Swift: A Modest Proposal Full of Satire and Irony

A detailed Summary of Swift: A Modest Proposal Full of Satire and Irony

Jonathan Swift was famous for his sarcastic remarks on the government of his days and his works are full of satire and irony which appear to be humorous but carry a sharp edge which makes them effective for expressing political ideas. But Swift's satire actually serves no real purpose except expressing his views clearly and with a view to annoy the opponents as he himself confessed "the chief end I propose to my self in all my labors is to vex the world rather then divert it (quoted in Phiddian (1996).

Satire was used in Jonathan's works in combination with irony to express a political idea or rather to comment on opposite political ideas. He wrote extensively against the government normally employing the technique of allegory so as to avoid direct attack on the political regimes. Explaining the motive behind Swift's highly provocative comments on politics of his time, Richardson (1999) writes: "...though the threat of lost liberty or place should not be underestimated by those of us with safe livings, it was perhaps not the greatest he faced. More powerful still was the threat which Swift experienced during his period with the Tory ministry and which I discuss more fully below, the threat to the personality of a close corrupt p

jokes about the 'prolifick Dyet' of Catholics during Lent, and who castigates the young Dublin women 'who, without one single Groat to their Fortunes, cannot stir Abroad without a Chair, and appear at the Play-house, and the Assemblies in foreign Fineries' (Prose, XII, 112 & 114)..." (Richardson: p. 310-311)

"It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants: who as they grow up either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain." (Swift: p.367)

ower. Because of this kind of context, politics engaged Swift more intimately than it tends to engage us, and it demanded from him a different kind of response. For Swift decisions on the issues of the day were often less important than personal decisions about his own attitude and behavior towards power." (p. 301)

His most famous work "Gulliver's Travels" is widely read as a book for children but readers of literature understand the importance of the book as a political commentary on the English Government. Swift's works are heavily ironic and satirical and sometimes would leave a very unpleasant taste in the mouth. His political ideas are radical and when he chooses to oppose a view, his words would be usually full of sharp sarcasm and harsh comments though usually hidden in allegories and metaphors still are so clear in their meanings that no one can fail to understand who or what he is pointing to.

The argument that there is a distance that Swift consistent maintains between his own voice and the voice of the ironist is also supported by Phiddian (1996) in his article. Phiddian also takes note of this suppression of Swift's real emotions which emerge violently or subtlety at sporadic instances. The author argues that "the apparent authority with which he [Swift] commences is incrementally erased, and there are points near the end of the text where it seems meaningless to suggest that he is even a voice being ridiculed; in places he disappears almost completely." This, Phiddian believes, he is a generalization not to be taken too seriously because "...the voice of Swift is emergent, becoming clearer through the erasures." When the text is closely studied, the author contends that "Any suitably suspicious reader will sense Swift as a presence looming behind the text from the beginning (an erased and none-too-amused authority), but his actual voice emerges only sporadically and unpredictably."

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Approximate Word count = 1906
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels