Social Satire In Swift's Gulliver Travels 

Q.        Write a comprehensive note on different satirical devices used by Swift in Gulliver’s Travels. (2014)

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Q.        Write a detailed appraisal of Swift’s versatility as a satirist as revealed in Gulliver’s Travel. (2013)

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Q.        Swift does not only unleash his wrath upon human foibles but also enjoys his invective. Elaborate from his works, especially ‘Gulliver’s Travels’. (2010)

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Q.        Arguing from your study of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, discuss Swift as a wounded moralist who never forgave the world. (2009)

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Q.        Swift shows the other side of Augustan complacency. Discuss with special reference to “Gulliver’s Travels”. (2009)

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Q.        His satire grows more and more bitter as Swift progresses from book of his “Gulliver’s Travels” Discuss.                                                          (P.U. 2006)

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Q.        Political satire in the first two parts of Gulliver’s Travels is interesting as well as instructive. Elaborate. (2004)

Ans:    Swift occupies a very distinguishing place among his contemporaries for highlighting the pungent and poignant realities of his time which regarded him as a master of corrosive satire. “Gulliver’s Travels” is a hall-mark of his satirical approach which labelled Swift a neurotic and insane in the eyes of many critics after his book was published. No doubt, on apparent level Swift seems to be indigestible but if we go through the book with deep concern and magnifying glasses, we feel bound to assert that Swift is an every inch a moralist despite his morbid attitude towards man and society. He says that the chief end of all his labour is “to vex the world rather than divert it”.

“Gulliver’s Travels´ abound with different modes of satire. As the story progresses from voyage to voyage, the form of satire transits from comic to bitter and finally corrosive which is almost intolerable for man. But every writer is the product of his age and Swift belongs to an age of smug complacency. Corruption was rampart and people were seeking pleasure in doing any evil without having any least compunction on their side. Thus Jonathan Swift tears the veil of smug complacency off to expose the realities for which people had blinded themselves. In Gulliver’s travels” from voyage to voyage, there is a satire on politics, human physiognomy, intellect and on moral shortcomings.

Social Satire:

In the first voyage to Lilliput, Swift satirizes on politics and political tactics practised in England through the picture of Liliput. Swift mocks the manner in which political offices were awarded by English king in his time. Flimnap, the treasurer, represents Sir Robert Walpole, the prime Minister of England. Dancing on tight ropes symbolizes Walpole’s skill in parliamentary tactics and political intrigues. Reldresal represents Lord Carteret who was ingratiated by Walpole to become Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The ancient temple in which Gulliver was housed might be an oblique reference to Westminister Hall where Charles-I had been condemned to death, Swift mocks at the English king’s conferment of three fine silk threads to his political favourites. Swift is also pithy on his detail of the annoyance of the empress of Lilliput on extinguishing the fire of her palace is a reference to queen Anne’s annoyance with him on writing “A Tale of a Tub” in which Swift had attacked religious abuses but queen misinterpreted the book and got annoyed. Swift’s satire becomes amusing when Gulliver speaks of the conflict that highlights the theological disputes, between the big-Endians and the little-Endians in Lilliput. Thus Swift is ridiculing the conflict between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. The rift between High Heel and Low Heel highlights the conflict between Whig and Tory ¾ the two political parties in England.

In the second voyage to Brobdingnag, Swift satires on the coarseness and ugliness of the human body. Here Swift looks at mankind with different lenses. The people in Brobdingnag are sixty to eighty feet high. Not only men and women are huge in size but every object of life is of enormous size which gives a sheer contrast image than that of Lilliput. Gulliver here is an object of curiosity due to his micro size. Gulliver gives an account, to the king of Brobdingnag of the life of his own country, the trade, the wars, the conflicts in religion, the rift between the political parties ¾ the king mocks and observes how contemptible is human grandeur which is being mimicked by such diminutive insects as Gulliver. The king remarks that the history of Gulliver country seems to him to be only a series of conspiracies, rebellions, murders revolutions and banishments etc. The king condemns the fatal use of gunpowder and the books written on the act of governing. The king mocks at the human race of which Gulliver is the representative. “I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth”. Swift satirizes the ugly sights of human physionomy. There is a man with a huge tumour in his neck; another beggar has wooden legs, each about twenty feet high. But the most hateful sight is that of the lice crawling on their clothes. This description reinforces Swift’s views of the ugliness and foulness of the human body.

In the third voyage to various islands, there is a satire on human intellect, misuse of his sagacity on science. Here though Swifts satire is not very bitter yet it envelopes the follies and absurdities made by man on the name of scientific progress. We are greatly amused by the useless experiments and researches which were going on at the academy of projectors in Lagado. Science seems to be moved topsy-turry when the scientists want to extract sunbeams out of cucumbers, to convert human excretion into its original food, to build houses from the roof to downward the foundation, to obtain silk from cobwebs and to produce books on various subjects by the use of machine without having to exert one’s brain.

“Their hands were inclined either to the right or to the left, one of their eyes turned inward, and the other directly up to Zenith”.

Here Swift mocks at the diverted intellect of scientists, academics, planners and all those who only precede theories and are practically nil. Swift also satirizes historians and literary critics through Gulliver’s interviews with the ghosts of famous dead.

In the Fourth voyage to Houyhnhnms there is a sharp and poignant satire on human moral short comings. This voyage contains the most corrosive and offensive satire on mankind. Here horses are ruling over man. The description of Yahoos (who represent human beings) given to us by Gulliver is pathetic.

“Yet I confess I never saw any sensitive being so detestable on all accounts; and the more I came near them the more hateful they grew.”

By contrast, the Houyhnhnms are noble and benevolent animals who are governed by reason and who lead an ordered life. So it was a lethal attack on the human race to be represented inferior to houyhnhnms mentally and morally. Gulliver tells master houyhnhnm of all the evils and vices that were prevailing in European countries. Gulliver also tells about the numerous deadly weapons and the wars in western countries which were fought sometimes due to the ambitions of kings and sometimes due to corruption of the ministers. Then master houyhnhnms opens the accounts of the habits and ways of life of the Yahoos. He speaks of their gluttony and love for shining stones. Gulliver remarks about the land of Houyhnhnms,

“Here was neither physician to destroy my body, not lawyer to ruin my fortune; no informers to watch my words and actions….. here were no ¾¾ backbiters, pickpockets, highwaymen, housebreakers ¾¾ politicians, wits, murderers, robbers…. No cheating shop-keepers or mechanics, no pride, vanity or affection.”

In Houyhnhnms’ life “everything is calculated as Plato’s Utopian land in “The Republican”. That’s why Gulliver’s reaction to Houyhnhnms fills with him so much admiration for them and on the other side he develops so much hatred and disgust for human beings that he does not even wish to return to his country.

Finally we conclude that “Gulliver Travels” is a great piece of art containing social satire in it. Every satirist is at heart a reformist. Swift also wants to reform the society by pinpointing the vices and shortcomings in it. So he has been very successful in accomplishing his self-imposed duty.

Points to Remember:

1.         Corrosive satire in the book.

2.         multi-dimensional satire

3.         satire on political and religious institutes.

4.         satirizes coarseness and ugliness of human body.

5.         condemns the fatal use of gunpowder.

6.         useless experiments in Lagado.

7.         satire on historians.

8.         unteachable Yahoos

9.         Houyhnhnms ‘Perfection of Nature.’

10.       Reformation of the society

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