Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS- (HM-101)

Name: Yumna Sohail Reg : 2021711

Section: F Date: 10th December

Gulliver’s Voyage to the land of Houyhnhnms constitutes the height of corrosive satire on the
follies of mankind. Discuss.

INTRODUCTION
Corrosive satire is an attack on an audience that doesn’t incite laughter like other forms
of comedy would. In “Gulliver’s Travels”, Swift contemporarily utilizes this to voice his vices
and scorn with humanity. Despite having a moralistic attitude, the distressing realities of the age
of ‘complacency’ urge him to poke fun at and vex English society.

ANALYSIS
Gulliver’s voyage to the land of Houyhnhnms is the most peculiar; as it comments on the
nature behind mankind’s follies. They are proclaimed to be "the perfection of nature” (Swift,
170) and rule over man because they are seen as more principled than their counterparts- the
Yahoos. Representative of humans, they are shown as feeble and pitiful. Swift compares the
lying nature of the Yahoos to the more honest Houyhnhnms; who cannot comprehend the
reasoning behind lying. Gulliver’s master describes their nature as “vile” and describes them as
“an animal to be capable of every action I had named, if their strength and cunning equaled their
malice.” (Swift, 179) This demonstrates his disdain of the species and highlights how insulting it
is to be humanoid. Furthermore, his dread that the “corruption of that faculty might be worse
than brutality itself” (Swift, 179) shows how the moral compass of the Yahoo’s is flawed and
correcting it seems irreversible. Gulliver finds this voyage as the least pleasant because he also
finds them to be “detestable on all accounts” (Swift, 166), since they possess traits which make
them malevolent. He also considers them to be unteachable and savage-like. This is supported
when Gulliver states “here was neither a physician to destroy my body, not a lawyer to ruin my
fortune; no informers to watch my words and actions…here were backbiters, pickpockets,
highwaymen, housebreakers, politicians, wits, murderers, robbers” (Swift, 203) which indicates
how odious they are. Moreover, the author’s lexical usage of words like “animal” throughout the
work denotes a cynical tone and is a criticism of them. In contrast, he suggests that government,
law and punishment have no translation in the language of the Houyhnhnms which implies how
these ideas are manufactured. Gulliver says that a “difference in opinions has cost many millions
of lives” in his land. (Swift, 178) and his master believes they are not comparable to the English,
who use their logic to accentuate their immoralities. Thus, this is a corrosive stab towards the
English, who are even worse than the Yahoos. Swift reframes how the reader thinks about
themselves and comments on how the English intentionally look for excuses for war, rather than
alternatives. Thus, he implies humans tend to use their reason to destroy and those in power to
help- such as lawyers who he believes are promoting injustice with their reasoning.

CONCLUSION
To be human is to possess follies; however, Swift thinks that people have a clear sense of
judgment but will exploit it to cause war and suffering. Conclusively, Gulliver’s voyage to the
land of Houyhnhnms is a corrosive satire on the general public.