Gulliver's Travels:Political Satire
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Q: Political satire in the first two parts of Gulliver’s travels is interesting as well as instructive. Elaborate?Q: Political satire in the four parts of the Gulliver's travels?
The ancient temple in which Gulliver is housed in Lilliput probably refers to Westminster Hall in which Charles 1 had been condemned to death. The search of Gulliver by the Lilliputians may have some reference to a committee which had been formed by the Whigs to investigate the conduct of the previous government and especially of Oxford and Bolingbroke who were suspected of treasonable relationships with France and the Old Pretender. Swift here seems to be satirizing the activities of that Whig committee.
The three fine silk threads which were awarded as prizes to the winners of various contests refer to the various distinctions which were conferred by the English King on his favorites. In other words, Swift is here mocking at the English King’s conferment of distinctions on political favorites and supporters. The annoyance of the Empress of Lilliput with Gulliver for extinguishing a fire in her palace is a satirical allusion to Queen Anne’s annoyance with Swift for having written “A Tale of a Tub”.
The articles of impeachment against Gulliver may be a satire on the actual impeachment in 1715 of four Tory ex-ministers. These four Tories were Bolingbroke, Oxford, Ormonde, and Strafford. Bolingbroke and Ormonde escaped to France (just as Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu ) and were declared traitors. The impeachment of Strafford was dropped, while Oxford was acquitted after having been kept as a prisoner in the Tower for two years.
Swift’s satire becomes more amusing when Gulliver speaks of the conflict between the Big- Endians and the Little – Endians in Lilliput. It is funny that, while one party believes that boiled eggs should be broken at the big end, the other party insists on breaking the eggs at the smaller end. In this account, Swift is ridiculing the conflict between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. He is making fun of hair-splitting theological disputes. Swift also pokes fun at the political parties in England when he speaks of the two factions in Lilliput- the two factions being distinguished by their high heels and low heels respectively.
In part II, when Gulliver has given to the King an account of the life on his own country, of the trade, the wars, the conflicts in religions, the political parties, the King has a hearty laugh and asks Gulliver whether the latter is a Whig or a Tory. The King’s view was that the history of Gulliver’s country seemed to him to be only “a heap of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacres, revolutions, banishments and very worst effect that avarice, faction, hypocrisy, perfidiousness, cruelty, rage, madness, hatred, envy, lust, malice, and ambition could produce”.
The satire in part II does not end here. King’s reaction is also significant when Gulliver informs him that in his country hundreds of books are written on the art of governments. According to the King, only common sense, reason and justice, and not books are needed to run a government.
In part lll, in the account of the life in Laputa, Swift also satirizes the English system of administration, especially with regard to the Ireland of the time. The English government ruled Ireland from a long distance and was thus not in direct touch with its Irish subjects even though some of the English politicians held property in Ireland.
In part 1V, the satire deepens when Gulliver gives to the master Houyhnhnms an account of the events and happenings in his own country and in other European countries was due sometimes to the ambition of Kings and sometimes to the corruption of ministers. Gulliver speaks of the numerous deadly weapons which the European nations employ for destruction purposes. The whole of this account by Gulliver is an exposure of the evils of wars and the wickedness of lawyers and judges. Gulliver also says thus many people in his country ruin themselves by drinking, gambling and debauchery; and that many are guilty of such crimes as murder, theft, robbery, forgery, rape, and sodomy.
The account which Gulliver gives of the political life in his country is really a bitter criticism of the evils that prevail out only in England but in all countries of the world. The prime minister, according to Gulliver, is a person wholly free from joy and grief, love and hatred, pity and anger; and he is a person with a violent desire for wealth, power and title.