Jonathan Swift 1667-1745Jonathan SwiftSlide 3Slide 4Slide 5Slide 6Slide 7Slide 8Slide 9Slide 10Slide 11Slide 12Slide 13Slide 14Slide 15Slide 16Slide 17Jonathan Swift1667-1745Jonathan SwiftSwift was born in Ireland in 1667Jonathan SwiftSwift was born in Ireland in 1667He received a BA from Trinity College, Dublin in 1686Jonathan SwiftSwift was born in Ireland in 1667He received a BA from Trinity College, Dublin in 1686He received an MA from Oxford in 1692Jonathan SwiftSwift was born in Ireland in 1667He received a BA from Trinity College, Dublin in 1686He received an MA from Oxford in 1692He became an Anglican priest in 1695Jonathan SwiftSwift was born in Ireland in 1667He received a BA from Trinity College, Dublin in 1686He received an MA from Oxford in 1692He became an Anglican priest in 1695He was granted a Dr. of Divinity degree from Trinity in 1702Jonathan SwiftSwift was born in Ireland in 1667He received a BA from Trinity College, Dublin in 1686He received an MA from Oxford in 1692He became an Anglican priest in 1695He was granted a Dr. of Divinity degree from Trinity in 1702He was active in the early debates of the political parties in England—Whigs and ToriesJonathan SwiftSwift was born in Ireland in 1667He received a BA from Trinity College, Dublin in 1686He received an MA from Oxford in 1692He became an Anglican priest in 1695He was granted a Dr. of Divinity degree from Trinity in 1702He was active in the early debates of the political parties in England—Whigs and ToriesSwift is famous for his satires:Tale of a Tub (1704)A Modest Proposal (1729) Gulliver’s Travels (1726)Jonathan SwiftGulliver’s Travels Four “books”—four voyages:LilliputBrobdingnagLaputaHouyhnhnmsJonathan SwiftGulliver’s Travels is a parody of the genre of “travel narrative”During the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, these tales of voyages of exploration and colonial adventure were extremely popular:Christopher ColumbusAmerigo Vespucci (for whom “America” is named)Sir Walter RaleighCaptain John SmithMore’s Utopia also parodies the genre, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest invokes the genre Travel narratives are often sometimes “utopian”—Book IV of Gulliver’s Travels also parodies More’s UtopiaJonathan SwiftLemuel Gulliver’s four voyages can be seen as a satirical exploration of the human condition: What does it mean to be a human being?The name “Gulliver” may suggest that he is “gullible”Gulliver’s first voyage, to Lilliput:Gulliver encounters a land of tiny people. According to Stuart Sherman, editor of the Longman Anthology of British Literature Vol. 1c:The diminutive citizens of Lilliput represent human small-mindedness and petty ambitions. Filled with self-importance, they Lilliputians arecruel, treacherous, malicious and destructive. (Longman Anthology, p. 2531)Jonathan SwiftGulliver’s second voyage, to Brobdingnag, a land of giants:In Brobdingnag Gulliver is reduced to the size of a Lilliputian. According to Stuart Sherman:He is humbled by his own helplessness and, finding the huge bodiesof the Brobdingnagians grotesque, he realizes how repulsive the Lilliputians must have found him. When Gulliver gives the wise king of Brobdingnag an account of the political affairs of England—which manifest hypocrisy, avarice and hatred—the enlightened monarch concludes that most of the country’s inhabitants must be “the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the face of the Earth.” (Longman Anthology, p. 2531)Jonathan SwiftSherman concludes:Throughout Gulliver’s Travels that which is admirable is held up to expose corruption in the reader’s world, and that which is deplorable is identified with the institutions and practices of contemporary Europe, particularly Britain. . . . With brilliantly modulated ironic self-awareness, Swift’s painful comedy of exposure to the truth of human frailty demonstrates that there is no room for the distortions of human pride in a world where our practices are so evidently at variance with our principles. Swift advances no program of social reform, but provokes a new recognition—literally, a re-thinking—of our own humanity. (Longman Anthology, p. 2531)Jonathan SwiftGulliver’s Travels : Book IV Gulliver’s crew mutinies and puts him ashore on an unknown islandJonathan SwiftGulliver’s Travels : Book IV Gulliver’s crew mutinies and puts him ashore on an unknown islandThe island turns out to be inhabited by the “Houyhnhnms”--creatures who look like horses but are more civilized and intelligent than humans, in Gulliver’s viewJonathan SwiftGulliver’s Travels : Book IV Gulliver’s crew mutinies and puts him ashore on an unknown islandThe island turns out to be inhabited by the “Houyhnhnms”--creatures who look like horses but are more civilized and intelligent than humans, in Gulliver’s viewThe island also has “Yahoos”—creatures who look like humans but are sub-human in intelligence, savage and disgustingJonathan SwiftGulliver’s Travels : Book IV Gulliver’s crew mutinies and puts him ashore on an unknown islandThe island turns out to be inhabited by the “Houyhnhnms”--creatures who look like horses but are more civilized and intelligent than humans, in Gulliver’s viewThe island also has “Yahoos”—creatures who look like humans but are sub-human in intelligence, savage and