So it was at this time that Jonathan Swift wrote a political speech to solve the increasing problem for the Irish. His intention was to highlight that the reason Ireland was in so much trouble because they did not stand up and defend themselves. He also highlighted to the English that they were doing just was not right. He wanted to say as well, that if they were going to let the English push them around. You may as well reproduce children for the English to eat. As they already reproduced quite frequently.
Jonathan Swift writes by using a persona who believes in what he talks about. He pretends to be an Irish man who collaborates with the English for a reward. He does this so he can write a proposal about making Ireland wealthier, and mock the Anglo-Irish speaker and the English.
His persona talks about the Irish deserving their children to be eaten because they have not stood up for themselves and the future for their children. The speaker does not support the English. He mocks the Anglo-Irish, who is Irish but pretend to be English, thus abandoning their country and their nationality. The speaker says that actually, pretending to not be Irish is worse than being English. This is because; you are betraying your heritage and are in return exploiting the Irish, your own people, to make the English even wealthier.
Jonathan Swift mocks the Anglo-Irish so that he can show both sides of the Irish and the English. He writes in the form of ‘political comedy’. This helps his job to be persuasive using humour when the situation and the problem are gravely serious.
Swift does this by using four devices: satire, a persona, persuasive structure and persuasive language. He uses satire, which is ridiculing and being ironic by an outrageous solution. One case of this is ‘Clearly, the cannibalism that solves Ireland’s problem is simply a metaphor for the exploitation that has created it, and “Dressing them hot under the knife” shows insensibility only different in degree from counting on the poor to die’. This is saying that the English have said that there would be no problem if the Irish simply died.
A case for the use of a persona is by using cannibalism as a metaphor for exploitation of the English, which in doing so he has created a need for cannibalism.
Swift uses persuasive structure which in this case is the way. He produces the problems as a list, as well as adding data and adding voices to his ‘experts’. In which he bombards you with to make you think about how terrible the situation is. He in fact takes along way into the political speech to tell you his actual solution to the problem. Jonathan Swift lists the advantages to his solution, to make you physically think there are more advantages than there really are. He challenges you to think of a solution. But in fact never gives you enough time to do so. This makes you think that his solution is the only solution there is.
He uses persuasive language by making you create the image that children are meat, by making you think that they are animals and so killing them is not wrong at all, so you think of them as meat. A use of this is ‘a child dropped from his dam’, which refers to children as calves. Also, ‘a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled’, this refers the ways in which you can cook any type of meat to the way you cook children.
At the end of the proposal the level of outrageousness is heightened. Every now and then Jonathan Swift’s own opinion appears between the persona. This is shown as deliberate outrageousness for satire. Such as, ‘the skin… will make admirable gloves for ladies and summer-boots for fine gentlemen’, in which he suggests that the children’s skin could be made into items such as gloves or boots.
His bitter remarks are shown, he practically says that you have almost eaten all the food from Ireland, why not eat the children as well. His solution to Ireland’s problem has written not to be taking seriously but to show how terrible the situation is and how it needs to change.
