Brobdingnag provides a starkly contrasting environment. The reversing of size helps Gulliver, and the reader to see happenings from the alternate perspective. Humans are again criticised for example, when Gulliver is faced with skin, nipples, and eating habits from a magnified position. The reader is repulsed and this is a great criticism of humans, and their vanity. The reader is left to reassess just how beauty and elegance should be judged. Just as Gulliver was socially and intellectually unattractive in Lilliput, things are reversed here and other people become physically unattractive to Gulliver. In book one, the characters are ridiculed whilst in book two, the criticism is far more general, and it is a society as a whole which is being ridiculed. Ironically, now Gulliver is twelve times smaller, it is his people who are ridiculed by the King of Brobdingnag, just as he, Gulliver, has ridiculed the antics of the Lilliputians. The reader is shown that only wisdom, integrity, honesty and loyalty are independent of size.
In book three Swift turns his attention to these virtues or lack of them. The focus of Laputa is intellectual and cognitive. Swift attacks the false learning and bizarre research by making the characters pioneering them eccentric and obsessive. He uses the oppression of Balnibari by Laputa to draw contrasts to the reader about Anglo-Irish issues. He refers to unrewarded efforts and political corruption and even the desire for eternal life by using the Struldbuggs. In the fourth book the reader is given an extreme contrast. The human Yahoo is compared to the horse-like Houyhnhnms who display virtues far above those observed in human society. The satire in this book is aimed at the Yahoos: Swift uses them as a device to explain how awful the human race really is. The comparisons are frequently invidious, and in many cases lascivious. Swift uses all of skills in his power to demonstrate the shameful behaviour or the human being. Instances such as these strengthen the case for ‘Saeva Indignato’ being a more apt description of Gulliver’s Travels.
Gulliver is portrayed as an honest and educated man who is philosophical about the adventures and mishaps he encounters. He faces the new and wonderful communities with genuine interest and relays details refreshingly and without malice. It is Gulliver’s attention to detail with gives the reader an insight into the intricacies of the worlds that Gulliver visits. The reader develops a habit of agreeing with Gulliver’s impressions of the societies he encounters, and the reader quickly learns about Gulliver’s personality, his likes and dislikes, his joys and fears, his morality and political preferences. Gulliver is above all else a good conversationalist, always ready to ask and answer questions; he has an enquiring mind and is keen to learn. This provides many opportunities for the comic elements to enter the novel as he frequently digs himself holes, most notably when he informs the leader of the Houyhnhnms about the practises humans tend to perform on horses. He is always ready to give helpful advice and help with problems where he thinks it will be valued, but he is not always trusted, especially in book four where he is suspected of assembling the Yahoo’s into a position to revolt.
Gulliver is used as narrator; his view is innocent, unemotional, clearly focused and unambiguous. At the same time as the observations we are allowed an insight into Gulliver’s (or Swift’s) opinions and views of society. Gulliver supplies the reader with detailed observations that add to the formulation of the reader’s views about the societies encountered. Generally he portrays goings on in a positive light, and wishes to be perceived in a respected and confident way; an example of this is when Gulliver displays his charity by sparing the ruffians and is commended for his actions at court. Gulliver has impeccable and courteous manners, made comical by the differences in size in both Lilliput and Brobdingnag.
Swift uses Gulliver as an example of a ‘good’ human being, but throughout the book we are continually asked to question how good human beings really are. Humans are presented in a very satirical way, and Swift is heavily critical of the Yahoo's’above all else, and since these creatures are used to represent humans, mankind can’t be presented in anything other than a facetious light. In Book four it is Yahoo skins Gulliver uses for his canoe not the horse skins in common use by his civilisation. This again shows how Swift is likening the Yahoo’s to humans, in a far from flattering way. The supposedly innocent and courteous Gulliver is used as a tool to allow the reader a deeper understanding of issues. An example of this is clothing, which on book four, is all that distinguishes Gulliver from the Yahoo.
Our main character is used to deliver verbal derision. Throughout the book, characters are used to provide a political commentary on people in the English Political and Legal system. George I is represented by the Emperor of Lilliput, Warpole is imitated by Flimnap, Catholics are shown by the Big-Endians, whilst Protestants are the Little-Endians.
Gulliver is also, at times, used to disgust the reader. Gulliver’s bodily functions are often described in graphic detail and this is particularly distressing to the reader due to scatological aversions. Swift makes us stop to reflect upon the unspoken natural moments of our lives which link us to animals more than we care to admit. Indeed most readers identify, as Gulliver did, with the Houyhnhnms. This must be the absolute irony, as irony is impossible in the Houyhnhnms’ society because ‘the thing which is not’ is not meant as a deception. In book four the satirical ingredient is sarcasm and the grey ‘master’ frequently uses this, for example describing the Yahoo as ‘a sort of animal’.
After reviewing the book more closely, it seems that ‘Saeva Indignato’ is perhaps a more fitting description of Gulliver’s Travels. The cutting and insulting irony used throughout, and the satirical descriptions of all Gulliver meets acts as a social commentary on humans and the society which Swift lived in at the time. It is in Book four that the reader’s attentions are drawn to the resemblance between Yahoos and humans. The filthy lifestyles, and cringe worthy habits of these creatures is meant to be a criticism of humans, and their role in society. The novel can be described as a “very merry book” in the manner which it is highly comical at times, but once the reader looks a bit deeper into the criticisms being made, they can realise that the novel is not “merry” in the slightest. It is highly critical and at times, very rude and coarse. It is full of cutting criticism, and is aimed at undermining the workings of society. It is indeed full of fierce indignation towards society.
