How effective is Swift's

Authors Avatar

How effective is Swift’s “Proposal”?

“A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public” – Jonathan Swift 1729.

In reading this you will discover the answer to the above question in three parts;

  • How effective is it as an argument
  • How effective is it as a piece of information
  • How effective is it as satire

        “A Modest Proposal” first appeared in public in 1729, Swift wrote this article after all of his previous suggestions had been rejected by the Irish authorities. Swift felt the English government had psychologically exiled him and this greatly added to the rage he felt over the way the Irish People were treated or rather mistreated by the English. Although Swift’s highest and most prominent concerns were for his own class, the Anglo-Irish, he in the end spoke for the nation as a whole.

        Swift defined satire as;

‘A sort of glass wherein the holders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own, which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”

        

        Swift presents his “Proposal” as an entirely reasonable suggestion to aid the Irish, he enumerates the many benefits, counters the objections many may have, uses rhetoric reasoning and proves his humanitarianism views.

        

        Swift has written in considerable detail over the degree of poverty in Ireland, he draws attention to the causes of it obliquely and proves in great detail that his “Proposal” will work and in which ways it does work.  

Ireland was a colony of England; it was economically, politically and militarily dependent on England. This was profitable for England because a weak, poor Ireland could not challenge them and by not financially aiding the Irish they built up their own economy. English absentee landlords owned most of the land that was valuable so the Irish again could not challenge the might of England.

        Before Swift introduces his “Proposal” to the reader he decides to state who the “Proposals” will benefit and how,

                        “It will prevent those voluntary abortions”

Here is shown that the mother will not have to break the confidence of the Catholic Church in having the banned abortions so the rules of the church are not broken.

“and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children.”

The so far unmentioned “Proposal” will already have the appreciation of the reader, as his idea will stop the unlawful killings of unborn and new-born children.

        

        Another “great advantage” is that the children, who will now because of this still be alive, of “one year old” will “contribute to the feeding and partly clothing, of many thousands.” Interest into what this ”Proposal” is will be increasing and this is the desired effect as Swift is establishing his ludicrous suggestion but making the audience accept it by creating and increasing this interest.  

Join now!

        As was once said there are:        ‘lies, damn lies and statistics.’

Although this had not been stated by Swift’s time, 1729, this possible manipulative exaggeration of evidence is existent in his “Proposal” with him using the terms; “computed”, “calculate” and “computation”. These are the statistics with which he has proven the worth of his “Proposal”.

        Using Swift’s “computations” we discover that only 15% of the Irish population can “maintain their own children” and such is the dilapidation of the Irish colony this means that Swifts proposal is for a staggering 85% who have not the finances to keep ...

This is a preview of the whole essay