Analysis of the Enlightenment from Jonathan Swift’s “gulliver’s Travels”

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Part IV

In the last part, the satire is of the bitterest. Gulliver is now in a country where the intelligent horse-like species are possessed of reason, and are the governing class, while the Yahoos, though in the shape of men, are brutes with such vices as stealing and lying. They are simply flesh-eating animals. Swift seems to ask a question to readers----What on earth is human being? For example, in terms of lying, the Houyhnhnms don’t understand why people in Gulliver’s country usually tell lies. In their eyes, the purpose of talk is to understand each other, and if not telling the truth, language will lose its significance. Additionally, when Gulliver proudly speaks of the English Revolution and the war with France, the Houyhnhnms become more perplexed. “But why dose one country attack another?” “There are many reasons. The ruler wants more land. Or there may be different opinions. Sometimes our neighbors want the things we have, or have the things we want, so we both fight until they take ours or give us theirs.” All these seems unreasonable to the Houyhnhnms. Thus, these all show Swift’s satire on human nature by comparing human race’s natural avaricious and selfish instincts with the horse-like species’ benevolence, integrity and rationality. Even a horse can be so virtuous and pure, how could human beings behave like an evil? Later, Gulliver admires the horses’ life and virtues while he becomes more disgusted with the Yahoos, whose existences remind him of those in English society and his own people. In the end, he fears to return to England and even hates himself being a human. "For now I could no longer deny that I was a real Yahoo in every limb and feature..." (Part IV. 252). This shows Gulliver gradually becomes aware of his own identity with the shameful feeling.

Character’s analysis

Throughout the course of Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver's encounters with each place signifying a progression from benevolent man to misanthropy, resulting in his own final insanity. At the start of the Part I, he presents a cheery optimist. Like his name, “Gulliver”, he is gullible; he believes what he is told. For example, in Part I, it is amusing that Gulliver surrenders to those tiny people so quickly: "...when I felt the Smart of their Arrows upon my Face and Hands...I gave Tokens to let them know that they might do with me what they pleased" (I, 9). They also tie Gulliver up as if he were a dog, and search his pockets in order to confiscate any weapons, among numerous other actions in which Gulliver placidly succumbs. He treats them as if they are bigger than they actually are. But, Gulliver does not have any ambition and follows others blindly, changing himself according to changing circumstances. After the experiences of the four islands, especially the last part, his change in character becomes more evident, as the misery of a close-minded follower of the Houyhnhnms. In this sense, Gulliver's is a misery of his time and the self-reflection of human nature.

Swift’s satire

Swift is one of the realist writers. He presents bitter criticism and satire to many aspects in English and European life: socially, politically, and scientifically (Part III) and morally. What he satirizes is adversely what he stresses or loves, what he wants people to concern with---the opposite of the Enlightenment thoughts, confrontations in bourgeois relationships. His satire is to cure the vices of the society by grave irony, which oppositely shows his deep love for human. He profoundly explores human nature as mentioned in Part IV. Compared with Daniel Defoe's wildly successful Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels may be read as a systematic rebuttal of Defoe's optimistic account of human capability. However, actually, like advocators in the Enlightenment, he hopes to enlighten humanity, to improve society and to change people's attitudes and behaviors, but his way is different by drawing them up in an irony way. Besides, his language, in essence, is simple, clear and vigorous. He said, "Proper words in proper place, makes the true definition of a style.” In the Introduction Part, as mentioned, writers during the Enlightenment time believed that the artistic ideals should be order, logic, restrained emotion and accuracy, and that literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity. Thus, there is no doubt that Jonathan Swift is a representative of the Enlightenment literatures.

Conclusion

“Gulliver’s travels” is a work in the late Enlightenment during which many confrontations appeared among capital accumulation, parliamentary policies, and bourgeois relationships. So, Jonathan Swift uses satire to reflect British social contradictions of the early 18th century, exposing the corruption of the ruling parties, attacking the war of aggression and colonialism, advocating the practice-based science, and most significantly, enlightening essential humanity inside human beings.

Works Cited