The objectives of satire in gulliver's travels of jonathan swift = những đối tượng châm biếm trong gulliver du kí của jonathan swift

Vinh university Foreign language department - - Dơng thị bổng The objectives of satire in gullivers travels of jonathan swift (Những đối tợng châm biếm gulliver du ký Jonathan Swift) Graduation thesis Field : english literature Vinh, May 2009 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift Vinh university Foreign language department - - The objectives of satire in gulliver’s travels of jonathan swift (Những đối tợng châm biếm gulliver du ký cña Jonathan Swift) Graduation thesis Field : english literature Supervisor : trần ngọc tởng Student : dơng thÞ bỉng Vinh, May 2009 SV: Duong Thi Bong Acknowledgement The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift During the time studying this thesis I have met a lot of difficulties and troubles but thanks to all the help and the encouragement from my teacher, my friends and my relatives who have helped me to complete this thesis Without them, I could not finish my graduation thesis First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor M.A Tran Ngoc Tuong who helped me and supported me enthusiastically during my writing Secondly, I am very grateful to my parents for their great help, encouragement, advice to complete this thesis Finally, I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to my classmates and my far friends for their aids and their documents for my study Vinh, May 2009 Duong thi bong SV: Duong Thi Bong The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift Table of content page Acknowledgement …………………………………… i Table of content ……………………………………… ii Part I : introduction 1.1 the reasons of choosing the thesis 1.2 the aims and objectives of the thesis 1.3 the scope of the thesis 1.4 the methods of the thesis 1.5 Design of the Thesis Part ii : investigation Chapter I: satire and the development of satire 1.1 an introduction to satire 1.2 the development of satire through periods 1.2.1 antique satire 1.2.2 medieval satire 1.2.3 renaissance satire 1.2.4 18 th century satire 1.3 some great satirists of English enlightenment SV: Duong Thi Bong The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift CHAPTER II: AN INTRODUCTION TO JONATHAN SWIFT 2.1 His life 2.2 His literary career chapter iii : the objectives of satire in “Gulliver’ s travels” of jonathan swift 3.1 an introduction to gulliver’s Travels 3.1.1 the context of the novel 3.1.2 the plot overview 3.2 the objectives of satire in “gulliver’s Travels” of jonathan swift 3.2.1 swift’s satirical attitude toward the british in particular and the human beings in general 3.2.2 swift’s satirical attitude toward the Science and Learning 3.2.3 swift’s satirical attitude toward the Political and English social aspects of 18th century in britain part iii: conclusion references SV: Duong Thi Bong The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift Part I : introduction 1.1 the Reasons of choosing the Thesis When I was a pupil at secondary school, I was extremely fond of reading picture books with dangerous travels or stranger characters And what attracted my attention most was Gulliver’s travels to the kingdoms of the small people and the giants, an academy of science and the land governed by the horses of highest intelligence and uprightness that were exciting and thrilling At that time, I wanted to know much more about the author of that stories and when I knew the author of it is Jonathan Swift, I would like to know futher about his life, his literary career and objectives of satire of his works especially in “Gulliver’s Travels” Now, being a student of Foreign language of department, I have an opportunity to study deeply about English literature This makes me know and understand futher many well-known writers, especially Jonathan Swift-one of the greatest satirists of 18 th century English enlightenment Study much more about him helps me not only satisfy my curiosity from my childhood but also have an encyclopedic sight of 18 th century in Britain I recognize that it is so interesting for me to study about it All of above things are the reasons why I choose “The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift” for my graduation thesis 1.2 The Aims and Objectives of the Thesis - To help the readers to widen their background knowledge about the satire and the development of satire through periods - To know and understand much more about Jonathan Swift, his life and his career as the main objectives of satire in his works SV: Duong Thi Bong The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift 1.3 The Scope of the Thesis In “Gullive’s Travels” Jonathan Swift points out many objectives of satire However, within the scope of this thesis I only focus on : - swift’s satirical attitude toward the british in particular and the human beings in general - swift’s satirical attitude toward the Science and Learning - swift’s satirical attitude toward the Political and English social aspects of 18th century in britain 1.4 Methods of Study - The main method of this thesis is qualitative method Beside we used some supplementary methods such as : Collective method : collecting the metarials and documents concerning to - the thesis - Analysis method - Synthetic method 1.5 Design of the Thesis This graduation thesis includes three main parts : - Part I : Introduction This part introduces the reasons, aims, objectives, scope, methods and the design of the thesis - Part II : Investigation This part is divided into three chapters : Chapter I : Satire and the development of the through periods Chapter II : An introduction to Jonathan Swift Chapter III : The objectives of satire in “Gulliver’s Travels” of Jonathan Swift - Part III : Conclusion SV: Duong Thi Bong The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift SV: Duong Thi Bong The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift Part II : investigation chapter i : satire and the development of satire 1.1 an introduction to satire In literature, Satire is prose or verse that is used for irony, innuendo, or outright derision to express human wickedness and folly This word is derived from the Latin saturate, meaning a “medley” or “mixture”, and it is related to the Latin adjective “satur” or “replete” In the Renaissance (14th century to 17th century), because etymology was false, this word was confused with satyr In ancient times, however, people said that satires were intended to condemn the weaknesses of human beings as well as the social aspects in that time 1.2 the development of satire through periods 1.2.1 antique satire Satire had the origin from ancient Greece Some of the satirists of this time were Archilochus, Cercidas the Cynic The standard of Greek satirical drama are the comedies of Aristophanes which was written in the th century BC and today it is performed Gaius Lucilius (180?-102? BC) a Roman writer who wrote 30 books of satirical verses and presented his point of views on a wide variety of subjects Besides, there were also some famous satirists such as: Horace (65-? BC) and Juveniles (65-128?) … During their literary career, they wrote a lot of satires with satirical, humorous and briliant style These satires focus on the follies and vices of imperial Roman society and describe the life of the Roman Some works also express the deep sympathy for the poor and condemn the rich However Juvenal and Horace had opposite opinions, Juvenal had a moral indignation but Horace had the gentler ridicule And these styles of satire effect strongly on later poetry The first great satirist in this period is Horace, all of his SV: Duong Thi Bong The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift works were used as models for the later writers which focus on sexual matters, boorish behavior In contrast to Horace, Juvenal exposed the vices of Roman society and compared them with the honesty and peacefulness of the life in the small town Juvenal’s work focus on murder, sexual practices, imitation, untruthfulness, theft, luxury, greediness the rich He condemned the soilders’ brutality toward civilians He hated getting married with the people whom he really disliked Juvenal also satires the miseries of the life in Rome, he complaining that: “Our birthright now is lost” which had origin from the poem “London” (1739) which was written by the English writer Samuel Johnson 1.2.2 medieval satire Conspicuously, satire is represented in many forms of medieval literature: in Western Europe in 12th and 13th century, satire was the fabliau, goliardic, buffoonery and riotous living –verse, beast fables, and dream allegories “Le Roman de la Rose” in the 13th century and English poem “The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman” the 14th century, the most dominant work is known as “Piers Plowman”, which is attributed to William Langland In the French allegory, satire is aimed at women, the clergy, deceivers and mixed professional types; in later English work, it is directed principally at hypocrisy in the church The 14th century English poet – Geoffrey Chaucer, who translated part of “Le Roman de la Rose”, carried on its various satires “The Canterbury Tale”, Chaucer’s own masterpiece also uses satire extensively; for example, in their respective tales the Friar and the Summoned trade satiric insulting each other’s religious beliefs 1.2.3 renaissance satire For the Renaissance (from 14 th century to 17th century) in prose, satire is written more than in verse The great Renaissance master of this period was the German poet and humanist Sebastian Brant, the Dutch writer Desideratum SV: Duong Thi Bong 10 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift thought of the human beings are wrong, but in fact; he confessed that he was totally right The third part of Gulliver’s travels is again a very bitter satire about the Science and Learning Laputa, a flying island, inhabited entirely by the representatives of the upper classes It is the symbol of the English ruling circles, that are hostile to the common people, that oppress Ireland and other country He condemns the philosophers and scientists who make many thing far from the reality, they build the house from the roof down to the foundation, and build the house without the right angle, … In the fourth voyage, Gulliver reaches a stage at which he no longer cares for humankind at all After visiting countries in which he is too large, too small, and down-to-earth, he finds himself in a country where he is neither rational nor moral enough He was drawn in bitterness and sorrowfulness as he told about the Yahoos where the country is governed by horses of highest intelligence and uprightness In this part many researchers and criticians discovered and found out the exact evidences to prove the hatred of human beings of Swift But In fact, Swift did not pay attention to criticize or defame strongly mankind in general He only wanted to reveal his pessimism toward his age when he lives Under his pen, the Yahoos are not the savage animals survived from pre-history but the embodiment of the British, particularly the ruling class in the modern society In appearance they are ugly and different from human beings but they have all the evils and vices of the ruling class They are greedy, envious, deceiful, malicious, and spoilt because they are origined from the British bourgeoisie and were animalized Gulliver ever said that the ancestor of the Yahoos is an English couple who lived isolately with the human society and gradually became savage Gulliver admires the simple modest way of life of the Houyhnhnms and is disgusted with the Yahoos who remind him so much of his country-men that he hates the thought of ever returning to his native country Gulliver’s account of a European was so horrified the noble Houys that the King SV: Duong Thi Bong 34 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift condemns Gulliver’s countrymen as worse than the repulsive Yahoos; creatures in the shapes of man who serve the horse-people without pretense or intelligence in spite of the fact that the Yahoos are mere creatures of appetite and passion So, the Yahoos and the Houys are two merely different creatures If the Houys are too perfect figure for Swift felt strong love and among them Swift spent the happinest and sweetest moment of time, and the Yahoos are in contrast to typical images of human beings Then Swift gave Gulliver opportunities to further discover and the more he understood the Yahoos the more disappointed he felt In contrast to the Yahoos, Swift built up an ideal country in which the Houys live They lived entirely and treated with each other equally These noble Houys were endowed by nature with a general disposition to all virtues; and have no conception or ideal of what is evil in a rational creature; so their grand maxim is to cultivate reason, and to be governed by it Friendship and benevolence are the two principal virtues among the Houys, they are concerned more with the community than with their own personal advantages, even choosing their mates so as to promote the race as a whole and these not confined to particular objects They breed industriousness , cleanliness, and civility in their young and exercise them for spreed and strength They behave equally with each other and enjoy a quiet and peaceful life; and it is the reason only that makes a distinction of person whose life is full of lying and false representation Human beings so often fight and tell lie To the humankind, making war and making money seem to be more important than peace and truth With the Houys, Gulliver or Swift himself hated the Yahoos because they have dirty habits and unpleasant character Swift felt extremely afraid when he is forced to live in the world with the people like Yahoos And he also aware of that he would never find anywhere happier than in the Houys This last voyage is the most honest reflection the life of the human beings, particularly the British in Swift’s age Swift’s pessimism caused by a deep SV: Duong Thi Bong 35 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift contempt and hatred for humanity But his ideology was generated from the depravity of British society of his time He had lost his belief in humankind but he could not find out the solutions to improve and to carry out them in virtues In 18th century, there were many writers and philosophers proposed that the progress of human spoilt was due to social situations in that time And they suggested the tend to pull human beings back to nature But Swift had hopeless for this way Reading these above words, we cannot be sure where Swift really hatred for mankind or not; but the fact is that he also had a great love for the common people whose suffering, he thought that we should sympathize with these people Because these people were only the victims of the Industrial Revolution and the process of colonial expansion, more particularly because of the power of money that reached the highest position in British society When the money gained, the human nature had chance to identify They became cruel, greedy, hypocrisy, malicious and were drown in vices and ignorance Swift was fully aware of the root of those vices but could not anything That’s why his satirical attitude toward to British people in particular and human beings in general can be understook exactly and why not only Swift wrote the satirical style but many writers also wrote according to this style 3.2.2 swift’s satirical attitude toward the Science and Learning: We can say that English Enlightenment is considered as the Age of Science and Learning Together with the Industrial and Agricultural Revolution, the foundation of two political parties and the growth of Empire, Science and Learning greatly contributed to promoting the development of the society Swift knew clearly about the important role in improving human life and mind SV: Duong Thi Bong 36 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift Absolutely, It was wrong to think that Swift wanted to defame Science and Learning He was not only a satirist but also an Enlightener, he had hopeless but he wanted to use the light and strong of Science and Learning to wake up and enlighten human mind He praised the positive impacts of Science and also respected talent scientists who devoted all their life and their career to serve their country and their people On the other hand, Swift also ridiculed pseudoscience that had no real purposes and he comdemned the the capitalist class who used them as tools to suppress their people In Swift’s opinion, Science must be acessed closely with the reality; and scientists must be pioneers of the Enlightenment movement But being ruled over by the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy, many British scientists turned disdainful and mean Swift built up successfully a country sharing so many common traits with 18th century in Britain; that’s the flying island or floating island Laputa The Laputians are the most typical representatives of contemporary speculation deplored by Swift About the abstract theories of science, they only worship mathematics, astronomy and musical concepts Everywhere we can see decorations in the form af astronomical objects and geometrical figures Even bread, meat and cheese are cut in the form of cones, cylinders, parallelograms, etc because they value these theoretical disciplines with everything The Laputians despise practical geometry, but they cannot apply their knowledge to everything, they think it vulgar so much so that they make sure that there are no right angles in their buildings, the walls of their houses never stand erect and are about to fall down They are very good at chart and figures but very clumsy in practical matters Both the Royal Society and Sir Issac Newton also took an interest in these fields They decided to establish an academy in Lagado to develop new theories on agriculture and construction and to initiate projects to improve the live of the city’s inhabitants All of them have strange, they try their best to use their abilities to build up a mysterious world which are full of imagination, fancy and inventions They are proud of their learning as well as SV: Duong Thi Bong 37 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift through scientific knowledge In consequences, these scientists not only make no improvements for the society, but also totally ruin because they used them to serve their ambitions From the Laputa, Swift let Gulliver travels to countries that show the consequences of modern learning Swift’s bitterness of satire reaches their climax in this voyage where he shows an academy of Laputa, Swift ridicules the scientists of the 18th century After an account of the flying island whose power of motion (derived from a giant magnet) allows it to dominate the regions below; he descends to Balnibarbi, once being a fertile land, now was ruined by the fanciful projects of impractical scientists In the Grand Academy of Lagado, he meets many professors who are busy to invent such projects as : - Extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers - Building houses beginning at the roof and working downwards to the foundation - Converting ice into gunpower - Shoftening marbles for the pillows and cushions - Petrifying the hoofs of a living horse to preserve them from foundering - Preventing the growth of wool upon lambs, thus breeding naked sheep all over the kingdom - Ploughing the ground with hogs - Dying silk with the help of spiders - Simplifying the language by leaving out verbs and participles because in reality all things imaginable are but nouns - Entirely abolishing all words whatsoever and this was urged as a great advantage in point of health as well as brevity - Teaching pupils geometry by making them eat theorems with proofs written on a very thin piece of bread SV: Duong Thi Bong 38 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift (A history of English and American literature, Jonathan Swift- the greatest satirist, 68) Although the Laputian scientists researched exact evidences to prove what existing in their schemes would be easily carried out We understood that the scientific academy of Laputa has nothing to with real science It does not serve any practical purposes But more ridiculously, those scientists are not aware of that truth They think that they are all works hard to find better, faster, cheaper, and easier ways of doing and making things In fact, intelligent ideals that they are working on make the author astonished and not able to remember half of them, because they are too strange, illegal Meanwhile, many contemporary scientists are seperated from the world with the aim to find the answers to all the questions in their country, and turn it into the most wonderful place in the world, the author notices at the people who look miserable and hungry Their clothes are old, dirty and full of holes, their houses are built badly and falling down In the fields, vegetables and corn were not grown Visiting the school of Mathematics, the narrator could not understand why the students look so unhappy and dull because they have to learn too many things at the same time, despite the fact that whether they understand or not, or whether those information are useful or useless Their highly developed system of teaching does not seem to be working well It creates a tremendously bad impact on young generations Why scientists and professors feel extremely proud of their innovation? The fact seems ridiculous and humorous Scientists wished to use their inventions to enlighten human mind, to free them from ignorance, but they make their life more miserable and worse because they and bring benefit for the King and the ruling class The King of Laputa has no pay his atttention to his people and does not think of them at all except when he collects taxes from them One claims that women should be taxed according to their beauty and skill at dressing The flying island “a SV: Duong Thi Bong 39 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift phenomenon solved by modern philosophy and astronomy” helps the King to make people pay taxes and it also helps him to suppress rebellions So, Science and Learning here did not enhance its positiveness but was taken advantages fully of to serve dirty schemes of ruling class It can be seen clearly that, Swift mocked pitilessly at historians who always boasted at their noble deed reviving the history When he helped Gulliver has a chance to go to Glubbdubrib (the island of magicians) he discovers that what view of history had been taught at school are absolutely wrong So, the secrets of history were distorted Gulliver was disappointed and drown in disillussion Finally, Science and Learning, which are considered as the best standard of human’s mind, also become ridiculous under Swift’s pen 3.2.3 swift’s satirical attitude toward the political and English social aspects of 18th century in britain: In the Enlightenment the main objective of English writers was to analyze the normal, daily things in the life of human, especially, their life, their career, their personal issues and so on But for Swift, all his works focused on political, social, philosophical matters Swift was constantly concerned with phenomena penetrated with the spirit of this age He did not reflect the daily in his works It can be said that social life and political of Britain in 18 th century are the most dominant topics in all Swift’s writings And after reading his writings, we can see that, in fact, his satires revealed more political and social issues than the politicians; moralists and philosophers The corruption of Britain during the first year of 18th century was exposed to light pitiless In the first part of “Gulliver’s Travels” Swift showed directly ahead of the readers, is the framework of the Lilliputian Court, which is full of intrigues, flattery, cruelty, hypocrisy, corrupted laws, evil customs and shallow interests He mocks at the Emperor who is too small body “a nail’s breadth higher” but is SV: Duong Thi Bong 40 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift a wild ambition being the hegemony the whole world A court abounds in with those who are excellent at making entertainments rather than having a real ability As well as the King, his lords prefer enjoying regular entertainment to discussing about national issues Day by day, they only try to find out more exciting sports; eventhough those sports are extremely dangerous and easy to make fatal accidents If in other countries, the King collects and wishes to have intelligent, talent, brave, noble lords, but here in the Lilliputian, courtiers who want to become the King’s most important officials they must jump or undergo a special test or dance on a very thin rope and crawl under a stick They have to leap over a stick or creep under it backwards and forwards several times according as the stick is raised or lowered by the Emperor and the First Minister Obviously, Swift is bitterly satirizing on the British Court under the Queen Anne’s time which does not lack of devious tricks of Minister; envy and struggle among parties in this Empire under the names of Tramecksan and Slameckan which conflicted only by the size of their heels Based on this issue, Swift wanted to mention the Whigs and the Tories who were always loggerheads, but their political aims were almost the same, the readers can recognize the same atmosphere between two countries: The Lilliputian and Britain; both were drown in the hostility, hypocrisy and flattery The separation of two political parties “Small-Indian” and “Big-Indian” which represents the Protestant Reformation and the centuries of warfare between Catholics and Protestants leads to six rebellions make hundred large volumes have been published upon this controversy But books written by the “Big-Indian” were banned in Lilliput The government of Blefuscu accused the Lilliputians of disobeying their religious doctrine, the Brundrecral, by breaking their eggs at the small end The Lilliputians argued that the doctrine reads “That all true believers shall break their eggs at the convenient end”, which could be interpreted as the small end And many of the Big-Indian have escaped from Blefuscu Despite the fact that the history of the conflict between Lilliput and SV: Duong Thi Bong 41 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift Blefuscu is ridiculous The cause of the conflict was the disagreement concerning the method of breaking eggs In Lilliput, many years ago, people broke eggs on the big end However, the present king’s grandfather once cut himself breaking the egg in this manner, so the king at the time, the father of the present king’s grandfather, issued an edict that all were to break the eggs on the small end Some of the people resisted, and eleven thousand people chose the death rather than submit the law The more serious tone, the more laughable this conflict appears By creating this event, Swift’s satirical allegory also touches and mentions to Herry VIII, Charles I and James II And the author wanted to express his protest against the war waged by England and France for Spanish succession By giving the humorous details selected skillfully such as rope dancing; High-Heels; Low-Heels; Small-Indians; Big-Indian… Swift not only reflected objectively the reality but also expressed his strongly critical attitude towards that reality For him, we could not find out the compromises, or synchronous of the British Enlightenment Meanwhile many people felt satisfactory with “The Glorious Revolution” in 1688 To Swift, the struggle was not still fulfilled In some cases, his feelings and thought were the same with progressive writers of French Enlightenment Throughout his works, Swift did not mention much about the normal people, by the contrast, he concentrated his shapest of his pen on criticizing, exposing and attacking the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy (including ruling classes and Emperor) He also revealed the serious diseases of society and expressed his own solutions but they were not carried out or implemented Typically, as his utopia of an ideal country governed by a good monarch, but in fact, such a nation seemed impossible to exist in their earth, that was his imagination Anyway, through the conversation between Gulliver and the King about the society and politics in Britain, Swift realized that the intelligent Emperor attacks strongly the rotten ruling system of Britain and he comes to SV: Duong Thi Bong 42 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift conclusion of the decayed state of the governors and the unkindness of the bourgeoisie He was really suspicious of everything; he lost his belief in the ruling class; he wondered himself whether those lords were really the most suitable and worthy people to make the laws for the country, in the political system or in the House of Common; these men were really honest and intelligent enough to make laws; he was not sure Furthermore, Swift ridiculed the ability of the British rulers And Swift mocked that, while the British rulers were undutiful and only made social life more disordered and more complex The King of Brobdingnag believed that every problem can be solved by honest, sensible people and that the political life of a country must have no secrets and must be opened for all to understand and see It was said that Swift was influenced by a theory of the government of Locke’s related to the concept of social consent Government existed as a trust confessed upon it by the consent of citizens, if that trust was abused or if the power became arbitrary, then citizens, the true maker of laws had a right to withdraw confidence and authority from their rulers So, Swift expressed his agreement with Look’s ideals throughout the King’s comments But his excellent way seemed to be unable to apply to such a British Court where the ignorance, madness, hypocrisy and vices were predominating and where many politicians only tried to think of the dirtiest ways, the most despicable actions to kill each other in order to enrich their life, not for their people, or their citizens Perhaps, in the past, political life in Britain was organized adequately, but now, it is clear that, there is laziness, envy and selfishness in every part of the system The politicians can be bribed, the soldiers are not really brave, the judges and lawyers are neither reasonable nor honest and the law-makers know nothing about the laws Swift laughed at the immoderate greed of the bourgeoisie who put their grip on everything belonging to the people by all means He denounced war like schemes and colonial expansions He understood the alliance and compromise between the bourgeoisie and the feudal class so as to exploit and suppress the people The SV: Duong Thi Bong 43 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift bourgeoisie always justified that their possessions were the result of hard working of labor class and of the process of accumulation Swift ridiculed such arguments Swift intentionally let Gulliver cogitate and reckon up the expenses of immortal people called Struldburgs of Luggnagg, and conclude that : for those, if they would work hard and earn a lot of money, it would take them about hundred years to enrich So, if the bourgeoisie did not deceive and plunder shamelessly, how could they possess so many properties? Swift proved that he did not believe the development in capitalism that could solve serious conflict of his country, in spite of the fact that it was an absolutely essential trend and merely in coincide with his historical laws of his age He also predicted that the Age of the worship of money would cause plagues for mankind as he used to witness the severe exploitation of the bourgeoisie upon the poor Irish And the nature of the ruling class never changed and could not change Swift ever lived and worked for a long time in London, so he had many opportunities to contact with personages in the political world Therefore, he was aware of that the society was extremely complex, disorder and stuffy To be highly distinguishing in political and social questions, many Swift’s satires became positive motives of revolutionary movement For example, “The conduct of the Allies” (1711) was a most famous political pamphlet It was the single most polished contribution to the propaganda machine controlled Robert Harley’s Tory Ministry in its determination to end the ruinous war with France More than that, Swift’s satires played an extremely important role in the struggle of the Irish slavers against the British ruling class Swift stood by the Irish and supported them The first pamphlet of Swift’s, which was about Ireland, was published in 1720 named “Proposal for the Universal Use of Irish Manufacture” This satire protested strongly against British exploitation of the Irish economy proposing that home-produced Irish cloth should be promoted as an industry and imported fabrics from England should be boycotted SV: Duong Thi Bong 44 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift Swift’s words seemed to be compliments but a humorous and ironical tone was living in every line Swift desired to express his pity for the oppressed, ignorant, populous and hungry Catholic peasants of Ireland and his anger at the greedy English absentee landlords, who were bleeding the country white with the silent agreement of Parliament, Ministers and the Crown Here, the satirist was deriding the benevolent humanitarians concerned to correct a social evil by means of a theoretically conceived plan The proponent, as naive as he is apparently logical and kindly, ignores and therefore emphasize for the reader the enormity of his plan The whole is an elaboration of a rather trite metaphor: “The English are devouring the Irish” Through this satire,the reader could be aware of Swift’s despondent attitude toward great ideas of the Enlighteners While these writers believed in a bright future where all the people were born and lived equally Swift was quite pessimistic For himself, British could not bring freedom and equality to the people, especially, to the Irish; this was totally impossible to turn into the truth Swift’s modest proposal with a view to helping the Irish to have a better life but it was finally in theory only, not in practice To compare with the contemporary writers, the picture of British political and social life were drawn under Swift’s pen seemed much more gloomy, worse and darker SV: Duong Thi Bong 45 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift part iii : conclusion The 18th century is known as the most brilliant period in the development process of Britain In literature, it is called “the Enlightenment”- the period that appears too many outstanding figures Among them, Jonathan Swift (16671745) is considered one of the greatest masters of English prose and one of the most impassioned satirists of human folly and pretension Swift’s life and literary career are filled up with difficulties and hindrances Swift is an Anglo-Irish writer He was born in Dublin on November 30, 1667 and he was educated at Trinity College in that city It is quite true to think that Swift had a fated connection with the land of his birth-Ireland Although he used to reject that fact, finally, he became Irish patriot and attained national popularity In contrast to being a moody, self-tortured and often despondent man, Swift is a potential writer During his literary career, he wrote many satire works, most of which are “characterized throughout by a subtle ambiguity, by a troubled delight in oppositions and reversals, and by a play with alternative voice, personage and perspective” All of them are intimately related to the deeply ripen political, religious, scientific, human beings in general and British people in particular, and national issues of Britain and Ireland in his time Being an enlightener of the radical wing, Swift observes the peculiarities of his age with a pessimistic eye and satirical attitude By using a brilliant, epigrammatic style, all his satires are really unsparing attacks upon the follies and vices of British society and gives a vivid description of life in 18th century SV: Duong Thi Bong 46 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift While mild satirists such as: Defoe, Alexander Pope etc, through their writings, praise great values of the Enlightenment, Swift exposes negative sides of Britain in the early Enlightenment consisting of the colonial expansion, British Monarch, Science and Learning, human beings in general and British people in particular, and political life Swift does not believe in social progress, and regeneration of mankind That’s why the humorous and ironical tone always live in most of his writings, and also explains for Swift’s satirical attitude towards many questions of the nowaday Although the scope is narrow, the objectives of satire in “Gulliver’s Travels” bring us exact evaluations of the period when Swift lived We can understand clearly much more about the life at that time and we should sympathize with civilians who suffering from exploitation of ruling class and difficulties of the life that are the satires of Jonathan Swift toward the human beings in general and the British in particular, especially the ruling class who always find the way to suppress and exploit civilians … The scientific inventions that are far from the reality or unreal and scientists and philosophers in theory, but they not know how to apply their knowledge to the reality or practice… The political systems are corrupt, because governers who control the country know nothing about laws… In spite of the fact that Swift’s life was overshadowed by a growing loneliness and dread of insanity, he devoted all his talents to a life and struggle not only for his own happiness but for the others as well For those, Swift stands apart from his contemporaries, deserves a striking figure among all the writers of this time, and a man who towered above the others by reason of his imagination, mordant with an emotional intensity Along with his immortal satires, the name of Jonathan Swift-the greatest satirist of the Enlightenment who was famous for “Gulliver’s Travels” with many objectives of satire in it-will live forever in the heart of readers of all time And by reading this masterpiece, the readers can understand much more about the Britain society as well as people in that time We should be sympathetic with people SV: Duong Thi Bong 47 The objectives of satire in Gulliver’s Travels of Jonathan Swift who live in this period and condemn the ruling class, especially the Emperors who govern the country And based on this thesis we can carry out some further thesises such as the Swift’s satirical attitual toward Religious and Church and the reason why Swift chooses the satirical style for many his writings in this period / SV: Duong Thi Bong 48 ... SV: Duong Thi Bong 25 The objectives of satire in Gulliver? ??s Travels of Jonathan Swift chapter iii : the objectives of satire in ? ?Gulliver? ?? s travels? ?? of jonathan swift 3.1 an introduction to gulliver? ??s... about Jonathan Swift, his life and his career as the main objectives of satire in his works SV: Duong Thi Bong The objectives of satire in Gulliver? ??s Travels of Jonathan Swift 1.3 The Scope of the. . .The objectives of satire in Gulliver? ??s Travels of Jonathan Swift Vinh university Foreign language department - - The objectives of satire in gullivers travels of jonathan swift (Những