Satire in Gulliver's Travels

Satire - as it is found in Gulliver's Travels

Satire is a very popular, and frequently used literary device.  many novels such as Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies use satire as part of their repertoire to inject the reader with the author's opinions, ideas and concepts.  Few novels, or other literary works for that matter, use satire as extensively as Jonathan Swift does in Gulliver's Travels.

Despite satire's popularity as a literary device in novels and other literary works, and its popularity as a topic of discussion amongst fellow literary academics, it is a very difficult concept to define.  Condren (2012:375-376) notes that often times the very act of attempting to define satire can lead to misjudgments of its nature or intent.  He notes that even in the act of definition there exists a profound paradox, known as Meno's Paradox, which can befuddle the attempt.

However, should a definition of satire be attempted, one could securely use Abrams' (1999:275) A Glossary of Literary terms, which defines satire as the "literary art of diminishing or derogating a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking toward it attitudes of amusement, contempt, scorn, or indignation".  It can be seen through this definition that satire seeks to deride, to destroy the validity of a concept, idea, object, person, organisation, nation, or paradigm.  It seeks to use laughter, contempt, etc. to destroy the pedestal on which its target has been placed.  In this regard, Gulliver's Travels is an excellent example of satire.  It tackles a range of topics and ideas through clever use of irony and satire.

This essay will attempt to demonstrate the various elements of satire as laid out in the definition above through an in-depth analysis of two passages from Gulliver's Travels.

Abrams' (1999:275-276) definition requires that satire meet three requirements.  The first is that it makes its target matter ludicrous through its portrayal thereof.  The second is that it evokes emotions from the readers.  The third is that it uses these emotions to discredit and deride its target matter.

In Gulliver's Travels (1726:38-39) Gulliver describes a diversion practiced by the locals.  The diversion is that of rope dancing on a slender white thread suspended some distance off the ground.  This diversion is only performed by individuals who stand or stood as candidates for great employments.  Through this image, Swift satirises the arbitrary criteria by which officials were hired in British, and indeed much of western, society at the time.  Whereas in Gulliver's Travels the criteria is to be able to amuse the appointer more than the other candidates, in western society it was the connections one had and one's ability to put money in the right people's pockets.  Both the criteria of the Lilliputians and that of western society are irrelevant to the requirements of the position they were being considered for (Anon., s.a.; Holliday, 2012).  It is through this that swift demonstrates the folly of his society and the way that politics, and specifically appointment, worked in his lifetime.

this instance of satire continues further by jabbing at the way that such positions are also retained.  According to Gulliver (1726:39) even after having been appointed, those holding offices would have to perform periodically in order to demonstrate that they had not lost their faculties.  He mentions specifically that Flimnap, the treasurer, had to cut paper whilst balancing on a rope in order to demonstrate his faculties.  The irrelevance of the action he needs to perform to the actual qualities required of his position, further satirises the way in which governments and the ruling classes functioned in Swift's time.  In this passage Swift evokes amusement and even indignation.  Through these emotions, and the utter ludicracy of the diversion, Swift discredits and derides the quivalent practice in his society.

In the second passage, Swift (1726:289-290) takes a not-so-hidden stab at the very nature and quality of humanity.  Gulliver gives a rather odious description of the Yahoo which views him for comparison against another.  He descries features largely similar, and in fact comments on their similarity, to that of any human.  His utter contempt and even abhorrence of the character reflects the way his travels had changed his view of humanity.  However, in the same instance it is also a derision of the nature of humanity.  That they were to be the same as the Yahoos, whom Gulliver had previously described as being hideous and rather uncouth creatures with loathsome habits and lacking character.

The dichotomy between Houyhnhnms and Yahoos brings to light the two diverging tendencies of humanity, that of knowledge and tranquil learning and contemplation, and that of dumb violence, savagery and brute force.  The conflict between these two Swift uses to show the conflict within humanity's own societies.  Through this he satirises the way in which mankind causes its own conflict by aspiring to greater learning and understanding, whilst at the same time giving in to its base desires and nature.

What can be seen through Gulliver's Travels is the various elements of satire.  It is used to deride and discredit the concepts, ideas, traditions, practices and paradigms of humanity through the evocation of emotion and the establishment of opinions of metaphors that reflect the target matters.  It is the use of these veiled attacks on the ideas popularly held and often worshipped by society that satire has its greatest effect.  It destroys the conceptions and opinions people have of various things through metaphor, comparison and by making ludicrous what is held dear indirectly.

References:

  Abrams, M.H. 1999. A glossary of literary terms. 7th ed. Boston, MA: Thomson Learning.   

Anon.  s.a.  Perceptions of satire in Gulliver's Travels.  (In Lopez, V.F., ed.  Jsaron9.  Valencia: Universitat de Valencia Press.)  http://www.uv.es/~fores/jsaron9.html  Date of Access:  10 May 2016.

Condren, C. 2012. Satire and definition. Humor, 25(4):375-399. 

Holliday, S.  2012.  What is Swift satirizing in Gulliver's Travels?  http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/there-main-conflict-within-book-that-gulliver-307323  Date of Access:  11 May 2016.

Swift, J.   1726.   Gulliver's Travels.  London: Benjamin Motte.  http://www.ibeschool.com/ebook/Gulliver's-Travels.pdf   Date of Access:  10 May 2016.