A MODEST
PROPOSAL
A Rhetorical Analysis
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
• Ireland was under the control of
England for close to 500 years
and was denied union with
England when Scotland received
it in 1707.
• As a result, Ireland continued to
suffer under trade restrictions
and lack of resources.
• This situation led Swift to write
the satirical essay, “A Modest
Proposal.”
PAMPHLETS
During this time many writers
wrote and published
pamphlets with proposals to
solve the economic problems
in Ireland.
Swift’s tract parodied the style
and method of these others.
His purpose was to capture the
audience whose indifference
he believed was to blame for
the situation and make them
think of solutions.
ANALYSIS OF ESSAY
• Swift satirically expresses his
anger towards Ireland’s
colonial rule under England in
the late 1770s, as well as the
hypocrisy of the wealthy.
• He feels that Ireland is
suppressed by English rule
and ambivalent in their
actions against their rule.
• It bothers him that Irish
politicians, as well as the
masses of poor, fail to
mobilize on their own behalf.
PARAGRAPHS 1-7 ANALYSIS
• Swift “hooks” the reader by
referencing the common sight
of beggar mothers with their
children on their heels.
• His proposal deals with the
problem of the children of this
certain age whose parents are
too poor to support them.
• He continues by using
statistical data to increase the
factuality (and credibility) of
his argument.
PARAGRAPHS 1-7 ANALYSIS
Through Swift’s last
comments – how the
children do not work or
support society -- he begins
to work into his biting satire
regarding the ineptitude of
his own Irish people.
Swift seems exasperated by
the situation in his country
and censures the poor while
critiquing the upper society
that enables them.
PARAGRAPHS 1-7 ANALYSIS
Initially, Swift’s argument
seems to make sense. He
speaks out against abortion
infanticide – both of which
most people would agree are
not good things.
But shortly he calls women
“breeders,” which begins a
comparison to the poor as
animals – a comparison he
continues later in the essay by
suggesting that people should
eat children in order to save
pigs.
His satire here shows how
society views the poor during
this time: they are less than
animals.
PARAGRAPHS 8-19
Swift quickly moves to the
specifics of his “modest
proposal.”
He begins by discussing the
price of meat, the delicacy of
the aristocrat’s palate, and
the availability of meat year
round.
Next, he digresses to a story
of cannibalism and the
elderly – a group he won’t
give mention to since they
will die off soon anyway.
PARAGRAPHS 8 -19 ANALYSIS
Swift believed that people would
find the consumption of children
abhorrent, and as a result, the
reader would try to find the true
purpose behind his proposal.
This section calls attentions to the
self-degradation of the nation… the
idea of fattening up a child to feed a
starving population paints a picture
of a ill society.
He also frames a critique of the
Irish-Catholic who regard marriage
largely as a union to breed.
He also pokes fun at England’s
consumption of all that is Ireland,
although he never actually names
the country.
PARAGRAPHS 20-28 ANALYSIS
• Who will benefit from Swift’s
proposal?
• The rich will profit from the poor paying
their debts and the national economy will
thrive.
• The Aristocracy will have a delicacy to enjoy.
• The poor will receive money from the sales
of their infants.
• Marriage and birth will be encouraged.
• Men will be encouraged to not beat their
wives since they could miscarry.
• Exports of meat will rise, since the Irish will
be eating their children.
PARAGRAPHS 20-28 ANALYSIS
Swift denounces the absenteeism
of landlords who live in far off
countries, like England (where they
spend Irish money.)
Swift then moves away from the
consumption of children to
examine the reality of Irish
economic problems.
Many of the arguments presented
here were real solutions to the
problems, but they had been
previously rejected so he proposes
something outlandish.
PARAGRAPHS 29-33 ANALYSIS
• Like any good essayist, Swift knows
there will be objections, so here he
presents the opposition’s side.
• He offers a list of ideas that others
have suggested, from rejecting
foreign luxury to encouraging
landlords to treat tenants with
respect.
• He nears his conclusion by
suggesting that if someone else has
a better idea he would like to hear
it, then ends ironically saying that
he humbly asks his proposal be
considered since his wife is not of
child bearing age and his children
are grown.