During the eighteenth century there was an incredible upheaval of commercialization in
London, England. As a result, English society underwent significant, "changes in
attitude and thought", in an attempt to obtain the dignity and splendor of royalty and
the upper class (McKendrick,2). As a result, English society held themselves in very
high regards, feeling that they were the elite society of mankind. In his novel,
Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift satirizes this English society in many ways. In the
novel, Swift uses metaphors to reveal his disapproval of English society. Through
graphic representations of the body and it's functions, Swift reveals to the reader that
grandeur is merely an illusion, a facade behind which English society of his time
attempted to hide from reality.
On his first voyage, Swift places Gulliver in a land of miniature people where his giant
size is meant as a metaphor for his superiority over the Lilliputians, thus representing
English society's belief in superiority over all other cultures. Yet, despite his belief
in superiority, Swift shows that Gulliver is not as great as he imagines when the forces
of nature call upon him to relieve himself. Gulliver comments to the reader that before
hand he, "was under great difficulties between urgency and shame", and after the deed
says that he felt, "guilty of so uncleanly an action" (Norton,2051). By revealing to the
reader Gulliver's shame in carrying out a basic function of life, Swift comments on the
self imposed supremacy of English society. By humbling their representative, the author
implies that despite the belief of the English to be the most civilized and refined
society, they are still human beings who are slaves to the same forces as every other
human being regardless of culture or race.
On the second voyage, Swift turns the tables on Gulliver and places him among a race of
giant people, the Brobdingnagians, where Gulliver is viewed as the inferior. Due to his
miniature size, Gulliver is able to examine the human body in a much more detailed
manner. Upon witnessing the undressing of the Maids of Honor, Gulliver expresses his
aversion to their naked bodies. They were, "very far from being a tempting sight", and
gave him, "any other emotions than those of horror and disgust", because of the acuteness
to which he was able to observe their, "course and uneven [skin], so variously colored"
(Norton,2104). Gulliver also talks of their moles, "here and there as broad as a
trencher, and hairs hanging from (them) thicker than pack-threads" (Norton,2104).
Earlier in the novel, upon witnessing the suckling of a baby, Gulliver tells the reader
that upon seeing the woman's breast he, "[reflected] upon the fair skins of [his] English
ladies, who appear so beautiful... only because they are of [his] own size"
(Norton,2088). In showing Gulliver's disgust at the sight of such prestigious and
beautiful women of Brobdingnag, Swift again comments on English society through a graphic
portrayal of the human body. Swift uses the Maids of Honor as a metaphor to comment on
the women of England, whom, among eighteenth century English society, were believed to be
the most beautiful of all the world. Showing that despite their apparent beauty, they
are not perfect, and suffer the same flaws and imperfections of appearance as any other
women.
At one point during Gulliver's stay in Brobdingnag, Swift comments almost directly on
his distaste for the self imposed supremacy of English society over all other cultures.
It happens when the King of the land, his Majesty, comments on, "how contemptible a thing
was human grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive insects as
[Gulliver]"(Norton,2097). Here, Swift bluntly criticizes the attitude of English
society for considering themselves to be so high in rank and eminence, by implying that
even the smallest and least civilized creature could assume such a high degree of
superiority.
Gulliver's Travels is a satirical novel of the eighteenth century English society, a
society with superficial ideas of grandeur and nobility. Through clever representations,
Jonathan Swift successfully humbles this society's pride and human vanity. He reveals
the flaws it their thinking by reducing them to what they are, human beings, which, like
any other group of human beings is able to do, have merely adopted a superficial self
righteous attitude. In doing so, Swift makes a broader statement about mankind today.
Despite all the self acclaimed advances in civilization and technology, we are still
merely human; suffering from the same forces and flaws, impulses and imperfections as
everyone else.
Works Cited
McKendrick, Neil. Brewer, John. Plumb, J.H. The Birth of a Consumer Society, Indiana
Universtiy Press, Great Britan, 1982.
Swift, Jonathan. "Gulliver's Travels". Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th Ed.
M.H. Abrams, vol.1, New York: Norton, 1986.
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