172 Specification 6 | Shaping the English Character

Jonathan Swift and the satirical novel

6.10 Literature

Jonathan Swift’s lifeAlthough his family was English, Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) was born and educated in Dublin. He left Ireland for England at the time of the Revolution in 1688. He started to work for Sir William Temple, a scholar and Whig statesman who encouraged him to write his first satirical works. Among his best satires were The Battle of the Books and A Tale of a Tub, both published in 1704. In 1694 Swift returned to Ireland and became an ordained Anglican priest. From 1708 to 1714 he was mainly in London, where he made friends with other leading writers. He produced a great deal of writings for the Tory administration (I6.1), which found his talent for argument useful. In April 1713 he was made Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, where he remained for the next thirty years. In 1726 he published his masterpiece, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, known as Gulliver’s Travels. In 1729 A Modest Proposal appeared, in which, with irony and bitterness, Swift suggested that the poverty of the Irish people should be relieved by the sale of their children as food for the rich. Swift’s later years were marked by the decay of his mental faculties, due to labyrinthine vertigo, and by deafness. He died in 1745.

A controversial writerSwift is without doubt one of the most controversial among great English writers. He has been labelled alternatively as a misanthrope, a monster or a lover of mankind. What clearly emerges from his works is that he was seriously concerned with politics and society, and that his attitude was conservative. It is also clear that he did not share the optimism of his age (I6.3) or the pride in England of his

1 DECIDE whether the following statements about Swift’s life and works are true or false. Correct the false ones.

1 Swift’s family was of Irish origin but was forced to leave Ireland at the time of the Revolution of 1688.

2 He found a job at the house of Sir William Temple, a retired Whig statesman.

3 He went back to Ireland, determined to take his orders.

4 Swift became the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral.

5 He supported the English rule in Ireland.

6 He made serious proposals to improve the situation of the poor in Ireland.

2 EXPLAIN in your own words:1 how Swift has been labelled;2 what his attitude to his contemporary society was;3 how he viewed reason;4 what his favourite means of expression was.

contemporaries. According to Swift, reason is an instrument that must be used properly; too intensive a use of reason is an error of judgement and therefore unreasonable. Thus he insisted on the need to take a common-sense view of life. Swift found in irony and satire the means that suited his temperament and his interests. He usually achieved the effect of parody, combining ironic intent with the simplicity of his style and his diction.

Gulliver’s Travels (1721–25)Gulliver’s Travels was printed in London in 1726, though most of it was certainly written in the years 1721–25. It consists of four books, each dealing with the various adventures of the ship’s surgeon, Lemuel Gulliver, and illustrated by maps of the places he visited.

The storyIn Book 1 Gulliver sails from Bristol, and after six months, is shipwrecked somewhere in the South Pacific. He is cast upon the shore of ‘Lilliput’, whose inhabitants, the ‘Lilliputians’, are only six inches tall. After many amusing experiences, he manages to return to England. In Book 2 Gulliver sails for India, but finds himself in ‘Brobdingnag’, a country Swift located in Alaska. Here the natives are giants twelve times as tall as Gulliver. His size causes him many misadventures and he finally becomes the King’s pet, kept in a cage. One day Gulliver’s cage is lifted up by a huge bird and dropped in the middle of the ocean. He is rescued by a ship and returns to England. In Book 3 Gulliver’s ship is attacked by pirates who set him adrift on a small boat. He finds himself on the flying island of ‘Laputa’, whose inhabitants are absent-minded astronomers, philosophers and scientists who carry out absurd experiments. The island drops Gulliver on Japan and he manages to go back to England. In Book 4 Gulliver’s last voyage leads him to the island inhabited by the ‘Houyhnhnms’, rational horses that rule over the ‘Yahoos’, a vile species of animal resembling human beings. When the horses banish him, he builds a canoe and leaves for England. Once back in civilisation, he joins his wife and children but cannot stand their human smell. He therefore goes to live in the stable, among the animals that remind him of the nobility of the Houyhnhnms.

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The sourcesSwift looked to the extensive literature of travel, both real and imaginary. The scientific projects described in Book 3, on the other hand, display an acquaintance with the work of the Royal Society. Finally, there are recognisable elements of political allegory through allusions to people and events in the England of Anne I and George I. Throughout the 17th century the imaginary voyage had been used by French writers as a vehicle for their theories. The traveller usually discovered some happy society where men lived a simple, uncorrupted life, following their natural instincts and the innate light of reason. From these utopias, the European man was seen as the victim of civilisation. In addition, there are more general themes of moral satire: man’s concern with unimportant matters and greed (Book 1), his pride (Book 2), the representation of pure reason (Book 4), the absurdities and evils of the various professions (Book 3).

The character of GulliverGulliver is middle-aged, well-educated, sensible and a careful observer. He takes care of his family and runs his business prudently. He has experience of the world and he fully supports the culture which has produced him. During the four voyages he is the reader’s contact, and by the end he is completely different from the person he was at the beginning. Gulliver differs from the typical traveller because the people he meets during his voyages are in no sense children of nature. They all live in highly organised societies and are governed by institutions. If in the end he is disgusted by everything at home, it is because Europe is losing its civilisation and falling into a state of corruption, expressed

in the novel by the constant opposition between rationality and animality. Swift’s originality lies in his creating a series of experiences, of which the latest is in contrast with those which preceded it. Gulliver always finds himself displaced – first in relation to little men and then to big ones, and finally and suddenly forced into comparison not with men but with animals. Gulliver tells his experiences in the first person, in a prose style which is matter-of-fact and free of literary colouring, and records observed details with the precision of a scientific instrument. Gulliver is not Swift himself; he is an invented character, an object as much as an instrument of satire. Swift’s masterpiece can be read on different levels. It has been widely read as a tale for children because of Gulliver’s amusing and absurd adventures, especially in the first two Books. It can also be read as a political allegory of Swift’s time, as a parody of voyage literature or as a masterpiece of misanthropy and a reflection on the aberrations of human reason.

3 IN PAIRS take turns to ask and answer the following questions about Gulliver’s Travels.1 What lands does Gulliver visit?2 What people does he meet?3 Why does Gulliver differ from traditional travellers?4 What constant opposition is expressed in the novel?5 What sort of character is Gulliver?6 What is his function in the text?7 How can the novel be interpreted?

1 Charles Jervas, Jonathan Swift, ca 1718. National Portrait Gallery, London.

2 James Gillray, The King of Brobdingnag and Gulliver from Swift’s Gulliver: Voyage to Brobdingnag, after Lt Col Braddyll. Published by Hannah Humphrey, 26th June 1803.

3 The Classic Comics version of Gulliver’s Travels, 1943.

6 TEXT BANK 36–37: GULLIVER’S TRAVELS

6 TEXT BANK 38: A MODEST PROPOSAL

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174 Specification 6 | Shaping the English Character

6.10 Jonathan Swift and the satirical novel

1 IN PAIRS discuss the following questions.1 What is satire? What makes it an effective

form of criticism?2 Is there anything that should be free from

attack by satire?3 In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift examines

the essence of human nature. Do you think humans are basically rational and good beings, or impulsive and cruel beasts?

Gulliver and the Lilliputians

Jonathan SwiftGulliver’s Travels (1721–25)

Book 1, Chapter 2

In this passage, Gulliver’s ship is caught by a storm and wrecks in a strange region called Lilliput. After the shipwreck Gulliver falls asleep. When he wakes up, he finds that he has been tied up by the Lilliputians, tiny men who are now inspecting his clothes.

I took up the two officers in my hands, put them first into my coat-pockets, and then into every other pocket about me, except my two fobs1, and another secret pocket which I had no mind should be searched2, wherein I had some little necessaries of no consequence3 to any but myself. In one of my fobs there was a silver watch, and in the other a small quantity of gold in a purse. These gentlemen, having pen, ink and paper about them, made an exact inventory4 of everything they saw; and when they had done, desired I would set them down5, that they might deliver it to the Emperor. This inventory I afterwards translated into English, and is word for word as follows. IMPRIMIS, In the right coat-pocket of the Great Man-Mountain (for so I interpret the words Quinbus Flestrin) after the strictest search, we found only one great piece of coarse cloth6, large enough to be a foot-cloth for your Majesty’s chief room of state. In the left pocket, we saw a huge silver chest7, with a cover of the same metal, which we the searchers were not able to lift8. We desired it should be opened, and one of us stepping into9 it, found himself up to the mid leg in a sort of dust, some part whereof flying up to our faces set us both a sneezing10 for several times together. In his right waistcoat-pocket11, we found a prodigious bundle12 of white thin substances, folded13 one over another, about the bigness of three men, tied with a strong cable, and marked with black figures; which we humbly conceive14 to be writings, every letter almost half as large as the palm of our hands. In the left, there was a sort of engine, from the back of which were extended twenty long poles15, resembling the palisados16 before your Majesty’s Court; wherewith we conjecture the Man-Mountain combs his head, for we did not always trouble him with questions, because we found it a great difficulty to make him understand us. [...]

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1 fobs. Taschini per l’orologio.

2 searched. Ispezionata.3 consequence.

Importanza.4 inventory. Inventario.5 I would set them down.

Che li mettessi giù.6 coarse cloth. Stoffa

grezza, non pregiata.7 chest. Scrigno, forziere.8 lift. Sollevare.9 stepping into.

Essendovi entrato.10 sneezing. Starnutire.11 waistcoat-pocket.

Taschino del panciotto, gilè.

12 bundle. Fascio, fagotto.13 folded. Piegate.14 we humbly conceive.

Umilmente riteniamo.15 poles. Pali.16 palisados. Palizzate,

steccati.

43.15

1 Ted Danson as Lemuel Gulliver in ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, directed by Charles Sturridge in 1996.

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There were two pockets which we could not enter: these he called his fobs; they were two large slits17 cut into the top of his middle cover, but squeezed close by the pressure of his belly18. Out of the right fob hung a great silver chain, with a wonderful kind of engine at the bottom. We directed him to draw out whatever was at the end of that chain; which appeared to be a globe, half silver, and half of some transparent metal: for on the transparent side we saw certain strange figures circularly drawn, and thought we could touch them, till we found our fingers stopped with that lucid substance. He put this engine to our ears, which made an incessant noise like that of a watermill. And we conjecture it is either some unknown animal, or the god that he worships: but we are more inclined to the latter19 opinion, because he assured us (if we understood him right, for he expressed himself very imperfectly), that he seldom did anything without consulting it. He called it his oracle, and said it pointed out the time for every action of his life.

25

30

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17 slits. Fessure.18 belly. Ventre.19 the latter. La seconda.

COMPREHENSION

2 READ the passage and make notes about:

1 where the Lilliputians are while making the inventory;

2 the name the Lilliputians give Gulliver;

3 what they find in his right coat-pocket;

4 what they find in his left coat-pocket;

5 what they find in his right waistcoat-pocket;

6 what they find in his left waistcoat-pocket;

7 what hung out of the right fob;

8 why they think he carries the god he worships.

ANALYSIS

3 DECIDE. Who is the narrator? Does he interpret what he sees for the reader or does he just describe what he sees?

4 FOCUS on the description of the inventory. How would you define it?

∏ Vague. ∏ Realistic. ∏ Rambling. ∏ Detailed. ∏ Precise.

5 FILL IN the following table. To the impression of realism conveyed by the description of the objects, Swift adds a twist of absurdity through the distorted perspective of the Lilliputians.

Lilliputians’ description

What they actually find

6 UNDERLINE the words referring to the Lilliputians’ behaviour. What is the main feature that strikes Gulliver?

7 SAY what name is given to Gulliver. What does he stand for, in contrast to the Lilliputians?

8 TICK as appropriate. What do you think the author’s aim is?

∏ To amuse the reader. ∏ To moralise. ∏ To satirise some aspects of his

society.

YOUR TURN

9 DISCUSS the following questions.

1 What do you believe Jonathan Swift was trying to say regarding the society of his day?

2 What would Swift think of life in this century?

3 What aspects of modern institutions do you think he would approve or disapprove of?

10 WRITE. Political cartoons have been a common and effective form of satire for centuries. Collect some political cartoons from newspapers and magazines. Write an analysis of the issue being satirised and the cartoonist’s attitude on the issue.

2 James Gillray (1757–1815), political satire. The Royal Collection.

Spiazzi, Tavella, Layton PERFORMER. CULTURE & LITERATURE © Zanichelli 2012