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Pop Madalina

Major: Ja-En
1st year student

Vices travelling through Epochs


-Gullivers TravelsJonathan Swift

The main idea: The similarities between people and their vices from different centuries and
different spaces.
Introduction: Who was Jonathan Swift and how his life contributed to the creation of
Gullivers Travels.
-

Jonathan Swift was an English writer, essayist, a dean in the Church of England,
pamphleteer and satirist born in Dublin on 30 November 1667 and died on 19 October
1745.
Jonathan Swift is one of those who represent the Age of Enlightenment being known for
misanthropy. This misanthropy is observed in his work Gullivers Travel.

Content:
I.
-

The vices in different centuries


Gulliver criticizes human behavior from England in 17th century. He enumerates the
addictions, vices and the problems from his time.
Swift does not only refer to his time, but to the time from the origins to the present time.
In the 4th voyage, Swift makes a reference to the Adam and Eva and their sin, resembling
them to the yahoos. The idea is that it is in human nature to sin.
In the 3rd voyage, Gulliver talks with ghosts from different centuries before Swifts time.
Even back then there were betrayals, lies and corruption.
All those vices can be found in our after Swifts time. For example he talks about war and
its consequences and all he said it can be seen in the two World Wars from 20th century.

II.
The status in different centuries and spaces:
- The size it may refer to the social position and the size does not equal the intelligence of
somebody.
- In Lilliput, Gulliver is bigger and stronger than everybody, he being the only giant in a
land where people is the size of a thumb, but even though the people should be afraid of
him, he is marginalized and condemned to death.
- In Brobdingnag, Gulliver has the size of a thumb, while the others are giants. Because he
is different from the others, he is not taken seriously even though he may have good ideas

that will help the country, because of his size he is not consider at a level of a human, but
a pet.
Also, through the different sizes of the Gulliver from a country to another country, it may
show how strong you can be in a place, but in another place you can be the weakest.
All those things apply to the present time in 21 st century. In Contemporary Era, you may
have all the qualities required and be better than the others, but it does not matter since in
our world money and power surpass the talent and the intelligence.

III.
Utopia
- Swift creates a perfect world, the land of Houyhnhnms, in which people, or horses in this
case, do not have vices, but kindness, honesty and fairness.
- Through this rational animals it can be observed that Swift does not believe in the pure
evil, but he thinks that the mankind can be saved, it can redeem himself, like Gulliver
who stays so much time in the presence of the Houyhnhnms he is losing some of his
vices.
Conclusion: Jonathan Swift critics the mankinds bad behaviour and wants to make the people to
observe that their vices will not bring any good to them and that they have to change, to become
better human beings.

Bibliography: De K.M. Jan, Shabnam Firdaus - Perspectives on Gullivers Travels, Atlantic


Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, 2004.

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