Sajib

Port City International University
Department of English
Use of Satire In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels

Presented by:
Name: Shoharab Safa Sajeeb
ID: ENG 01805604
Supervised by:
Name: Md. Rashed Khan Milon
Assistant Professor and Chairman
Port City International University, Chattogram.
Outlines
Abstract
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Research Question
Objective of the study
Limitation of the study
Discussion
Conclusion
Works Cited
ABSTRACT
The majority of literary works include the authors' ideas, frequently including their social criticism.
Satire is one of the most popular tools used to bring about reform or change in a society or an
individual. Satire can be viewed as a crucial tool for expressing the author's viewpoint. In the book
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, satire is examined in this thesis. Swift made an effort to ridicule the
arrogant people of the eighteenth century with Gulliver's Travels, who were overly ecstatic about the
quick advancement of science. By way of my thesis I'm attempting to demonstrate how Swift satirizes
society in eighteenth-century England and beyond in Gulliver. The study of Lemuel Gulliver's journeys
to four different lands assumes symbolic and substantial meaning by illustrating Swift's criticism of the
social situation. By conducting this study, I hope to demonstrate how Swift satirizes society and the
targets of his satire through the usage of Gulliver. Swift satirizes the smallness of humans in Gulliver's
first journey to Lilliput, the kingdom of little people, and the meanness of humanity in Gulliver's second
journey to Brobdingnag, the land of giants the third, to the flying island of Laputa, is a satire on
scientists and philosophers; and the final journey to the strangest land of all, that of the Houyhnhnms, is
the satire on the denunciation of human species. Thus these four voyages of Gulliver represent Swift’s
criticisms of and concerns about his own time and the future of humanity.
Introduction
“Gulliver’s Travels” is indeed the one of the very few satires
written in English , Written by Jonathan Swift.
Gulliver, as a representative of this race, is pushed to self
intro section. So, over all this satire in scope is much
expansive and sprawling.
The absurdist mode of narrative in Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”
bears ample similarities with Gulliver’s distention and
contraction in physical size This comparison, on the final
count, makes this massively powerful narrative into a
political satire, which precariously borders on misanthropy.
LITERATURE REVIEW
• Jonathan Swift is responding to the “Modern Revolution” in western thinking. Swift uses satire as a way to protest
the developments of modernity that had taken place in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Swift does
so in deference to an older tradition, one reaching back to Socrates and Plato. Our weakness in terms of virtue and
reason is seen in sharp contrast with these ancient models (Wali 2) .
• They are all political societies. From the beginning Gulliver's presence in Lilliput presents political problems and he
becomes the focus of political intrigue: 'It seems that upon the first Moment I was discovered sleeping on the
Ground after my Landing, the Emperor had early Notice of it by an Express: and determined in Council that I
should be tied in the Manner I have related ... ' (I.l; 1 0). The immediate notification of Gulliver’s arrival to the King,
the summoning of a council, stresses the fact that Lilliput is from our first encounter with it to be envisaged as a
political world. The political events and political practices of Lilliput have been related to the political history of
England during 1708-1715 by Firth, Case and others. But the power of the book is not just restricted to these
particular political allusions: the general satire of the methods of promotion to ministerial office in Lilli put is
periodic of the attitude of mind behind and nature of such procedures in any political society (Wilding 8).
• In his thesis project titled “Gulliver as Orator: A Study of Rhetoric in Gulliver's Travels” published in
academia.edu on, Marjorie Schulenburg, Retired English Teacher and Academic, Aspiring Theologian said that
When we consider Gulliver’s Travels as a whole, we can see that the changing relation of the Gulliver-persona
to the people he visits, on one hand, and to the reader, on the other, is intricately involved with the sub-theme
of successful rhetoric. Gulliver first goes to a land where he relates, in terms of oratorical skill, to the
inhabitants, certainly an ironic situation in term soft heir physical disparity. In Brobdingnag his very success in
the realm of rhetoric becomes a vehicle for diminishing him in a moral sense as he holds forth with his skill on
the questionable achievements and characteristics of his native country, much to the skepticism of the king.
all.”
METHODOLOGY
To conduct this research, a qualitative method is used. I have collected all my information from various
articles published on several blogs or sites to analyze deeply about my research topic. I have also taken
information from a literary text. The source of data is based on the Novel that is Swift’s Gulliver’s
Travels
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
a. Why does Swift use satire in his novel?
b. How does Swift’s Satire in Gulliver’s Travels?
c. What does Swift want to teach by satirizing his contemporary society?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This Project is expected to give the readers a clear idea of the materialistic world both
theoretically and practically. Readers can relate to this concept of materialism since it is
very common in western society and the students of the English department can study
materialism as a part of the sociology of literature.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
a. To find out the Satires in Gulliver’s Travels.
b. To find out how Jonathan Swift satires the Vices and Evils of his
contemporary society in his novel Gulliver’s Travels
c. To find out how Swift uses satire as a way to protest the
developments of modernity that had taken place in the seventeenth
and early eighteenth centuries.
d. To contribute in the field of English literature.
Research Limitations
• It is a novel that narrates the story of protagonist’s growth and internal
development on her search for a meaningful existence in society.
• While doing this project paper I faced many limitations, not having experience
is one of them.
• Time limitation is also a problem I faced, Three Month is not enough time for
this project paper. And We have an extra course also
Discussion
a. A Voyage to Lilliput
b. A Voyage to Brobdingnag
c. A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi,
Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan
d. A Voyage to the Country of the
Houyhnhnms
Conclusion
Gulliver never fell short on ‘new supply’ or aspects of the society to criticize. This
Mennipean satire attacks several recurrent issues of Swift’s satire and brings them all
together under the same book. Thus, Gulliver surmises all of Swift’s objects of satire
beautifully, making Gulliver’s Travels Swift’s best piece of satire.
Gulliver's Travels had appealed to everyone; it was an interesting simple story for children
and a challenging satire for adults, complicated enough to confuse them.
Swift had accomplished what he desired.

Gulliver was mad or sane, his madness was a light-hearted joke or a deadly horror, he
was sane but an object of satire, or he was not only sane but was Swift’s spokesman,
showing an acute vision of a Horatian or a Juvenalian satirist.” Gulliver’s rejection of all
mankind was because he failed to live up to some abstract ideals and anti- human
ideology
Works Cited
Chloe, Houston. “Utopia, Dystopia or Anti-utopia? Gulliver’s Travels and the Utopian mode of
Discourse.”Utopian Studies, vol. 18, no.3, 2007, pp. 425-442.
Ellen, Douglass. “Certain Problem of Allegorical Satire in Gulliver’s Travels.” Huntington Library
Quarterly, vol.13, no.2, 1950, pp. 161-189.
Eugene, Hammond. “Nature –Reason-Justice in Utopia and Gulliver’s Travels.”Studies in English
Literature, vol. 22, no. 3, 1982,pp. 445-468.
Fishelov, David. “Parody, Satire and Sympathy in Don Quixote and Gulliver's Travels.”Academia Journal,
vol.6, no.2, 2015, pp. 25-35.
Frank, Brady.“Vexations and Diversions: Three problems in “ Gulliver’s Travels.” Modern Philology, vol.
75, no. 4,1978, pp. 346-367.
Frederik, Smith. “The Genres of Gulliver’s Travels.”Eighteenth Century Studies, vol.15, no. 3, 1991, pp. 378-
381.
Jane, Downie.“Political Characterization in Gulliver’s Travels.” The Yearbook of English Studies, vol. 7,no.2,
1977, pp. 108-120.
Kevin, Barry.“Exclusion and Inclusion in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.” The Irish Review, vol.15, no.3,
1986, pp 36-47
Phillip, Harth. “The Problem of Political Allegory in Gulliver’s Travels.” Modern Philology, vol. 73, no.
4, 1976, pp. 40-47.
Raymond, Bentman. “Satiric Stucture and Tone in the Conclusion of Gulliver’s Travels.”Studies in
English Literature, vol.11, no 3, 1971, pp. 535-548.
Robert, Fitzgerald. “The Structure of Gulliver’s Travels.” Studies in Philology, vol. 71, no. 2,1974, pp.
247-263.
Schulenburg, Marjorie. “Gulliver as Orator: A Study of Rhetoric in Gulliver's Travels.” Academia
Research, vol. 8, no. 1, 2016, pp. 15-25.
Swift, Jonathan. The Battle of the Books. London: Cassell& Company Limited. 1886. Print.
Wilding, Michael. “The Politics of Gulliver's Travels.”Social Visions: Sydney Studies in Society &
Culture, vol.8, no. 2, 2019, pp. 35-45.

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Port City International University

Use of Satire In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels

a. Why does Swift use satire in his novel?

b. How does Swift’s Satire in Gulliver’s Travels?

c. What does Swift want to teach by satirizing his contemporary society?

materialism as a part of the sociology of literature.

Swift had accomplished what he desired.

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