Preview

Jonathan Swift Satire Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
683 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Jonathan Swift Satire Analysis
Everyone talks about serious issues that are going on in the world but not everyone can state them in a way that makes the audience laugh. It may come off as being rude or sarcastic but people remember the points that the author is trying to bring more attention to. In the English language, this form of writing is called satire. Satire could be described as writing that exposes serious issues by using irony and over exaggeration to make a point. Jonathon Swift is considered to be one of the greatest writers to ever use this form of writing. In his works, Gulliver’s Travels and A Modest Proposal, swift’s satire can be seen throughout each separate piece.
Swift’s satire was so effective that it made his readers extremely upset. In A Modest Proposal, Swift wanted to bring to light that the English were thinking of the Irish as second class citizens. He wanted to make sure that the got the point across to the public. An example of this is when he compared the Irish people to animals. This shocked and outraged all of the Irish people. In comparing them to animals, he talks about how letting a person starve to death on the streets is no worse than just eating them. A person could only imagine what kind of shockwaves that sent throughout Ireland. Swift decided to put the horrendous treatment of the Irish by the English in this horrific manner because he wrote some serious proposals to improve the life for the people of
…show more content…
Then I started to read into A Modest Proposal and I was totally mistaken to what satire really was. Satire especially Swift’s satire is one thing that will stand with anyone who reads his work. To the image of the people of Ireland starving in the streets or getting eaten like animals that is one thing that cannot leave the reader’s mind. Satire especially Swift’s satire was meant to make fun of important issues and by doing that it allows for those issues to be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    “A Modest Proposal” written by Jonathan swift in 1729 uses satire to propose his solution in Ireland. The problem is poverty and hunger, and the solution is eating babies. He is not being serious but trying to bring attention to the problem. Jonathan Swift’s not so modest proposal uses logos, ethos, and pathos to persuade the audience that cannibalism is the solution to poverty in Ireland.…

    • 66 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “A Modest Proposal” is a strongly written satire by Jonathon Swift. In the essay, Swift applies nearly all of the elements of satire. Some of the most obvious elements are his use of creating a persona and his exaggeration. Beginning by analyzing the title, “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”, it is a reasonable topic for the essay. However it is not at all modest. Swift absurdly creates suggestions to make the poor children beneficial. His primary goal in this essay is to shame the English, bring up the issues of poverty and motivate the Irish.…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift fits the satire definition because throughout the whole short story the man is proposing real life problems in society and turning them sarcastic. He uses sarcasm to emphasize how well he believes his ideas would benefit his country, Ireland. For example when he talks about the Irish eating their babies due to overpopulation. This wouldn't be an effective way to end the problem but instead people should stop having…

    • 76 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Swift was trying to deliver a message to the people of Ireland. There was so many men and women who could not support their child. Also people from Ireland were starving because of crop failure.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jonathon Swift uses satire to mock the politicians, wealthy, and the English. AFter reading "A Modest Proposal" attentively, the reader can assume that…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the pamphlet A Modest Proposal, written by Jonathan Swift, a narrator, if you will, proposes that babies from poverty be bought and eaten to help the economy. The narrator goes through the story explaining the bad points of Dublin and he throws out the most controversial solution possible: eat the excess babies. The poor families in the city can sell their unwanted children and get paid nicely for their losses. In turn, the rich feast on the young flesh and are pleased, leaving both parties better off. The poor have more money to circulate, helping the economy, and the rich are fat and happy and clothed in baby leather.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Swift effectively satirizes the political situation in which he shines light on England’s unconcerned attitude towards the poor Irish natives. His work contains depth as it depicts Ireland’s submissive condition in the 18th century. Although Swift’s proposals presented to, alleviate Ireland’s poverty, are highly unsettling, a deeper analysis of the effectively expounded satire helps understand both the dwindling political climate of the time and the aim to improve, overcome, and…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jonathan Swift, a celebrated name during the eighteenth century, was an economist, a writer, and a cleric who was later named Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Although Swift took on many different roles throughout his career, the literary form of satire seemed to be his realm of expertise. Because satire flourished during the eighteenth century, Jonathan Swift is arguably one of the most influential political satirists of his time. In one of his famous essays, A Modest Proposal, Swift expresses his anger and frustration towards the oppression of the Irish by the English government. In order to gain attention from his audience, Swift proposes the outrageous thesis that the solution to Ireland’s problem of poverty is to feed children of the poor to the wealthy, aristocratic families. To whom Swift is directing his satire…

    • 1309 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example, in paragraph thirteen Swift writes that infant’s flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more plentifully after Lent. In addition, Swift writes in paragraph twenty-three that “the Nation’s Stock will be thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per Annum, besides the profit of a new Dish”. The reason Swift choose to write these things is to show the long lasting consequences that could come to pass if the Irish choose to continue sitting idly by. Swift also writes in this way not only to rally the Irish, but also to attack the English because they are doing nothing to ease or fix the problems that the Irish are…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “A Modest Proposal”, the theme of the short story is all but modest. The proposal is that the people of Ireland should start eating babies in order to dilute the population and to provide money (to, for example, the renters) for the poor who cannot afford food. John Swift uses this ironic satire in order to catch the reader's attention. It is his way of saying ‘here is a ridiculous idea, now think of an actual solution’. The solution that Swift proposes is one that would work but is deemed immoral.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stereotypes against Irish Catholics make it easier for Swift to use them as the subject of his satire. The stereotypes are present in both the reasons for the proposal and the language used. The narrator’s argument that something must be done with infants because they are too young to steal implies that this is a common employment of Irish Catholics, even while it is humorous apart from the stereotype. The overall idea…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Jonathan Swift 'sA Modest Proposal, the tone of a Juvenalian satire is evident in its text. Swift uses the title of his essay to begin his perfect example of a Juvenalian satire. Swift gives a moral justification to the dehumanization of the Irish and attempts to provide 'logical ' solutions to their problems. Despite Swift 's use of belittling language towards the Irish, he uses positive strategy to make his true point known. Swift declares children as the underlying cause of the parents ' inability to obtain a successful occupation. Swift 's scornful disregard for infants is one ploy in attracting the attention of the population. Swift uses a rhetorical style that causes the reader to loathe the narrator, who is depicted as a member of…

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Although, Swift presents his arguments in this essay his overall purpose is to not persuade the reader into agreeing with him, instead his purpose is to entertain his audience through the use of satire. His proposal to kill and eat newborn children sounds so incredibly morbid and wrong that the reader will not be able to take Swift’s arguments seriously. For example, at the beginning of this essay he talks about a beggar’s lifestyle…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    After voicing his frustrations to his government to no avail, he saunters down an alternate route. While digesting his most influential and recognized piece, all readers nod along with the author’s point: a change needs to occur in order for the Irish poor to end their suffering. That is until Swift mentions his plan, which involves raising babies, harvesting them at the ripe age of one, and selling their carcasses as a delicacy to the rich. Until the man reveals the details of his proposal, a majority of the readers nod along, eager to see Swift help the poor that plague the nation. Though no laughing matter like Lichtenberg suggests of satire, the poor do not realize the “hit” against them until they are too deep in their support for Swift. Instead of “[rousing] laughter”, the satirist rouses support from those “who are hit”, as he leads the poor and downtrodden along, appearing like he possesses a true solution to their problems. “A Modest Proposal” exists to criticize the Irish government for its lack of action in helping the poor improve their status, but first, Swift mockingly hits the poor by suggesting the sale of poor…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jonathan Swift uses satire in many of his works such as “A Modest Proposal”. Satire is the use of humor, irony or ridicule human vice. “The true satirist is conscious of the frailty of institutions of man 's devising and attempts through laughter not so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling" (Thrall, et al 436). Although he was born in Ireland, Swift considered himself an Englishman first, and the English were his intended audience.…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays