Jonathan Swifts satirical essay A Modest Proposal. You have now read Jonathan Swift’s satirical essay, A Modest Proposal.
For this paper, you will be digging deep into Swift’s article and picking apart the strategies that he uses to make his argument, specifically in the way he uses satire to make his point. You will explain the processes he uses to make his argument, as well as the effectiveness of that argument to the reader.
You may do a bit of outside research if you would like to reference the historical context in which Swift’s essay was written (when, why, etc.), but I do not want you to draw on any outside sources for quotes in your paper in regard to Swift’s argument itself. This means: do not use anyone else’s opinions in analysis of the essay. Please only use your own analysis of the facts and focus on using Swift’s text alone and how it effectively—or ineffectively, if you believe so—it argues his point.
Gulliver’s Travels was unique in its day; it was not written to woo or entertain. It was an indictment, and it was most popular among those who were indicted — that is, politicians, scientists, philosophers, and Englishmen in general. Swift was roasting people, and they were eager for the banquet.
Swift himself admitted to wanting to “vex” the world with his satire, and it is certainly in his tone, more than anything else, that one most feels his intentions. Besides the coarse language and bawdy scenes, probably the most important element that Dr. Bowdler deleted from the original Gulliver’s Travels was this satiric tone. The tone of the original varies from mild wit to outright derision, but always present is a certain strata of ridicule. Dr. Bowdler gelded it of its satire and transformed it into a children’s book.
After that literary operation, the original version was largely lost to the common reader. The Travels that proper Victorians bought for the family library was Bowdler’s version, not Swift’s. What irony that Bowdler would have laundered the Travels in order to get a version that he believed to be best for public consumption because, originally, the book was bought so avidly by the public that booksellers were raising the price of the volume, sure of making a few extra shillings on this bestseller. And not only did the educated buy and read the book — so also did the largely uneducated.