At the start of Gulliver’s Travels it is obvious that Gulliver is detail mad about everything and anything that he talks about. For example “I must confess no object disgust me so much as the sight of her monstrous breast, which I cannot tell what to compare with, so as to give the curious reader an idea of its bulk, shape and colour. It stood prominent six feet, and could not be less than 16 in circumference. The nipple was about half the bigness of my head, and the hue both of that and the dug so verified with spots, pimples and freckles, that nothing could appear more nauseous.” This could be a form of satire, which satirises travelogues, as travelogues were links to Swift’s time as it was the style of writing in those days, and it is satirical as it is so detail mad. Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels as a first person narrative; Gulliver relays to us he side of the story, he interprets judgments for us, and helps us to form opinions which are actually one sided as he is telling the story.
The use of the first person is that we are then getting a more accurate vision of what Swift wanted us to as one input can only get one output. He is satirising the society, which his original target audience would have been surrounded by and therefore would have been able to deeply sympathise with Gulliver. As narrator, Swift keeps Gulliver’s view as an innocent, unemotional, clearly focused and unambiguous (meaning it doesn’t have a double meaning). Pretending a character is an innocent or foreign visitor in a new surrounding is a very useful skill to us as it enables the writer with ease to show how the everyday things that we do and take for granted are done in such a way that would make a foreigner thing that theses actions are quite strange. This style isn’t particularly use to make fun of the reader but to make them think.
At the same time as reading about any observations we are showed what Gulliver’s feelings really are. As Gulliver was portrayed as a well-educated man from the star then all of Gulliver’s opinions are valid to the reader and help, us to believe the sequence of events.
The difficulty for the reader is that the sub characters of the story are not as well exposed to the audience and there for you don’t get to know what their opinions are. In Gulliver’s Travels the plot is a very strong feature as it is not only giving exciting action to the story but it brings out the emotions of Gulliver as he travels to different lands with different setting and going from big, to small, and from, smart, to animals as leaders. It also brings out the emotions and thoughts of Gulliver as he is forever reflecting back to life in England
The first country that Gulliver visits is Lilliput, where Gulliver ends up shipwrecked. The Lilliputians are only a twelfth of the size of Gulliver, however they still were able to ties him up and managed to secure him as their prisoner. The social and political background of these people is meant to be a mirror of that of England’s. Part 1 portrays the reigns of Queen Anne and George the First. Gulliver is imprisoned and tried for treason; this is the same as what happened to the Earl of Oxford and Viscount Bolingbroke.
In the Country of Lilliput, we view the courts as meaningless. The ceremonies which are held at various events are ridiculing the Lilliputian council, the awarding of honours are also meaningless to any outsider of Lilliput and the political differences are completely comical when we consider that the rivalry is over which end of an egg is eaten from! The whole “seriousness” of Lilliput is shown to the spectators as if it were a slide show, as we see the action for what it really is (nonsense). Swift invented the name Lilliput, however the word Lilliputian can now be applied to anyone who lacks in size, this has only come about since Gulliver’s Travels has become so well known.
Swift uses such a silly setting to satirise the political party of the time and to comment on how pitiful it is to go to war for trivial reasons. He experienced a tension between his political and religious beliefs and eventually, when the Whig Ministry of Godolphin fell in 1710, he changed his political allegiance and became a Tory. Swift wrote some deeply religious pamphlets at this time, such as “Sentiments of a Church of England Man” and the ironic “Argument Against Abolishing Christianity,” and became the Author of a Tory Journal “The Examiner”.
A brief summary of chapter 3 is: a court is described, Gulliver wins the Lilliputians trust and is granted more freedom, the Lilliputians exploit Gulliver’s size and strength. Overall this chapter is full of satire and irony. Frequently at this time literature was used as a political tool. It was used to send messages, make people think, and to make rebellious criticisms of monarchy, political parties or religious factions. To do this effectively the author uses satire (a literary work in which vices, follies, stupidities, abuses for example are held up to ridicule and contempt.) This is where writing exposes the follies with human behaviour by presenting it as absurd and ridiculous. It is not what is said that is important but what is meant.
The whole of Gulliver’s Travels is ironical (saying one thing whilst meaning another). The Englishman in the strange land surrounded by miniature beings is no more than an outside. In the first part we see ourselves as one of these miniature beings. In the second part Gulliver is overwhelmingly human, with human weaknesses, for example, distorting the truth, and human strengths, for example the positive speech. In the last part of the situational satire moves beyond our feeling comfortable with it. In the last part there is a complete transposition of horse and man. We see a civilisation that is pure and rational. It has not been influenced by fraud, deceit, illness or greed.
The opening paragraph of chapter 3 describes how the boys and girls “play at hide and seek” in Gulliver’s hair, it goes on to describe the satirical court, where political candidates performed tricks of rope dancing and jump like acrobats. The people of Lilliput gain the emperors approval by demonstrating an acrobatic skill and therefore becoming courtiers or by leaping or crawling under a stick and winning a silken thread.
Gulliver helps miniature horses perform by tying his handkerchief to sticks, making a platform for military displays, until a horse’s hoof goes through the handkerchief and Gulliver considers it unsafe. The emperor is so impressed that he is persuaded to grant Gulliver more freedom of movement. 2 days later, Gulliver is requested to “stand like a colossus, with my legs as far as under as I conveniently could” whilst the army marches between them. The government debate Gulliver’s freedom and as there is only one objection, he is granted his liberty after swearing to the eight conditions. Note the bizarre ritual Gulliver has to go to swear his obedience to the conditions, which were as follows. Gulliver must: not leave Lilliput without permission, give 2 hours warning of a visit, keep to the main roads as he walks, take care as he moves, carry messages when required, defend Lilliput from it’s enemies, help with the building by lifting heavy stones, and finally, measure the kingdom. This chapter reflects King George’s court under the Warpole Government. The seventh sentences Gulliver to hard labour in his leisure hours. Gulliver is allowed enough food to support 1728 Lilliputians.
