OBJECTS OF SWIFTS SATIRE IN GULLIVERS TRAVELS:

Political Satire in Part I of the Book: In part I we find Swift satirizing the m
anner in which political offices were distributed among the candidates by the En
glish King in Swifts time. Flimnap, the treasurer, represents Sir Robert Walpole
who was the prime minister of England from 1715 to 1716 and then again from 1721
to 1742. Dancing on a tight rope symbolizes Walpoles skill in parliamentary tact
ics and political intrigues. Similarly, Reldresal represents Lord Carteret who w
as appointed by Walpole to the office of the Lieutenant of Ireland. The ancient
temple in which Gulliver is housed In Lilliput probably refers to Westminster Ha
ll in which Charles I had been condemned to death. The three fine silk threads w
hich were awarded as prizes to the winners of various contests refer to the vari
ous distinctions which were conferred by the English King on his favourites. Sat
irical References to Queen Anne: Gullivers account of the anger of the Empress of
Lilliput at his having extinguished a fire in her apartment is Swifts satirical
way of describing Queen Annes annoyance with him for having written A Tale of a Tu
b in which Swift had attacked religious abuses but which had been misinterpreted
by the Queen as an attack on religion itself. Satire on Religious Strife and on
Political Factions: Swifts satire becomes more amusing when Gulliver speaks of th
e conflict between the Big-Endians and the Little-Endians in Lilliput. It is fun
ny that while one party believes that boiled eggs should be broken at the big en
d, the other party insists on breaking the eggs at the smaller end. In this acco
unt Swift is ridiculing the conflicts between the Roman Catholics and the Protes
tants. He is making fun of hair-splitting theological disputes. Swift also pokes
fun at the political parties in England when he speaks of the two factions in L
illiput. Satire on the Coarseness of the Human Body: In part II, the satire beco
mes general. Here, Gulliver first gives us his reaction to the coarseness and ug
liness of the human body. We meet the people of Brobdingnag who are giants in st
ature and who thus present a glaring contrast to the pigmies of Lilliput. If, in
the description of the Lilliputians, Swift was looking at mankind through the w
rong end of a telescope, in his account of the Brobdingnagians he is looking at
mankind through the magnifying glass. We are particularly repelled by the descri
ption of the huge, monstrous breasts of a woman which are revealed when she begi
ns to suckle her child. Satire on Human Pride and Pretension: When Gulliver has
given to the King an account of the life in his own country, of the trade, the w
ars, the conflicts in religion, the political parties, the King has a hearty lau
gh and asks Gulliver whether the latter is a Whig or Tory. When the King passed
a remark how contemptible a thing is human grandeur which could be mimicked by s
uch small insects as Gulliver. In other words, the King mocks at the human race
of which Gulliver is a representative. Swift is here ridiculing human pride and
pretensions.
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A Satirical Description of Beggars: The description of beggars whom Gulliver hap

pens to see in the metropolis of this country is intended as a satire on the beg
gars who actually existed in the city of Dublin. The sight is, indeed, horrible
and disgusting. Among the beggars is a woman with a cancer in her breast, there
is a man with a large tumor in his neck; another beggar has wooden leg, each abo
ut twenty feet high. But the most hateful sight is that of the lice crawling on
their clothes. The description reinforces swifts view of the ugliness and foulnes
s of the human body. Satire on Theoreticians and Academics in Part III: The sati
re in part III is not so bitter as in the closing chapters of part II. The satir
e in part III is, indeed, light-hearted. Here Swift amuses us by making fun of t
he people whose sole interests are music and geometry and who do not even have t
ime to make love with their wives. We are also amused by the strange projects at
the Academy in Lagado. The projectors here are busy finding methods to extracts
sunbeams out of cucumbers, to convert human excrement into its original food, t
o build houses from the roof downwards to the foundation, to obtain silk from co
bwebs. All this was intended as a satire on the kind of work the Royal Society i
n England was doing in those days. Satire on Historians and Critics: There are t
wo other noteworthy targets of satire in part III. Swift satirizes historians an
d literary critics through Gullivers interviews with the ghosts of the famous dea
d. The point of the satire here is that historians often distort facts and even
authors like Homer and Aristotle. The Satirical Portrayal of the Yahoos in Part
IV: Part IV of Gullivers Travels contains some of the most biting and offensive sat
ire on mankind. In this part the Yahoos are intended to represent human beings.
The very initial description of the Yahoos given to us by Gulliver is repellent.
Gulliver describes them as abominable, and he is both astonished and horrified
on seeing the physical resemblance between them and persons of his own race. By
contrast with the Yahoos, the Houyhnhnms are noble and benevolent animals who ar
e governed by reason and who lead an orderly life. It is indeed a bitter critici
sm of the human race to represent the Houyhnhnms as being superior mentally and
morally to the human beings. Gullivers reaction to what he has seen in the land o
f the Houyhnhnms fills him with so much admiration for them and with so much hat
red for the human race that he has no desire even to return to his family. The r
eaction shows that Gulliver has become a complete misanthrope and cynic and swif
t wanted to focus our attention through Gullivers reaction. Gulliver concludes hi
s account with a severe condemnation of human pride, so that pride may be regard
ed as yet another target of Swifts satire in his book. Written & Composed BY: Pro
f. A.R. Somroo (Cell: 03339971417) M.A. English, M.A. Education
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