Gulliver's Travels || As a Masterpiece of Satire

The novel under discussion is an exceptional masterpiece of satire. The author adopted the structure of a travelogue as he was convinced of its popularity among readers at that period of time. Indeed, the story is about long journeys undertaken by Gulliver to strange countries. However, there is something else which makes Gulliver write the novel. He wanted to point out to the shortcomings, weaknesses, and corrupt features of humanity and satirize them.

Jonathan Swift as a Master of Satire

Satire may be regarded as a special type of literature which employs humor, irony, and ridicule to criticize the weaknesses and faults of individuals, societies, and mankind in general. Jonathan Swift turned out to be a master of satire. He managed to use various tools of satire, ranging from light humorous criticism to biting ridicule. The author's writing style involves a mixture of two kinds of satire, including comic satire which amuses the audience and harsh satire which is serious and often painful due to the disclosure of unpleasant features of reality. Thus, Swift is capable of using different styles and forms of satire depending on the purposes.

Moral Objectives of Swift in His Novel

Ultimately, the primary goal of any satire is to reform and improve what is wrong. In his novel, Swift attempts to show people the existing mistakes and flaws in order to bring up changes in the future. As Gulliver writes in his letter to cousin Sympson, he has failed in changing people because nothing happened in society after reading his voyages. Swift also explains his intentions to Pope when he states that he wants to make people think and question the current state of society. Despite the fact that people have a mind which helps them understand many things, human beings seldom apply it to their actions. That is why Swift wanted to criticize this feature of mankind.

Gulliver's Travels as an Allegorical Satire

In fact, it is possible to argue that Gulliver's Travels is an allegorical satire because Swift satirizes people and society in a very sophisticated way. It means that he creates fictional settings, characters, events, and places to reveal some hidden faults. For instance, it is well-known that the author created the fictional character of Flimnap in order to criticize the activities of Robert Walpole, Britain's Prime Minister at that period of time. Thus, Gulliver's satire is subtle because he reveals problems indirectly. Dancing on a tightrope symbolizes political skills and abilities to manipulate people, just as Robert Walpole did during that epoch. The name "Reldresal" is believed to refer to Lord Carteret, a person who occupied the governmental position. "One of the king's cushions" represents the royal favorite who assisted Walpole in gaining political power after losing it in 1717. The rivalry between high heels and low heels symbolized the rivalry between the two major political parties existing in Britain in those days. The conflict between Big-endians and Little-endians was aimed at criticizing religious contradictions between Catholics and Protestants. The wrathfulness of Queen of Lilliput was satirizing Queen Anne after publishing the Tale of a Tub. Though, Swift attempted to criticize Catholic extremism; she perceived this work as a satirical work against religion. The small figures of Lilliputians and the giants of Brobdingnag represented human beings seen from two different perspectives. Thus, human beings were made insignificant and tiny in the former place, and they seemed huge and flawed in the latter country. Finally, the fourth part of the novel represents animal satire. Yahoos personify corrupt, cruel, and greedy human nature; at the same time, Houyhnhnms symbolize rational and virtuous mankind.

Scope of Satire in Gulliver's Travels

First of all, the scope of satiric criticism is limited within the first part of the novel. It is evident that most of it concerns English politics, its leaders and monarchs, and various religious disputes. The satire is quite personal since Swift was resentful towards Walpole and the queen herself. Still, the author's satire has a general character. Part - II is an example of such general satire since the King of Brobdingnag receives information about England from Gulliver's words and strongly criticizes moral degeneration of English society. In turn, the third part of the novel is devoted to philosophers, theorists, and scientists who were far from the reality. For example, the author describes the academy of projectors which is a parody on Royal Society and its fruitless experiments. Moreover, Swift ridicules mankind in its attempts to live eternally by creating such creatures as Struldbrugs. The fourth part of the novel represents Swift's general satire directed at mankind. Thus, the author makes Houyhnhnms describe the negative features of humanity, such as cruelty, treachery, greediness, sexual depravity, and destruction of life and property.

Comic and Harsh Satire

At this point, it is necessary to note that the first two parts include mainly comic satire. The absurd argument concerning which end of an egg should be broken parodies various senseless political and religious debates. The rivalry between high-heeled and low-heeled individuals may be regarded as a parody on serious matters. However, Part - II contains plenty of humor due to the increased dimensions of all creatures. The oversized insects, animals, fruits, etc., create a comic atmosphere for the audience. Gulliver's awkward experience with Brobdingnagian women is also hilarious. As for the third part, it is full of intellectual humor. Swift ridicules such useless experiments conducted by scientists in Lagado, as extraction of sunbeams from cucumbers, creation of foods from waste matter, construction of buildings starting from roofs, and creation of clothes from spider webs. In turn, the fourth part of the novel is quite tragic and harsh. There is no more humor here since the author reveals dark aspects of human nature by overstating them.

Satire Based on Reality

In this connection, it is possible to say that Swift is accused of being a harsh critic due to the content of the fourth part. Nevertheless, this criticism was not imaginary or false since Swift's satire is based on reality. It is obvious that satire uses exaggerations as a technique. In other words, satire shows the reality in an emphasized manner in order to draw readers' attention to it.

The Accusation of Hating Mankind

Indeed, Swift is frequently criticized because of his negative attitude towards society. Some readers think that he hates humanity. This statement may be proved by the author's letters to Pope where he admits that he disapproves of nations, professions, and other communities though he likes individuals. This idea also demonstrates that Swift did not intend to criticize ordinary people but only society in general. In addition, he admits that the basis for his novel was profound dissatisfaction with humanity and its flaws. However, Swift was eager to reveal the reality of the society in order to bring up changes.

Satire About Human Pride

It is possible to conclude that human pride was one of the main themes which Swift paid attention to in his novel. Apart from pride, greed, lust, moral weakness, and limits of reason, the author mentions other characteristics of mankind. At the end of the novel, Gulliver turns out to be so disgusted with human beings that he tries to keep away from everybody even his relatives. Although it seems to be a wise decision, this conclusion is unacceptable as Swift does not approve of this viewpoint either.