LIT 2001
Major English
Writers 1
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Characteristics of the Neoclassical Age (1660-1785)
--also referred to as “The Age of Reason” and “The
Enlightenment,” a reaction against the enthusiasm of the
Renaissance.
•
•
•
•
Human beings as limited and imperfect
Reverence for reason and rules (“Age of Reason”)
Distrust of imagination and innovation
Emphasis on groups rather than the individual
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Characteristics of the Neoclassical Age (1660-1785)
• Belief in Deism (the “argument from design,” God as
the Divine Clockmaker)
• Emphasis on symmetry, unity, harmony
• Emphasis on the didactic and the satiric (satire = “a
critical attitude mixed with humor and wit, generally
for the purpose of improving humanity”)
• Emphasis on the polite, urbane, witty, and intellectual
“One truth is clear: Whatever IS, is RIGHT” (Pope’s An
Essay on Man 292)
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
The Restoration (1660)
• 1642-1648 = civil war in England, conflict between
Charles I and Parliament
• 1646 = Charles I was arrested, tried, and executed;
Charles II goes into exile
• The Puritan Oliver Cromwell became Lord
Protectorate of England (England without a king)
• 1660 = Charles II is restored to the crown (the
restoration)
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
The Restoration (1660)
• 1665 = The plague killed 75,000 people in London
• 1666 = The Great London Fire left 100,000 people
homeless
• 1667 = Milton’s Paradise Lost published
• 1729 = Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels published
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Gulliver’s Travels: Genres
• Satire = “a critical attitude mixed with humor and wit,
generally for the purpose of improving humanity”
• Allegory of 18th century English politics
• Parody (satirical imitation) of contemporary travel
literature
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Gulliver’s Travels: Major Themes
• Government / 18th Century English politics
• War
• Human Nature
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Gulliver’s Travels as a Dark Look at Humanity
• Parts of Gulliver’s Travels are funny; parts are dark
• The original purpose to “satirize the foolishness of
modern man”
• Notice anything critical of human beings yet?
• Gulliver seems to become a misanthrope; is Swift a
misanthrope?
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Passages to Discuss
The Opening Letter: Pages 2489-91
• Gulliver views human beings pessimistically
• Is Gulliver an idealist, or is he crazy?
The Opening Letter: Page 2491
• Gulliver’s conversation with his horses
• Gulliver gives up forever his “visionary schemes”
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Passages to Discuss
Opening of Chapter 1: Page 2492-93
• Note the different tone from in the opening letter
• Note the pun
Chapter 2: Page 2499
• Gulliver relieving himself
• Why the emphasis on excrement?
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Passages to Discuss
Chapter 2: Page 2501-02
• Gulliver as representing Ireland
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Satire of Politics and Politicians
• The Lilliputians have a love for pomp and ceremony:
note the military parades, the ceremony for swearing
oaths.
• Walking the tightrope
• The absurd manner of swearing an oath
• The High Heels and the Low Heels
• The Big-Endians and the Little Endians
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Satire of Politics and Politicians
•
•
•
•
Bringing the Blefuscudians into submission
The charges against Gulliver
The proposed punishment for Gulliver*
The custom of praising the emperor’s “tenderness,”
leniency, and compassion after cruel punishments are
handed down
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Satire of Politics and Politicians
• The corruption of politicians
• Skyresh Bolgolam: “who was pleased, without
provocation, to be [Gulliver’s] mortal enemy.”
• Flimnap: Gulliver says, “This was the first time I
began to conceive some imperfect idea of courts
and ministers”
• Rumors among politicians accuse Gulliver of
having an affair with a fine lady
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Does anything about the Lilliputians
seem like a good idea?
• False Accusers Put to Death
• More rewards for good behavior than punishments
for bad
• Children and Parents
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
Satire
• Reminder: satire = “a critical attitude mixed with
humor and wit, generally for the purpose of
improving humanity.”
• Purpose of satire—to make us look critically at
ourselves
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Part 1
The Theme of Vision or Seeing
• Lilliputians see “with great exactness, but at no great
distance.”
• Gulliver’s protection of his eyes
• Gulliver’s protection of his eyeglasses
• Gulliver flees the island of Lilliput after he is
threatened with the punishment of being blinded