The Role of Satire in “Gulliver's Travels”
The Role of Satire in “Gulliver’s Travels”
Sir Thomas More wrote “Utopia” in 1516, Daniel Defoe produced “Robinson Crusoe” in 1719, Jonathan Swift brought forth “Gulliver’s Travels” in 1726. The first coined the much used today word “utopia”, the second created the first English novel about reason and moral values, and the third fathered probably the best satiric masterpiece. Contemporaneity, a few centuries later, is still amazed at the strength and validity of these notions. Satire, Swift’s hard-hitting instrument of tackling bitter political realities and deficiencies of human nature, is still very potent and perhaps much more useful nowadays than in the eighteenth century. Therefore, this essay will try to provide a description of satire, more than a definition, by looking into Swift’s motifs for making use of it on such a large scale.
The reason for mentioning More’s and Defoe’s great works is the connection they have with “Gulliver’s Travels”. There are both similarities and differences between them, in the sense that all three of them criticize the shortcomings of society and man, but the styles in which they do this are very different. “Utopia” is probably monotonous for many of us, but one cannot deny the depth and meaning of its content related to the human world. Daniel Defoe “made a direct appeal to Puritan readers by including moral lessons in his work and showing that an ordinary man such as Robinson, who believed in God and in the principles of self-reliance and hard work, could overcome any obstacle” (Delaney, Ward and Fiorina D53), and set an example for his peer(s). But Jonathan Swift’s allegorical satire targets many social follies and almost every aspect of mankind in a funny way, which makes it all the more piercing. The book encapsulates many colourful happenings which are a delight for both children and adults, even if for various reasons. Children enjoy the adventures, while grown-ups discover their weaknesses and selfishness cloaked in
Sir Thomas More wrote “Utopia” in 1516, Daniel Defoe produced “Robinson Crusoe” in 1719, Jonathan Swift brought forth “Gulliver’s Travels” in 1726. The first coined the much used today word “utopia”, the second created the first English novel about reason and moral values, and the third fathered probably the best satiric masterpiece. Contemporaneity, a few centuries later, is still amazed at the strength and validity of these notions. Satire, Swift’s hard-hitting instrument of tackling bitter political realities and deficiencies of human nature, is still very potent and perhaps much more useful nowadays than in the eighteenth century. Therefore, this essay will try to provide a description of satire, more than a definition, by looking into Swift’s motifs for making use of it on such a large scale.
The reason for mentioning More’s and Defoe’s great works is the connection they have with “Gulliver’s Travels”. There are both similarities and differences between them, in the sense that all three of them criticize the shortcomings of society and man, but the styles in which they do this are very different. “Utopia” is probably monotonous for many of us, but one cannot deny the depth and meaning of its content related to the human world. Daniel Defoe “made a direct appeal to Puritan readers by including moral lessons in his work and showing that an ordinary man such as Robinson, who believed in God and in the principles of self-reliance and hard work, could overcome any obstacle” (Delaney, Ward and Fiorina D53), and set an example for his peer(s). But Jonathan Swift’s allegorical satire targets many social follies and almost every aspect of mankind in a funny way, which makes it all the more piercing. The book encapsulates many colourful happenings which are a delight for both children and adults, even if for various reasons. Children enjoy the adventures, while grown-ups discover their weaknesses and selfishness cloaked in
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