conflict between the two political parties, and Swift's disapproval of it. Queen Lilliput's resentment of Gulliver for setting fire to her palace is a satirical allusion to Queen Anne's resentment of Swift for writing A Tale of a Tub.
All this is part of the political allegory that we find in Part I of Gulliver's Travels. It is true that in some cases Swift is incited against an individual by his personal desire, but there is also unselfish satire when, for example, he describes a civil war between those who insist on breaking an egg at the large end and those who insist on breaking it at the small end.
Swift's mockery of the ridiculous customs of the Lilliputians
A general type of satire then occurs in Part 1. For example, the Lilliputians bury their dead with their heads pointing straight down because they are of the opinion that in eleven thousand moons, the dead will rise again. The Lilliputians do not recognize that any responsibility rests on the parents in bringing a child into the world because, given the suffering of human life, it is of no use to the child to be born. Thus Swift is here mocking the irrational customs and beliefs of the Lilliputians who ultimately represent humans reduced to a miniature scale.
The Folly of Man as Exposed in Part - II.
In Part II, Swift satirizes the ugliness, coarseness, and filth of the human body and forces us to look at human beings through a magnifying glass. Not only the description of the hideous huts of the beggars but also the jealous maids at the Royal Court have an unpleasant effect on Gulliver, for their skunks emit a very disagreeable odor. A general criticism of Gulliver's countrymen is made by the King of Brobdingnag when he says that the history of Gulliver's country is nothing but a heap of intrigues, rebellions, murders, and exiles, the result of greed, hypocrisy, cruelty, hatred, and ambition. King Alco declares that to him Gulliver's countrymen seem to be a dangerous race of small, disgusting vermin that nature has ever encountered crawling on the surface of the earth. According to the king, he who can make two carts of corn and two blades of grass grow on a piece of land where only one grew before, is doing a more necessary service to his country than the politician who is involved in the race. Thus there is a constructive aspect to the criticism made by the king.
Condemnation of the Laputan
The description of the Laputan people also reveals their irritability. Their heads are turned either to the right or to the left, with one eye inward and the other straight up to the staircase. They are completely absorbed in their own meditation and perception. Their interests are limited to the sciences of music and geometry. They do not have peace of mind because they are constantly worried about the disaster that will one day come to this planet. Gulliver tells us that he had never seen people more clumsy, awkward and inept than a fever, nor so slow and confused in all other subjects (except geometry and music).
Denunciation of unreal intellectuals, historians and literary critics
At the Academy of Projectors in Lagad (the capital of Barney Barbie), scientists are engaged in stupid schemes such as capturing the sun's rays from cucumbers, reducing human emissions to houses that rise from the roof downwards, and obtaining silk from cobblestone webs, these projects can expose the irrationality of research under which the irrationality of practical results can be exposed. The statement of the Academy, then, is a mockery of proceeding according to theory and is useless when it comes to real practice.
Swift is here largely reflecting on the futility of what he considered to be the work of the Rowle Society at the time. In any case, Swift did not subscribe to the cult of science, and Newton was revered in his time. Here, absolutely. Swift is somewhat short-sighted because he did not realize the potential of scientific research, however rudimentary or impractical it may be.
Condemnation of the Desire for Immortality
Another proof of man's irrationality is his desire for immortality. Observing the misery of the immortals (Struldbrugs) in Luggnage, Gulliver becomes completely disillusioned and his intense hunger for immortality is greatly diminished. Swift also satirizes in this part of his book historians who distort the facts of history and literary critics who misinterpret the writings of ancient writers such as Homer and Aristotle.
The Exhibition of Human Irrationalism in Part - IV
The exhibition of human irrationality in Part IV becomes extremely cruel. In this part it takes the form of satire and humor and the foolish humans are humiliated by being presented here as labourers who are unteachable savages, cunning, gluttonous and prone to great mischief. In comparison with them, horses are great souls who are guided entirely by reason and whose greatest virtues are kindness and benevolence. The Houyhnhnms are free from privilege and greed, they know how to regulate their population, and they have no fear of death. Their entire administration is based on the principle of cooperation rather than competition. In addition, the difference between the Yahoos and the Honhams makes us hate the Yahoos. Gulliver himself condemns his fellow countrymen or the human race in large numbers and there is no doubt that Swillett himself speaks, when Gulliver speaks through the law, Gulliver attacks the law. This fierce attack on doctors and ministers fully proves Swift's claim that he hated mafia communities, and Gulliver also tells his master here that the rich people in his country live on the labor of the pot, this economic exploitation is another proof of human irrationality. Gulliver's analysis of the causes of war between nations and his description of the destruction caused by war also shows human irrationality. Sometimes war is started because the enemy is too strong and sometimes because the enemy is too weak. Sometimes our neighbors want the things we have, or get the things we want: poor nations are hungry, and rich nations are proud.
The disasters of war are the terrible ships sinking with a thousand men, the twenty thousand killed by the slain, the limbs flying in the air. Smoke, noise, confusion; light, pursuit, victory, fields covered with corpses left to dogs, wolves, and birds of prey. Gulliver's equine master rightly says that instead of reason, there are certain virtues in men that are apt to increase their natural vices.
Swift is not an absolute scoundrel.
In view of this detailed exposition of human irrationality, stupidity. and tendency to evil, it seems that Swift is a cynic and a scoundrel. There is no doubt that his opinion of mankind is very low. However, this does not mean that he hates the human race. When Gulliver refuses to return to his country or even to join his family, he is not to be identified with Swift; indeed, in the last two or three chapters Swift has fully parted company with Gulliver. It is Gulliver who hates the human race and even the members of his own family. Swift does not share this extreme rudeness. Indeed, we might even say that Swift is here mocking the progress made in Gulliver. Among women there was at least one, namely Stella, for whom he had a deep affection. He was therefore justified in saying in his letter to the Pope that although he hated communities and professions, he loved particular individuals.