Compare the representation of family relationships in the work of 2 writers you have studied this term (Hamlet and Swift's 'Modest Proposal')

The first 200 words of this essay...

Compare the representation of family relationships in the work of 2 writers you have studied this term (Hamlet and Swift's 'Modest Proposal')

These two texts are very different in many aspects. Not only in form, style and structure, but also in content. They show obvious differences with reference to family relationships. 'Hamlet' focuses on a single family with severe problems needing research into psychoanalysis to make these truly clear, whereas a 'A Modest Proposal' shows the problems of families in an Irish Society in the 18th Century, namely those of the poorer classes. The similarity between them is singularly that the families portrayed are unhappy and certainly not stereotypical. Swift's society is portrayed as miserable and in need of political help, Shakespeare's protagonist family, and indeed other more minor ones are crying out for help which they never get, and may have been far beyond. It is the way in which they are presented by the writers which needs further analysis.

Swift's satirical taint on 'A Modest Proposal' makes it difficult to take much of the contents too seriously. However, his acute observations on society as a whole, and the way that we treat each other