Political Satire in Johnathan Swift Literature

Thesis Statement

The authors Jonathan Swift and George Orwell are the best writers to write the political satires like Gulliver’s Travels. The real purpose of the author was to bulk the absurdities and follies of the politicians, monarchs, and institutions of his time.

Introduction

Johnathan Swift has been considered as a very experienced and inspirational writer of the 18th century, he had a harsh style of artistic writing, and he wrote masterpieces like Gulliver’s Travels which was the best piece of writing in that society that is a brilliant satire on politics.It was not much different from the political essays written by the authors Johnathan Swift and George Orwell. Their masterpiece publications used to harshly criticize the situation in their country by blaming the politicians for the situation and also the population and how stupid the human race was. In this paper, the ideology of the authors JohnathanSwift and George Orwell is discussed through their most spectacular masterpiece ‘Gulliver’s Travels.’

In this piece of literature, the authors are writing in a style that is a political saltire, and the connection between the political treatises and fiction is obvious.

Gulliver’s Travels Analysis

The character of Gullivers is somewhat changing throughout the story, this piece of literature is an excellent example of attacks on humanity, the author has criticised humanity on three different angles. The Gulliver is a typical Voyager of an 18th century; he is bold, unromantic and practical. His appearance immediately impress the readers, and his age is near forty. When the adventure starts, the main character had two children Throughout the story, he rises through the social scale in the society by deep observation of men and expresses his love for his country. There are many instances in the story when Gulliver is venting his personal grievances against the contemporary society.

Gulliver was brave and helpful; he put out the fire in the palace of the Emperor of Lilliput. The Book Gulliver’s Travels is pessimistic book especially in the later parts of the story when it descends into the political partisanship of narrow kind. The elements of magnanimity, pettiness, and authoritarianism are all mixed up beautifully. Gulliver’s Travels is a satire on the greatness of humans if one explores it deeply.

The Political Satire

Gulliver’s Travels is the most famous of satirical writings of the author Johnathan, he wanted to change the society, and the story reveals great things and people in it.The tradition of the twentieth century was revived by the writer George Orwell by his famous writing. It is an excellent book for revealing the absurdities of politics of that time; the writer himself had a very shocking experience of communism when he was in Europe. The only country that adopted communism was Russia when the writer was in Spain; he observed the exploitation, injustice, and cruelty in the communism which were his inspiration to write such a masterpiece.

The satirists have also used the technique of humor which means the ability to appreciate things, people and situations. The writers used the tricks with their wits and their ability to combine the ideas and words were clever in masterpieces like Gulliver’s Travels. The writers of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries mostly used them in their literary works, but in modern times it is also a shock of comic surprise. (

The primary purpose of the satire is to criticize someone like politicians or institutions. The critic reader cannot interpret the satire. Various things can be challenged in a satire like groups, leaders institutions, beliefs and systems and the functional elements can be added to make the satire more meaningful to reflect the real world. Therefore the Gulliver Travels portray the reality of eighteenth-century political conditions to help the readers understand them.

Johnathan Swift lived through the first two phases of the 18th century; his works enable readers to appreciate and understand the political contexts of the early eighteenth century. Many bills were introduced in the sessions of Annie’s parliament to stop the rising trend of writings that attacked the Anglican Church. The upper house, however, rejected all of the bills and these efforts failed. As a consequence of the revolution, the most important event was the remodeling of the Bishops Bench. There was a high church reaction in the final four years of Annie’s reign. Her children died early in the eighteenth century, these events in time deeply effected the writing styles and moods of the eighteenth-century writers like Swift, Addison, Steele and Orwell.

George Orwell provided the upheaval of the 1930s in England in his great satirical works. The 1914 war destroyed the confidence of public which led to a subsequent period of depression till 1918. The economic system in the country weakened and so did the moral, religious and ethical beliefs of the people.

George Orwell was also very impressed by the eighteenth-century satirical work of Jonathan Swift and the publication of Gulliver’s Travels in 1726. He said this story means more to him than any other book written by Johnathan. He had the incredible interest in the books of Swift which were represented in his works like ‘The Animal Farm’ which is a political satire contemporary politics.

Conclusion

The novel Gulliver’s Travel was also written by the author to write a satirical novel by political absurdity. They wanted politicians to shun their fierce pride and become loyal and benevolent. Although the two writers George Orwell and Swift lived in different times, they both observed the injustice, hypocrisy, and tyranny in their time. Their motive was same to reflect the political absurdities in their writings. Their efforts to achieve their purposes will always be remembered.

George Orwell was highly impressed by the works of Johnathan Swift in the 20th century, and he admired his publications like Gulliver’s Travels. He blends his critical attitude with wit and humor and represents the follies of political behavior of man in his work ‘The Animal Farm.’ The works of Jonathan Swift and George Orwell remind us the speeches and political leaders when they try to provide public with their dreams and then forget what they said in their statement later on.

References

Dag, O. “George Orwell: Politics Vs. Literature – An Examination Of Gullivers Travels”. Orwell.ru. N.p., 20., 2017. Web. 15 May 2017