Eighteenth-Century Satire: Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745)

– born in Dublin of newly settled English parents and educated according to Anglican principles in Ireland

– devoted his energies and talents to politics and religion, which were not clearly separated at the time

– ordained a priest of the Irish Church, consistently but unsuccessfully sought promotion in the English Church

– supported the Anglican Church and was hostile to all who seemed to threaten it, including Deists, Roman Catholics, Non-Conformists or merely Whig politicians

– associated originally with the Whigs, but abandoned them for their indifference to the welfare of the Anglican Church in Ireland and turned to Tories for whom he served as a political journalist

– dedicated to the cause of Irish independence from English interference, was considered the quintessential voice of the 18^th century Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland, but felt himself a stranger in both Ireland and England

– called a misanthrope because of his satires, explained that he loved individuals but hated mankind in general, was provoked by the spectacle of human beings capable of reason and of reasonable conduct, but refusing to act on it

– believed that human nature is deeply and permanently flawed and nothing can be done against it unless we recognize our moral and intellectual limitations

> A Tale of a Tub (written c. 1696, published 1704, revised 1710):

– contrasts the opinions of three brothers who represent Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Calvinist Dissent

– attacks the Catholic additions to and Protestant detractions from the fundamental doctrines of the Church, which are metaphorically represented as a coat which the brothers alter according to the whims and fashions they justify

> The Drapier’s Letters (1724):

– a series of five public letters purporting to be the work of ‘M.B.’, a Dublin draper

– aroused Ireland to refuse to accept the new copper coins, which would only further debase the coinage of Ireland

– enjoyed great popularity stemming not only from the general assent of the Irish to his opposition to the relatively petty injustice, but also from the carefully constructed narrating voice attuned to please a broad Irish audience

> Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World (known as Gulliver’s Travels, 1726)

> A Modest Proposal (1729):

– presents a monstrous proposal for the human consumption of surplus infants

– a political dimension is added by his proposing specifically Irish infants of the poor to feed the rich Englishmen

[READING: A Modest Proposal]