Swift as a Misanthrope

INTRODUCTION

Jonathan Swift was born on November 30, 1667 in Dublin, Ireland, the son of
Protestant Anglo-Irish parents: his ancestors had been Royalists, and all his life
he would be a High-Churchman.

at the age of six, Swift began his education at Kilkenny Grammar School,

Between 1682 and 1686 he attended, and graduated from, Trinity College in
Dublin

In England, in 1689, he became secretary to Sir William Temple,

In 1690, at the advice of his doctors, Swift returned to Ireland, but the following
year he was back with Temple in England. He visited Oxford in 1691: in 1692,
with Temple's assistance, he received an M. A. degree from that University, and
published his first poem: on reading it, John Dryden, a distant relation, is said to
have remarked "Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet."

In 1720 he began work upon Gulliver's Travels, intended, as he says in a letter

to Pope, "to vex the world, not to divert it."

In 1726 he visited England once again, and stayed with Pope at Twickenham: in
the same year Gulliver's Travels was published.

In 1742, Swift suffered from a stroke and lost the ability to speak. On October
19, 1745, Jonathan Swift died. He was laid to rest next to Esther Johnson inside
of Dublin's St. Patrick's Cathedral.

DISCUSSION

In an introduction to Gulliver's Travels Paul Turner writes,

“In Part I the human race is viewed in miniature, and at first seems rather
charming; but the tiny creatures soon turn out to be treacherous and cruel. They
are ready to sacrifice all humane feeling, whether towards Gulliver or the
Blefuscudians, to their own petty ambitions”.

George Orwell, widely known as a political and social satirist, has called
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift “a rancorous as well as a pessimistic
book.” Many readers have come to the conclusion that Jonathan Swift was
nothing more than a miserable misanthrope.

According to Webster a misanthrope is someone who hates or distrusts people.

Now this is very interesting because hate and distrust are two very different
things. One can distrust something without hating it. It's great that Swift begins
his tale with the Lilliputians. Animals that are small tend to be thought of as
cute and innocent. It's hard, almost, to take the Lilliputians seriously, but as we
progress through Part I the cuteness of the Lilliputians disappears.

There are three things that Swift is satirizing.

The first is travel books in general.

The great thing about Gulliver's Travels is that Swift presents, in his mind, the
truth about humanity with events that, obviously, could not have happened.
Secondly, Swift is commenting on historical events that took place in England
and Ireland sometimes involving his friends and himself.

Thirdly, and this is the most important, Swift is commenting on humanity in

general.

Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels at a time of political change and scientific

invention, and many of the events he describes in the book can easily be linked
to contemporary events in Europe. 

Society, in many cases, becomes so enthralled in being judgmental towards a

person’s work that sometimes the truth of the situation is distorted. This is
exactly the case for Jonathan Swift. Because of his renowned satire, Gulliver’s
Travels, Swift was labeled as a misanthrope.

Jonathan Swift was a satirist. A satirist cannot be a misanthrope. Thus,

deductive reasoning prevails; Jonathan Swift is a not a misanthrope. 
A satire is a piece of writing that exposes fault, may it be society or human
nature, exposes fault none the less. Next, the satire mocks the fault. Lastly, it
suggests a better way of doing something. A satirist, one who writes a satire,
cannot be a misanthrope.

A misanthrope, on the other hand, would make no attempt to better any

condition because he simply hates man.
a satirist cannot be a misanthrope.

Another thing should also be highlightend that it was human behaviour as a

whole that he hated, not all individuals.

Swift is not a misanthropic, however what is clear is he was a humanitarian.

Swift was most obviously concerned about social welfare, he believed in
humans reaching above what they were and this is the very definition of
humanitarian.

Another way to think of is it is a blind man tells you that a flower smells
beautiful do you laugh at him and tell him that he can’t tell you the flower
smells beautiful because he has never seen beauty? The same way, even if Swift
hated humanity he believed in humanities ability to overcome its short comings
and he knew how humanity could do it.

CONCLUSION

Jonathan Swift is a misanthrope or not. While Gulliver may be viewed as a

misanthrope, the story is not a misanthropic work. One cannot forget that Swift
is writing from the Gulliver’s point of view for a reason.

Through Gulliver and his misanthropy, Swift can point out the shortcomings of
society without having to face the consequences of being bluntly critical
himself.

He is actually a very important character in the story. His purpose is to bring

Gulliver back into society.

Gulliver says that Don Pedro told him "as a matter of honour and conscience,
that I ought to return to my native country, and live at home with my wife and
children." Through Don Pedro, Swift is trying to tell us that we cannot simply
hide away from the evils in the world. We must face them.