The Assessment of Society in Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels :: Gullivers Travels Essays

In its most serious function, badinage is a mediator between twain perceptions-the unillusioned perception of patch as he actually is, and the ideal perception, or vision, of man as he ought ot be, (Bullitt, 3). Likewise, misanthropy can be understood as being the product of one of two world views 1) The Pure cynic or Misanthropist has no faith in human nature and has given up on any notion of ideals. This type lies and manipulates as a matter of course and these are the types that tend to run the world. 2) The burned-out or Disillusioned Idealists misanthropy arises out of disappointment in humankind. In umpteen ways, the second type exhibits more bile as he is ever frustrated by what men do as opposed to what they ought to do. Jonathon fleet is the second type of misanthropist and Gullivers Travels is arguably his greatest satiric tone-beginning to shame men out of their vices (Ibid., 14) by constantly distinguishing between how man behaves and how he thinks about or just ifies his behavior in a smorgasbord of situations. Pride, in particular, is what enables man to deceive himself into the belief that he is rational and everlasting(a) when, in reality, he has not developed his reason, and his virtue is merely appearance, (Ibid., 66). This satire works on so many levels that a paper such as this allows me to deal with only three elements, and in a needfully superficial way the ways in which the structure and choice of fable serve Swifts purpose, a discussion of some of his most salient attacks on politics, religion, and other elements of society, and his critique on the essence and flaws of human nature. Swifts purpose was to hustle his readers to view themselves as he viewed humankind, as creatures who were not fulfilling their potential to be truly great but were simply flaunting the trappings of greatness. Gullivers Travels succeeds in this end brilliantly. The form and structure of the whole work enhanced Swifts purpose, as did the partic ularized metaphors in each of the four voyages. Firstly, Swift went to great pains to reach Gullivers Travels in the genuine, standard form of the popular travelogues of the time. Gulliver, the reader is told, was a seaman, rootage in the capacity of a ships surgeon, then as the captain of several(prenominal) ships. Swift creates a realistic framework by incorporating nautical jargon, descriptive detail that is related in a factual, ships-log style, and repeated claims by Gulliver, in his narrative, to relate plain matter(s) of fact in the simplest manner and style.