A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

Jonathan Swift, author of “A Modest Proposal”, wrote about the starving people of Ireland in the early 1700′s. The purpose of his argument is to raise awareness to the wealthy of the issue. Swift, a priest at St. Patrick’s Cathedral composed the satirical essay due to his want for a resolution for the underprivileged people in Ireland. Swift wants to bring the issue to light for the wealthy Irish class. Swift assumes that his audience will be upset and bothered by his suggestion to sell and eat poor children. Swift also assumes that people genuinely care about their fellow Irishmen and will move for a solution. Swift uses an assorted system of rhetoric in “A Modest Proposal” that gives readers a “love-hate” relationship with the speaker. In the opening paragraph, the reader is sympathetic towards the speaker because of the language used by Swift to demonstrate not only his sympathetic views of the poor, but that he does not share the
He continues saying that certain parts of a child’s body are exceptionally good to eat, especially for special occasions. Swift also remarks that a child’s skin would make “admirable gloves for ladies” and “summer boots for fine gentleman”, which gives them a sense of a delicacy (222). The words “admirable” and “fine” can be interpreted as aggressive toward to upper class because they prosper from the poor. Swift employments words that further highlight the fact that the “babies” that are to be eaten and used for clothing as more of a delicacy in that they are worth “ten shillings.” Earlier in the essay, Jonathan Swift states that it cost only two shillings to care for a child until it was "one year of age." He later states that a child twelve years of age would cost about twelve shillings to care for them. The price of "the delicacy" is comparably high like most other