Jonathan Swift Rhetorical Devices

Swift begins his essay by describing walking down a street in Ireland. He describes how you would see, “beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms” (Swift, Para. 1). This gives the reader a mental

Swift’s proposal attempted to do so with the same logic and motivation that he considered to be the cause of the melancholy that could be observed traveling through Ireland. He aims his observations and remarks as sympathetic for the people, but more importantly empathetic because, as a prosperous traveler, one does not want to see such things while

The Irish have done nothing to halt the terrorizing nature of their domineering counterparts. Swift uses this proposal to “the wretched Irish situation” (Lockwood). By “rigorously underplaying the aspect of fantasy in his proposal,” Swift suggests the Irish have arrived at a condition in which such a plan may be seriously considered (Lockwood). Booth describes that every detail of Swift’s proposal “supports the inference that the woes of Ireland make, indeed, a ‘melancholy Object.’” In essence, the “anger against the English is used merely to heighten” Swift’s own dismay over the way Ireland has conducted itself (Booth). Swift craftily causes readers to question more than just how to fix the problems in fraught Ireland.

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

Johnathan Swift wrote Modest Proposal with the idea to better humanity.. When you first read it you miss what the true message is. You think “Man this guy is a monster!” or “He’s sick!”, but once you reach the end the true meaning of the proposal hits you. When Jonathan Swift wrote a Modest Proposal he tried to get his audience to see the problem by taking it and providing an unethical and inhumane solution then using rhetorical devices to bring out people’s emotions.

Although the use of incongruity is used to seize attention through a sarcastic view, another way Swift uses satire to grab England’s attention is through reversal. Reversal is used by Swift to switch the roles of babies to pigs, to emphasize the idea that these babies taste like pig. It is expressed in the text where the author points out, “I rather recommend buying the children alive and dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs” (Swift 99). This piece of text is evident of how Swift makes the point of having children served similar to pigs makes it sound serious, yet sarcastic making his point more clear to the reader with hidden meaning. The way Swift places reversal in the text makes it clear to England of how insane he may seem, but for a cause. This effective way of satire is undeniable of how Swift achieves his idea to bring poverty to an end to Ireland.

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,”

Overall, Swift is also using irony by relating this unheard of cruelty to babies to cruelty animals. He suggests that buying children alive and “dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs” (411) is the best way to serve them. This was intended to tell the audience that the Protestants are basically treating the Catholics like animals with no regard to life. This carefully crafted technique lets the reader see how malicious the Protestants are actually being, and that they are killing Catholic babies alive by ruining any chance at a good life. Swift did not actually mean for people to go out and cook babies like pigs to get the most satisfactory, he simply meant that if you are going to treat them like pigs, you might as well eat them like pigs. If the people of Britain can’t see that through adults, maybe

“I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs” (A Modest Proposal). Comparing the children to roasting a pig shows that the children do not mean that much to anyone and they can just be burned alive and no one would care. He also uses the word “flesh” generally to refer to the children when they’re being served and eaten which is an animalistic association (A Modest Proposal). Usually human children would not be referred to as “flesh” or “pigs” at all. This, again, reflects upon how England and the Irish ruling classes treated the people of Ireland, especially the less fortunate. Other words Swift has a tendency of using are “breeders”, “males”, and “females” (A Modest Proposal). It’s not common to hear these words in regard to a human being especially coming from a priest. More directly with his wording, Swift speaks of the landlords in a negative manner. “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents…” (A Modest Proposal). This statement shows the way the English landlords would take every penny their tenants had. England and Ireland’s wealthy class did not care for their people what so ever, and Swift’s satire was very effective in proving these points.

Indeed the proposal to eat the poor is a shocking statement, but what adds to the shock value is the delivery. For example, take the last statement regarding a fricassee. This statement is not necessary for the point, but it certainly adds to the appalling nature of the quote. The sarcastic nature puts Swift so far above the poor subjects that it evokes an extremely humorous response. Swift digresses and uses sarcasm numerous times in the essay, to emphasize truisms in a manner that tries to be less than direct, but has the ultimate effect of clarity. For example Swift proposes that some one of the uses for the children would be to

Swift suggests that Irish women should sell their children as food and other necessities to the rich populace in order to benefit the economy and fight the problem of overpopulation. To specify, Swift proposes if the children are sold, there would be many more utilizations of the children instead of having to survive on the streets scraping for money. He uses this ridiculous example in hope that it will benefit the rich population as well as solve the predicament of overpopulation. As he states, “Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flay the carcass;

Beginning with an examination of the subtitle, the stance of the narrator and his views of the poor are evident immediately. “…For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland, from being a Burden to their Parents or Country; and for making them beneficial to the Public." (Swift Para.1). This example is a distinct instance of irony; in which Swift uses such long, elaborate sentence to summarize his main proposition. By referring to

Swift shows his despair from the rejection he has experienced from every caregiver or leader in his own life, just as the poor have been rejected by society, forcing them to resort to begging. He feels that something drastic will have to happen in order for things to change, otherwise the misery of being devoured by society will be upon the poor “breed for ever,” as well as himself (Swift). Perhaps this drastic change that would have to occur is already too late for Swift. Perhaps his unresolved childhood complexes are too far past that they can never be resolved, but he is still trying to resolve them through his proposal that is trying to resolve society’s large problem of poverty.

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.