Gullivers Travels

Academic Paper

Introduction

Written by Jonathan Swift and first published in 1726, Gulliver’s Travels, may be considered a satire in which Swift venture to express social and political events that took place in England in the XVIII century. It is claimed that in part one “A voyage to Lilliput”, Swift wanted to show a correspondence between Lilliputians and England; whereas in part three, “A voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan”, Swift tried to portray some negative aspects of the movement that emphasize, individualism and escepticism: the Enlightenment.

Argumentation

To begin with, it may be argued that in part one Swift described certain political aspects of Lilliput which can be considered a representation of the English society in the eighteenth century. This is clearly illustrated when Reldresal, Principal Secretary of Private Affairs, was trying to persuade Gulliver to help Lilliputians and fight against the island of Blefuscu in an imminent war: “there have been two struggling parties in this empire, under the names of Tramecksan and Slamecksan, from the high and low heels on their shoes…”. It is claimed by scholars that in this extract, the author was trying to represent the two opposite political parties that were born in England during the eighteenth century: The Tories and The Whigs. Tories were in favor of the Crown and they supported Charles and James, whilst Whigs were opposed to the court, and they introduced numerous parliamentary bills in order to exclude James from the succession. As a consequence of this, Charles stopped calling parliaments and he declared republican plot to murder Charles and James as an excuse for arresting Whig leaders. Additionally, the Secretary said: “… in the midst of these intestine disquiets, we are threatened with an invasion form the Island of Blefuscu, which is the other great empire of the universe…” it is sustained that, in this quotation, Swift wanted to...