Abuse of power in Gulliver's travels

     Jonathan Swift is one of the best known satirists in the history of literature. When one reads his works, especially something like Gulliver’s Travels, it is easy for one to spot the misanthropic themes, which emerge within his characterization. Lamuel Gulliver is an excellent protagonist: a keen observer, and a good representative of his native England, but one who loses faith in mankind as his story progresses. He ends up in remote areas of the world all by accidents in his voyages. In each trip, he is shipwrecked and mysteriously arrives to lands never before seen by men. This forms an interesting rhythm in the novel: as Gulliver is given more and more responsibility, he tends to be less

Swift was a neoclassical writer who wrote to enlighten people. He wanted people to look at the world that exits beyond them selves and discover virtue. Through his work Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift demonstrates to the reader the importance of virtue. I this story the main character am Gulliver; a world traveler who takes a journey to different lands. Each place that Gulliver lands has different ideals that are the foundation of their society. Their views on life are completely new to Gulliver.

    During the eighteenth century there was an incredible upheaval of commercialization in London, England.  As a result, English society underwent significant, "changes in attitude and thought", in an attempt to obtain the dignity and splendor of royalty and the upper class (McKendrick,2).  As a result, English society held themselves in very high regards, feeling that they were the elite society of mankind.  In his novel, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift satirizes this English society in many ways.  In the novel, Swift uses metaphors to reveal his disapproval of English society.  Through graphic representations of the body and it's functions, Swift reveals to the reader that grandeur is

When I went to check the egg, I saw that the egg just cracked a little, but it was less than what it was during the first trial, which broke completely.

In Book 1, the size of the Lilliputians was also an analogy for England. Swift recognized that England was just like the Lilliputians, which had great influence in Europe. Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels during a time when Europe was the world’s most dominant and influential force. However, England despite its small size had the power to defeat any nation and try to conquer them. Swift makes this connection to the small stature of the Lilliputians. They stood only six inches high, but had the power to siege Gulliver who appeared like a giant to them. The ability of a nation consisting of miniature people who are able to capture someone many times their size can be seen as reinforcing the capability of a small nation becoming and remaining a great power. Swift displays a condescending tone to Gulliver’s portrayal of the small Lilliputians who easily fit into the hands of Gulliver yet still manage to threaten his life even though the Lilliputians are extremely small in Gulliver’s eyes.

The Lilliputians have a court that is very pompous and disloyal. A “person of High Rank from his Imperial Majesty” (390) comes up to Gulliver to show his medals and his status in court. The fact that a person as miniscule as he is has the guts to climb atop Gulliver shows how arrogant and pompous people in Lilliput are. The court of Lilliput also use the captured Gulliver as a source of entertainment. They climb the large turret just to view Gulliver in awe of his size. This shows how vain and corrupt the Lilliputians are as they use a captured human being for a source of amusement.

The first part involves Lilliput, a land made up of tiny people known as the Lilliputians who are an embodiment of England and its people of that time. They symbolize the English and are based upon Swift’s assessment of his contemporaries. Their miniature size debunks the English’s inflated sense of self. They also have a morally debased political culture just as the English and they have an unquenchable lust for power. How these characteristics are satirised can be seen through Gulliver’s experience and interaction with his surroundings.

In1726, Jonathan Swift, one of the best-known realistic writers in 18th century, published his book Gulliver’s Travels which on the surface is a collection of travel journals of a surgeon called Lemuel Gulliver but actually is a work of satire on politics and human nature. In the four incredible adventures, Gulliver’s perceptions are tied closely with Swift’s shame and disgust against British government and even against the whole of the human condition as Richard Rodino says in his book that Gulliver is neither a fully developed character nor even an altogether distinguishable persona; rather, he is a satiric device enabling Swift to score satirical points. (Rodino 124)

Ironically, Gulliver insists to refuse his status of yahoo, the procedure of Gulliver’s acceptation to the status of yahoo is under a depressed atmosphere. When Gulliver backs home, he is still struggling to be a rational creature in his mind which is Houyhnhnm or to be a corrupted creature which is yahoo. Swift’s sharp criticism makes the novel isn’t as fun as ‘Candide’. However, it makes reader think over the purpose of his criticism.

The treatment of women in today’s culture has a lot of problems. Even though in the last century women have been treated better there are still problems. Women are and have always been sexualized in everything they do. Most of the time women are judged on their appearance alone. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is a piece of literature that comes across as misogynistic. There are many times in the book when women are judged primarily on their looks and come across as unable to control themselves. However, Swift is using this kind of writing style to actually convey a point to society. By making these issues larger in the book and by reversing gender roles, it is easier to see all the problems that our society has with the treatment of women. Jonathan Swift is not misogynistic and is trying to prove a point so the treatment of women is improved in our society. The scene of the

The Lilliputians are supposed to symbolize the Whigs, and Swift thinks of them as stupid and power-hungry. He demonstrates this when they search Gulliver for weapons. In Swift’s time the Whigs searched the Tories for evidence of their connections with England. He also makes fun of the thinking at the time; the Lilliputians were discriminated against whether they wore either high heels or low heels, and the ones that tried to remain neutral worse one high heel and one low heel. At the end of the book Swift demonstrates his thought on humans, when all the humans were savage and stupid, while the animals were brilliant. I believe that Swift demonstrates all his points very well. The reader is transported to the story, yet unlike most books, Swift doesn’t tell the reader exactly what to think, he insinuates it but lets the reader come to his own conclusions.

Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels in 1762 with the intent of providing entertainment for people. Entertainment through satire was what Swift had in mind. In Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift traveled to four different foreign countries, each representing a corrupt part of England. Swift criticized the corruption of such parts and focused on the government, society, science, religion and man. Not only did Swift criticize the customs of each country, he mocked the naive man who was unable to figure out the double meaning of things. When reading Gulliver's Travels, reflects upon plot, characters, settings, theme, point of view, conflicts, climax, resolution, symbolism and figurative

These people take all of his possessions for inspection, for they are in awe and fear of his great size. They feed him, and soon untie him but still keep him in confinement. While in his confinement, he is visited by the emperor who likes Gulliver. Gulliver learns there language and the customs of the people of Lilliput. In this book Swift, by describing the ludicrous system that Lilliput's government fashions in, is satirizing the English system of governing. He uses parallels that seem absurd at first glance but make more senses when looked at carefully.

In the last voyage in Jonathan Swift's book Gulliver's Travels, "A voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms," Swift describes his idea of an ideal society. There are many examples provided in this part of the book to convince the reader that Swift is indeed illustrating his idea of a utopia. By using horses as the most reasonable creature, Swift not only defaces human society by making a beast a more powerful creature, but also shows that humans are unable to attain this perfectly reasonable society.

The novel, Gulliver’s Travels, is just that, a novel about the main character, Gulliver who goes on many journeys. The part of this book that brings out the reader’s interest is Gulliver’s character and the ways his character changes as the story progresses. He begins as a naïve Englishman and by the end of the book he has a strong hatred for the human race. Gulliver shows that his adventures have taught him that a simple life, one without the complexities and weaknesses of human society, may be best, but the simple life he longed for should not have been the route he took.