Irony In A Modest Proposal

Irony is a beautiful technique exercised to convey a message or call a certain group of people to action. This rhetorical skill is artfully used by Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet “A Modest Proposal.” The main argument for this mordantly ironic essay is to capture the attention of a disconnected and indifferent audience. Swift makes his point by stringing together a dreadfully twisted set of morally untenable positions in order to cast blame and aspersions on his intended audience. Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” employs despicably vivid satire to call for change in a world of abuse and misfortune.

Furthermore, Swift also creates a strong argument throughout this essay, with the use of logos; appealing to logic and his use of statistics. Swift states that the “number of souls in this kingdom…of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couples who wives are breeders”; furthermore proposing that an infant can be sold for “two shillings per anun” and “with eight shillings net profit the mother will also benefit and be fit for work to produce another child.” Another quote that implies the reader of his logic and reason , is when he states in these lines that an infant’s flesh can be seasoned throughout the year “with a little pepper or salt…especially in the winter.” He also states that the carcass

From the beginning, irony is immediately displayed through the title of the text, A Modest Proposal. Modest means to be moderate and the proposal stated is anything but. The irony of this title serves to display to the audience how “moderate” this plan is in comparison to what the government was presently doing which was basically nothing in Swift’s eyes. Throughout the introduction, the speaker introduces the problem -- overpopulation and poverty -- and presents a solution. He mentions children in passing, which later on becomes a large part of his “proposal” to help Ireland. Swift cites that a significant part of the problem in Ireland is the struggle to provide for the evergrowing population and in order to solve this, children -- specifically newborns to a year old -- should be sold to the upper classes as food. He describes that “a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food..” (Swift, lines 70-71). This solution would lessen the pressure for the state to provide for them in addition to other benefits that Swift later expresses. This hyperbolic suggestion serves to express Swift’s viewpoint on the actions of the upper class to solve the issues that Ireland was enduring. He was implying that their

In Jonathan Swift’s satire, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift writes about the starving people of Ireland in the early 1700’s. He makes a wild and absurd proposal to help remedy the problems of overpopulation and poverty. Swift wants to make a political statement by using the “children” as satire to grasp the attention of the audience - the English people, the Irish politicians and the rich – and make them aware of the political, moral, and social problems. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s arguments are presented effectively by using pathos (emotional appeal), ethos (ethics and values), and logos (logic reasoning and facts).

The sarcastic views of Swift’s understanding of the poverty of Ireland leads him to make a proposal for a solution to poverty, where he ignores the concern of human morale by displaying the lacking efforts of England to help. Swift uses methods that work to get or help better understand a situation, for example being sarcastic in a situation where a person wants something out of the situation by satire. The undeniable effect of satire catches the attention of England to further display the poverty of Ireland which is displayed throughout Swift’s Modest Proposal with exaggeration, incongruity and reversal.

Like the other numerous number of circulating pamphlets, Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’ begins with a sympathetic description of poor Irish people who can’t afford raising their kids to give one a sense of sympathy towards them. Unlike the other pamphlets of his contemporaries which proposed remedies or just complained about the problem like how the British government did, he emphasizes that his proposal “…is of a much greater extent, and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain age who are

Satire is a form of literature in which an author tries to demonstrate his or her point of view by ridiculing. The author uses heavy irony and sarcasm in order to criticize a social issue. A perfect example of a work of satire is Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. In this satirical essay, Jonathan Swift attacks on the issue of the Irish poverty in the 1700s. The essay sarcastically suggests that Ireland’s social and economic problems would be quickly solved by putting the children of impoverished Irish families on the food market. Through heavy exaggeration, Jonathan

Throughout Swift’s content, he uses rhetorical devices such as pathos, logos, and ethos. Jonathan Swift intelligently uses pathos to play a huge roll on people’s emotion in an effort to convince them of the legitimacy of his argument, “… and butchers we may be assured will not be wanting, although I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs,” (689). Logos appeals to the logical thinking of the audience is introduced in support of his case. Swift gives the logical portion by using numbers to show how many unfortunate babies would meet their demise yearly, “… the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one fourth part to be males… one male will be sufficient to serve four Females. That the remaining hundred thousand may at a year old be offered in sale,” (689). Ethos was shown when he talked to high authority people about the situation, “Infant's flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more plentiful in March... For we are told by a grave author, an eminent French physician… there are more children born in Roman Catholic countries about nine months after Lent,”

Although I realize your concern, you have missed the point of this well thought out essay completely. Despite what you may think about A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift, this essay is a satire master piece filled with irony. Swift’s essay was not intended to convince people to eat babies, but to call attention to the abuses Catholic’s face from their well-to-do Protestants. He only uses eating babies in his essay to explain to the reader the impossible burdens the Protestants are imposing on the Irish Catholics and by making their life hard, they are making a life of a new born impossible.

Jonathan Swift, the writer of the satirical essay A Modest Proposal, grew up and lived in Ireland during times of famine and economic struggles (Conditions). Growing up with a single mother and no father, Swift knew what hard times and struggles were like (Jonathan Swift: Biography). His essay proposes an easy solution to the economic problems going on in Ireland for both the wealthy ruling classes and the poorer classes, although his intentions and the meaning behind his words are not what would be originally thought when initially reading the essay. Through his word choices and the description of specific events of his time, Swift uses satire to grab his audience’s attention and get his own personal ideas and opinions out about all the

Swift's message to the English government in "A Modest Proposal" deals with the disgusting state of the English-Irish common people. Swift, as the narrator expresses pity for the poor and oppressed, while maintaining his social status far above them. The poor and oppressed that he refers to are Catholics, peasants, and the poor homeless men, women, and children of the kingdom. This is what Swift is trying to make the English government, in particular the Parliament aware of; the great socioeconomic distance between the increasing number of peasants and the aristocracy, and the effects thereof. Swift conveys his message in a brilliant essay, in which he uses

In ‘A Modest Proposal’ the author, Jonathan Swift utilizes techniques such as satire, sarcasm, and irony to create a bigger picture to the reader. Within the poem, Swift not only presents a humorous approach to social and economic issues but does so in a well-constructed and carefully composed manner. A closer reading of the text reveals a deeper critical analysis of the social perceptions of the poor at the time. Through Swifts’ use of irony, he creates a proposal that is so extremely absurd that some may believe the piece to be genuine. By taking an issue and providing a corrupt and merciless solution, the writer uses a unique approach to catch the attention of the people of Ireland and presents them a proposal they cannot ignore. Through the use of irony, Swift creates a poem that not only criticizes social perceptions of the poor but also remarks upon the issue without directly addressing the reader.

In a “Modest Proposal” Swift expresses his grief as well as irritation of Ireland’s politicians, the hypocrisy of the wealthy, the tyranny of the English, and the degradation in which he witnesses the Irish people living. While Swift explains how England continuously exploits Ireland, he also expresses the utter disgust he finds in the inability of the Irish to help themselves. Swift mourns and shows compassion for the Irish people but critiques both for the issue at hand. (Sparknotes). Through this ironic essay of surprises and shocks, swift challenges the reader consider and critically analyze policies, motivation, and moral values. Jonathan Swift states in the essay that

His use of diction relating to livestock as well as his cold, calculated tones and constant appeals to foreign authority mirror and comment upon the elite?s absurb rationalization for their abuse and exploition of the dredges of society. He constantly likens beggers to animals, even comparing children to ?sheep, black cattle or swine? and even speaking of them interms of ?fore and hind quarter?s. His tone is so disturbingly uninvolved and methodical that he is able to calculate exactly how many meals a baby will serve and even pictures cannibalism as a socially acceptable occurence when ?entertaining friends.? Throughout the piece Swift constantly seeks to jusify his proposal by mentioning the suggestions he has received from his influential friends in foreign countries. This illustrates that the narrator?s mind is even farther removed from the immediate crisis and famine. As people read through the passage, Swift is able to sneakily encourage people to question the authority of their elitist leadership.

Swift’s development of the absurd proposal for eating young children so that “the poorer tenants will have something valuable” or that there “would be constant customers for infants flesh” is enhanced by numerous examples of biting irony. Such irony exists even in the title: “A Modest Proposal.” Upon reading the text, the audience can agree that Swift’s proposal is far from modest and such irony servers to enrage and puzzle the readers to the point that they question why he would be using such shifting, ironic diction. Swift’s use of absurd logic to his proposal supplements the effectiveness of verbal irony, since no one would believe that children should be eaten to improve “in the art of making good bacon”. The aforementioned examples illustrate Swift’s craftiness and the use irony to almost mock the audience. In true Juveliean fashion, such techniques are designed to arouse the reader to anger and suspicion of what is trying to be said. A satire based on the Horatian type wouldn’t use such blatantly offensive irony. Rather, the tone of voice would be “gentler, more good humored and sympathetic” (“Horatian Satire”).