A Modest Proposal
• “A Modest Proposal" is an essay that uses satire to make its
point.
• A satire is a literary work that attacks or pokes fun at vices,
abuses, stupidity, and/or any other fault or imperfection.
• Satire may make the reader laugh at, or feel disgust for, the
person or thing satirized.
• Impishly or sardonically, it criticizes someone or something,
using wit and clever wording—and sometimes makes
outrageous assertions or claims.
• The main purpose of a satire is to spur readers to remedy the
problem under discussion. The main weapon of the satirist is
verbal irony, a figure of speech in which words are used to
ridicule a person or thing by conveying a meaning that is the
opposite of what the words say.
• Jonathan Swift wrote “A Modest Proposal” to call attention to
abuses inflicted on Irish Catholics by well-to-do English
Protestants.
• Swift himself was a Protestant, but he was also a native of
Ireland, having been born (1667) in Dublin of English parents.
His mother struggled to provide for him, however, so he was
raised by his Uncle in order to have a better life.
• He was a member of the Anglo-Irish ruling class, so he
received the best education possible in Ireland and became a
dean of the St. Patrick Cathedral in Dublin. He wanted a
position in England and considered his placement in Ireland as
a form of exile.
• Swift's Ireland was a country that had been effectively
controlled by England for nearly 500 years. The Stuarts had
established a Protestant governing aristocracy amid the
country's relatively poor Catholic population. Denied union
with England (meaning it could not have free access to the
empire) in 1707 (when Scotland was granted it), Ireland
continued to suffer under English trade restrictions and found
the authority of its own Parliament in Dublin severely limited.
Swift, though born a member of Ireland's colonial ruling class,
came to be known as one of the greatest of Irish patriots.
• However, he considered himself more English than Irish. He
was often ambivalent towards Irish politics.
• Eventually, he becomes more invested in the Irish situation
due to its worsening state. “A Modest Proposal”, published in
1729 is in response to these debilitating conditions.
• In “A Modest Proposal,” Swift satirizes the English landlords
with outrageous humor, proposing that Irish infants be sold as
food at age one, when they are plump and healthy, to give the
Irish a new source of income and the English a new food
product to bolster their economy and eliminate a social
problem.
• He says his proposal, if adopted, would also result in a
reduction in the number of Catholics in Ireland, since most
Irish infants—almost all of whom were baptized Catholic—
would end up in stews and other dishes instead of growing up
to go to Catholic churches. Here, he is satirizing the prejudice
of Protestants toward Catholics.
In the summary provided to you, you will see the major
elements/breakdown of Swift’s satire.
In pairs, or individually, answer the following questions:
1. What is Swift's attitude toward the beggars he describes in the
opening paragraph?
2. Where do the speaker's allegiances lie in this essay? With
what social groups does he identify himself?
3. What sort of persona does Swift create for the "author" of A
Modest Proposal?
4. If Swift does not actually think the Irish people should eat their
children, what does he think they should do?
5. Who is the audience of this work?
6. Who will be the beneficiaries of this "Modest Proposal"?
7. Find 2 examples of each appeal and explain their effect.
Writing Prompt
• Write a persuasive essay of your own that uses some of
Swift’s rhetorical strategies. For example, you should
adopt a persona or profess opinions that you do not hold
as a way of strengthening your real arguments. In essence,
you will be writing your own Modest Proposal regarding a
current issue of your choice. The scope of your vision is
entirely your own making – you can address topics that
range from our current classroom situation to our state as
a nation. As you begin to write your proposal, remember
to use Swift’s devices – sarcasm, lampooning, and irony.
Remember his chief appeal to credibility as well.
Moreover, stick to the style, form, and structure of the
original work.