English

JONATHAN SWIFT
Duncea Alexandra IV C
“every man desires to live long,
but no man wishes to be old.”
Gulliver’s Travels- Jonathan Swift

Life…
What became known as the Glorious Revolution
of 1688 spurred Swift to move to England and
start anew. Swift was alive during a time of
Jonathan Swift was born in 1667 in Dublin although his parents were English. His father had
revolutionary change, when a king was deposeddied
before he was born and his mother, after her husband’s death returned to her family in England
in a sensational revolution, the modern political
leaving Jonathan and his sister (Jane) to be raised by relatives.
system came into being, and Britain became a
world power.
Since he was young he enjoyed reading and literature and, under
Thanks the mother
to his care of he
hisbecame
uncle hesecretary
receivedtoa sir
bachelor's degree from Trinity College. So why did Swift despise
William his uncle
Temple, and statesman
a Whig declare that he had
that
been given “the education of a dog”? encouraged him to write his first satirical works.
It was rumored that he fell in love with
the housekeeper’s daughter…a very
a controversial love bright nine-year-old girl which he
story… tutored, although nothing happened
until she was of age.Still, there are not
enough information that can help us
establish if they were secretly married,
and if so why did they keep it a secret?
His biographers were fascinated by an image
of a genius descending into madness since he
suffered from vertigo and left-sided deafness,
symptoms typical of Ménière’s disease.
But he wasn’t mad, he actually saw madness
in poverty and social injustice.
He found in irony and satire the means
that suited his controversial temperament
In 1694 he returned to Ireland where he was ordainedand interestspriest
Anglican which perfectly
and in 1713blended in his
he became
Dean of Dublin’s St Patrick’s Cathedral. masterpiece ‘Gulliver’s Travels ‘.
We are in the presence of a great and controversial mind. He has been labeled as a man with a
morbid attitude, while he defined himself a hater of mankind , whom he described as ‘as an
animal capable of reason’.
Gulliver’s Travels
Introduction
His masterpiece was published anonymously in 1726 as Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. A keystone of
English literature, it is one of the books that contributed to the emergence of the novel .A parody of the then popular travel
narrative, Gulliver’s Travels combines adventure with savage satire, mocking English customs and the politics of the day.
Just like Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver tells his experiences in the first person , in a prose style which is free of literary
colouring. It in fact records observed details with the precision of a scientific instrument.
The novel consists in 4 books each linked to one of Gulliver’s 4
voyages.These four settings provide Swift with the opportunity to
discuss everything he feels is wrong with mankind in general and
British society. Lemuel Gulliver, the main character, was a surgeon
and sea captain who visits remote regions of the world. Swift’s
masterpiece has been widely read as a tale of children because of
Gulliver’s amusing and absurd adventures, but it’s so much more than
that.
FIRST BOOK
In the first one, Gulliver is the only survivor of a shipwreck, and he swims to
Lilliput, where he is tied up by people who are less than 6 inches (15 cm) tall. He
is then taken to the capital city and eventually released.
They in ridiculous customs and petty debates. Political affiliations, for
indulge
example, are divided between men who wear high-heeled shoes (symbolic of the
English ) and those who wear low ones (representing the English ).
Tories Whigs
Gulliver is treated with compassion and concern. In return, he helps them solve
some of their problems, especially their conflict with their enemy, Blefuscu,
another island. Gulliver falls from favor, however, because he refuses to support
the Emperor's desire to enslave the Blefuscudians.
SECOND BOOK
As he travels as a ship's surgeon, Gulliver and a small crew are sent to find water
on an island. Instead they encounter a land of giants (located in Alaska). As the
crew flees (fugge), Gulliver is left behind and captured. Gulliver's captor, a
farmer, takes him to the farmer's home where Gulliver is treated kindly, but, of
course, with curiosity. The farmer assigns his daughter, Glumdalclitch, to be
Gulliver's keeper, and she cares for Gulliver with great compassion. The farmer
takes Gulliver on tour across the countryside, displaying him to onlookers.
Eventually, the farmer sells Gulliver to the Queen. At court, Gulliver meets the
King, and the two spend many sessions discussing the customs and behaviors of
Gulliver's country. In many cases, the King is shocked by the selfishness and
pettiness that he hears Gulliver describe. Gulliver, on the other hand, defends
England.
THIRD BOOK
In the third book he gets
attacked by pirates. While drifting at sea, Gulliver discovers a Flying
Island. While on the Flying Island, called Laputa, Gulliver meets
several inhabitants, including the King. All are preoccupied in this land
with things associated with mathematics and music. Gulliver finally
arrives to Japan where he meets the Japanese emperor.
FOURTH BOOK
In this last adventure several of his crew become ill and die on the voyage and Gulliver hires
several replacement sailors which turn out to be pirates who convince the other crew members to
turn against him. As a result, Gulliver is deposited on a "strand" (an island) to fend for himself.
Almost immediately, he is discovered by a herd (gregge) of ugly, despicable human-like creatures
who are called, he later learns, Yahoos. They attack him by climbing trees and defecating on him.
He is saved from this disgrace by the appearance of a horse, identified, he later learns, by the
name Houyhnhnm. The grey horse takes Gulliver to his home. It becomes immediately clear that,
except for Gulliver's clothing, he and the Yahoos are the same animal. From this point on,
Gulliver and his master begin a series of discussions about the evolution of Yahoos, about topics,
concepts, and behaviors related to the Yahoo society. Eventually, however, Gulliver agrees to
return to his family in England, but he was a different man. He takes an aversion to everything at
home because Europe is losing its civilization and falling into a state of corruption expressed in
the novel by the constant opposition between rationality and animality.
“The reader may be disposed to wonder how I could prevail on myself to give so free a
representation of my own species, among a race of mortals who are already too apt to
conceive the vilest opinion of humankind, from that entire congruity between me and
their Yahoos. But I must freely confess, that the many virtues of those excellent
quadrupeds, placed in opposite view to human corruptions, had so far opened my eyes
and enlarged my understanding, that I began to view the actions and passions of man in a
very different light, and to think the honour of my own kind not worth managing; which,
besides, it was impossible for me to do, before a person of so acute a judgment as my
master, who daily convinced me of a thousand faults in myself, whereof I had not the
least perception before, and which, with us, would never be numbered even among
human infirmities. I had likewise learned, from his example, an utter detestation of all
falsehood or disguise; and truth appeared so amiable to me, that I determined upon
sacrificing every thing to it.”
Gulliver’s Travels- IV BOOK , IV chapter

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JONATHAN SWIFT

Gulliver’s Travels- Jonathan Swift

Gulliver’s Travels- IV BOOK , IV chapter

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