Gulliver’s Travel

INTRODUCTION
Gulliver's Travels, is considered one of the most important works JONANTHAN
SWIFT in the history of world literature. Gulliver's Travels depicts one man's
journeys to several strange and unusual lands. The general theme of Gulliver's
Travels is a satirical examination of human nature, man's potential for depravity,
and the dangers of the misuse of reason. Throughout the volume Swift attacked the
baseness of humankind even as he suggested the greatest virtues of the human
race; he also attacked the folly of human learning and political systems even as he
implied the proper functions of art, science, and government. Each of the four
voyages in Gulliver's Travels serves as a vehicle for Swift to expose and excoriate
some aspect of human folly.
Background
Gulliver's Travels is the fictional account of four extraordinary voyages made by
Lemuel Gulliver, a physician who signs on to serve as a ship's surgeon when he is
unable to provide his family with a sufficient income in London.
Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput (May 4, 1699 — April 13, 1702)
After being shipwrecked Gulliver first arrives at Lilliput, an island whose
inhabitants are just six inches tall and where the pettiness of the political system is
mirrored in the little size of its citizens. Gulliver is referred to as the
"ManMountain" by the Lilliputians. After giving assurances of his good behaviour,
he is given a residence in Lilliput and becomes a favourite of the court. From there,
the book follows Gulliver's observations on the Court of Lilliput, which is intended
to satirize the court of George I. Gulliver assists the Lilliputians in a nonsensical
war with the neighboring island of Blefuscudians. Later by some conspiracy,
Gulliver is charged with treason and sentenced to be blinded. With the assistance
of a kind friend, Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu, where he spots and retrieves an
abandoned boat and sails out to be rescued by a passing ship which safely takes
him back home.
In this voyage, we read allegorical satire of the political events of the early
eighteenth century, a commentary on the moral state of England, a general satire
on the pettiness of human desires for wealth and power, and a depiction of the
effects of unwarranted pride and self-promotion. The war with the tiny neighboring
island of Blefuscu represents England's rivalry with France. Also,in part one is
amusing and comic but to miss out the serious element would be unjust. Behind
every comic incident there is a satire and serious purpose also. One of such comic
event is the activity of “Rope-dancing”. This is practiced by those who want high
posts in the imperial court. The person jumping the highest is granted the highest
position. There is also a ceremony of awarding coloured threads to the candidates
who can leap over the sticks. In fact, this is a direct criticism on the ridiculous
ways of the British Government and the way high public and political offices were
awarded to the undeserving people.

Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag (June 20, 1702 — June 3, 1706)

The second voyage takes him to Brobdingnag. Where he is abandoned by his
companions and found by a farmer who is 72 feet tall. He brings Gulliver home
and his daughter cares for Gulliver. Gulliver's comparatively tiny size now makes
him wholly dependent on the protection and solicitude of others, and he is
imperiled by dangerous encounters with huge rats and a curious toddler. Gulliver,
however, incurs the disdain of the kindly and virtuous Brobdingnagian rulers when
his gunpowder display, intended to impress his hosts as an exemplary product of
European civilization, proves disastrous. An address Gulliver delivers to the
Brobdingnagians describing English political practices of the day is also met with
much scorn. Housed in a miniature box, Gulliver abruptly departs Brobdingnag
when a giant eagle flies off with him and drops him in the ocean where he is
picked up by some sailors, who return him to England.
During this voyage we come to know that how perspective and viewpoint alter
one's condition and claims to power in society. The imperfect, yet highly moral
Brobdingnagians represent, according to many critics, Swift's conception of ethical
rulers.also,in this part of the novel swift uses stire to criticize the English system a
the English system and general humanity. All the efforts made by Gulliver to prove
himself a human being end in smoke and the king takes him for a disgusting
vermin. A mild satire is also found on belles(women) and beaux(loves) of the age
and their scandalous activities. Swift proves a point that the English nation as a
whole is suffering from dead conscious and wants to live a life of spiritual
stagnation(peace. However, views of the king test patience of the upper English
class. The king’s view is that in England, ignorance, idleness and vice are the
proper qualifications for a candidate to be elected by the House of Commons.
According to him, laws in England are interpreted by those whose interest lies in
corrupting and confusing them.
Similarly, there is irony in Gulliver’s remark to the king for having
confined education as he did not take any interest in learning the method of
manufacturing gun-powder

Part III: A Voyage to Laputa etc (August 5, 1706 — April 16, 1710)
He soon embarks on his third voyage to the flying island of Laputa, a
mysterious land inhabited by scientists, magicians, and sorcerers who
engage in abstract theorizing and conduct ill-advised experiments based
on flawed calculations. Here Gulliver also visits Glubbdubdrib where it
is possible to summon the dead and to converse with such figures as
Aristotle and Julius Caesar. He also travels to Luggnagg, where he
encounters the Struldbrugs, a group of people who are given
immortality, yet are condemned to live out their eternal existence
trapped in feeble and decrepit bodies. There is a mocking attack upon
science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and reveals Swift's
thorough acquaintance with the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society, the leading publication of the scientific community of his day.
The third voyage unequivocally manifests Swift's contempt and disdain
for abstract theory and ideology that is not of practical service to
humans.
In Part lll of the book is also full of some of the very serious criticism.
First of all the general human attitude is criticized by the writer. The
men are so much consumed in thoughts that they have servants who
draw their attention towards anything worth noting. Their too much
attention to their professions has resulted in the degenerates values of the
women. The women find lovers among strangers and freely make love
with them. Academy of Lagado is parody of London’s Royal Society.
The projects listed above are the sheer wastage of time, money and
labour. The suggestion by one of the professors that the favourities of
kings should be given suitable medicine to stimulate their memories so
that they may not forget their promises, is bitter pill to swallow for the
politicians of the time. The suggestion, to impose taxes according to the
merit of the people, is again an example where Swift’s satire crosses the
boundaries of nations and turns towards the human race similarly, irony
is found in the scheme to teach the ministers that how to judge the
candidates for the certain jobs. In fact, what is ignored in England is
ironically listed by Swift taking the advantage of voyage genre.

Part IV: A Voyage to Houyhnhnms September 7, 1710 – July 2, 1715

His forth journey takes him to the land of the Houyhnhnms, who are a
superior race of intelligent horses. Here he comes to understand that the
horses are the rulers and the deformed creatures are human beings in
their base form. Soon he comes to both admire and emulate the
Houyhnhnms and their lifestyle, rejecting humans as merely Yahoos
endowed with some resemblance of reason which they only use to
exacerbate and add to the vices Nature gave them. However, an
Assembly of the Houyhnhnms rules that Gulliver, a Yahoo with some
semblance of reason, is a danger to their civilization and he is expelled.
He is then rescued, against his will, by a Portuguese ship and returns to
his home in England. However, he is unable to reconcile himself to
living among Yahoos; he becomes a recluse (loner), remaining in his
house, largely avoiding his family and his wife, and spending several
hours a day speaking with the horses in his stables. The land of the
Houyhnhnms that reveals Swift's ultimate satiric object— man's inability
to come to terms with his true nature. In particular, the Houyhnhnms are
interpreted as symbols and examples of a human order that, although
unattainable, deserves to remain an ideal, while the Yahoos are found to
be the representatives of the depths of humanity's potential fall if that
ideal is abandoned.
Satire is also found in Gulliver’s own description of the people of his
own country. According to him many people are ruined by the litigation.
Many people spend all their money on drinking, gambling and sexuality.
A lot of people in modern England were guilty of murder, theft, robbery,
forgery, rape, sodomy and so on. This follows Gulliver’s description of
the wars in which monarchs indulge, just to prove their superiority over
the other lands or nations. The evils of drinking and prostitution were
also very common. Doctors were busy in making money than curing
diseases. They employed methods to prolong the ailments. The satire
found in this section on physicians and politician still holds good for
many countries of the world. The exposure of the politicians who can do
anything to become ministers and chief ministers show the corruption
prevailing in them.