Rhetorical Analysis Of Satire By Jonathan Swift

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

Rhetorical Analysis of Jonathan Swift In the essay, A Modest Proposal, the author, Jonathon Swift, employs several rhetorical choices that significantly contribute to bringing awareness to the mistreatment of Irish citizens by English rule. More specifically, Jonathon Swift uses multiple quotes and ideas that contain satire, an example of a rhetorical device, which overall greatly enhances his writing. Throughout the essay, Jonathon Swift suggests several extreme ideas to improve the condition of the Irish citizens, which are entirely satire. He suggests that his proposal itself is modest when in reality even the thought of it is horrible and that they sell babies, so they aren’t a burden on their family, or even harvest their infant’s flesh for food.

Swift appeals to pathos to make the audience feel disgust and is made through exaggeration. Swift makes a plan to sell children of beggars as food and females “ may be Breed, whereof only one fourth part to be Males”. He exaggerates it by going so far as to calculate the thousands of children to sell for food and how many females to turn into breeders. Then he goes on to describe the suffering of the people that “ they are every Day dying, and rotting, by cold, and famine, and filth, and vermin”.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift was an innovator of the writing style called Satire. Jonathan Swift used an extreme example to make his point. In A Modest Proposal Swift uses the example of cooking, eating and selling the children of poverty stricken families to help make income for the people of Ireland. This extreme example got many people's attention after all Swift suggested cannibalism of young children. That is what Satire is, the use of humor, irony, or exaggeration to expose and criticize other peoples vices or stupidity to make a point.

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.

Jonathan Swift's 1729 essay, A Modest Proposal, was a true example of satire at its best. Many readers at the time rejected the essay because they failed to understand the irony. It is presently one of the most well known works of satire and is a classic example of the technique most commonly used today. The entire essay from the title down to the last sentence were meant to be taken ironically, which is a rare form, but very effective when trying getting a point across. This essay will explain why the text was meant to be taken ironically and why Swift used irony instead of straightforward statements.

The satirical essay “A Modest Proposal” written and published in in 1729 by an Anglo- Irish man named Jonathan Swift, in response to the worsening conditions of Ireland, was one of his most controversial and severe writings of his time. The narrator in Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal” argues for a drastic and radical end to poverty in Ireland. Swift’s proposal suggests that the needy, poor people of Ireland can ease their troubles simply by selling their children as food to the rich and make them useful, benefitting the public. With the use of irony, exaggeration and ridicule Swift mocks feelings and attitudes towards the poor people of Ireland and the politicians. However, with the use of satire Swift creates a

Jonathan Swift is one of the most famous satirists in Western literature. He held numerous political and religious positions in both England and Ireland. These gave him a great deal of material to work with and use throughout his writing career. It led to two works of fiction that will be discussed in this paper, which are “A Modest Proposal” and “Gulliver's Travels.” It is also important to discover other authors, such as Alexander Pope, within Swift’s literary canon that use satire the way he does and for the same reasons.

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,”

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.

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

Both men use satire in different ways. Jonathan Swift uses it in two main approaches. He firstly, uses satire to make a point at current faults of the society and to highlight necessary changes in social and political structure. He also uses it to demolish his enemies being very well aware of the power of satire. Swift, who is an active satirist along with other prominent individuals, such as Pope and Bolingbroke, criticized Walpole's political system.

Jonathan Swift's story, Gulliver's Travels, is a very clever story. It recounts the fictitious journey of a fictitious man named Lemuel Gulliver, and his travels to the fantasy lands of Lilliput, Brobdinag, Laputa, and Houyhnhmn land. When one first reads his accounts in each of these lands, one may believe that they are reading humorous accounts of fairy-tale-like lands that are intended to amuse children. When one reads this story in the light of it being a satire, the stories are still humorous, but one realizes that Swift was making a public statement about the affairs of England and of the human race as a whole.

Born on November 30, 1667, Irish author, clergyman and satirist Jonathan Swift grew up fatherless. Under the care of his uncle, he received a bachelor's degree from Trinity College and then worked as a statesman's assistant. Eventually, he became dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. Most of his writings were published under pseudonyms. He best remembered for his 1726 book Gulliver's Travels.