Friday, December 4, 2015

Is Gulliver's Travels a Horatian or a Juvenalian satire? Give examples from the text.

Jonathan Swift’s novel, Gulliver’s Travels, was written in 1726 and is a rich, satirical text focusing on human nature. The story includes wildly imaginative characters that represent people in society and the predicaments they find themselves in. Swift’s ultimate statement is that no form of government is truly good, and one can find decent individuals among a race that is almost entirely bad.


In literature, there are two types of satire: Juvenalian and Horatian....

Jonathan Swift’s novel, Gulliver’s Travels, was written in 1726 and is a rich, satirical text focusing on human nature. The story includes wildly imaginative characters that represent people in society and the predicaments they find themselves in. Swift’s ultimate statement is that no form of government is truly good, and one can find decent individuals among a race that is almost entirely bad.


In literature, there are two types of satire: Juvenalian and Horatian. Juvenalian is quite harsh or caustic and generally shows contempt for the subject; it includes the use of irony, exaggeration, and indignation. Horatian is more mild and playful, with the general goal of revealing vice. Gulliver’s Travels has both types of satire, but the story leans more heavily toward the Juvenalian. For example, Swift makes fun of the society of Lilliput by showing them in a diminutive manner. He also employs exaggeration when he depicts the Houyhnhnms as extremely reasonable, while the Yahoos, he states, ought to be exterminated. In part three, Swift satirizes scientific experiments as well as the Enlightenment. Much of the book contains elements of satire; in fact, almost every portrayal of his primary characters is satirical.

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