Antonio Soriano Vidal. Group: A.
INDEX:
1-
Introduction.
2-
Critical approaches.
3- Conclusion. 4- Bibliography.
1-
Introduction:
In this paper
I’m going to talk about Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. Jonathan Swift (November 30, 1667 – October 19, 1745) was an Irish cleric, satirist,
essayist, political pamphleteer, and poet, famous for works like Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, The Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the Books, and A Tale of a Tub. Swift is probably
the foremost prose satirist in the English language, although he is less well
known for his poetry. Swift published all of his works under pseudonyms — such
as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier — or anonymously. Gulliver's
Travels is perhaps Swift's most prolific and well-known work, spanning a
literary sixteen years in physical journey and countless more in personal
exploration. In it, Swift explores gender differences, politics, class, money,
race, science, education, exploration, love, physical strength, physical
beauty, and more, and forces stringent satirical commentary on each. The novel
falls into typical the typical Swift canon, in which he is recognized as the
following: "the 'savage indignation' of the merciless satirist, the
self-tormenting 'conjured spirit,' the champion of 'human liberty” (Rowson
xviii). I’m agreeing in that assertion because the entering book is a critic of
the Irish, English society and of the Royal Society and Parliament too.
2-
Critical approaches:
In this point
I’m going to talk about feminist literary criticism. Feminist literary
criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory or by the politics
of feminism more broadly that appear in the 18th century (Swift’s
time). And the more traditionally central feminist concern with the
representation and politics of women’s lives has continued to play an active
role in criticism. That topic starts to disappear after the 2nd
World War, because the woman starts to participate in language, work and
politics. That includes that woman and men are equal in all areas of life.
Swift's view of woman was influenced by the times and the society that he lived in. Because of this, Swift in his travels not mentioned the role of the women in the Irish or in the English society. We could see this approach in the following outlook by Felicity A. Nussbaum's article "Gulliver's Malice: Gender and the Satiric Dance," : Swift portrays women as inferior creatures in Gulliver Travels, comparing them to lusty, dirty, and ignorant animals, ultimately leading to Gulliver's disgust in women in general at the end of the novel. So basically, I am looking for any feminist criticism on Gulliver Travels proving that Swift was a misogynist who oppressed women in his novel (particularly relating to his comparison of women to animals in Gulliver Travels). I’m agreeing with this assertion because in the time of Swift, women were considered the legal responsibility of their fathers or husbands. Whatever a woman said in public was a reflection of the ideas of her father or husband. The ideal wife was obedient, for if not their husbands were allowed to physically discipline them. But this was a restriction of the society of the 18th century not only an idea of Swift, because Orwell’s have the same position of the woman. Furthermore, some critics like Lord Orrery, Middleton Murry and Norman O. Brown have suggested that Swift was a misogynist, because of the way in which he is attacking women's physical aspect. Jonathan Swift often mentions the female body with repugnance. By my point of view this is a good approach of the woman idea of Swift because we could see in the text how, in his fourth travel, when he returned from the country of the houyhnhnms to his house, he only talk with captain Peter, and when he returned home he have a very awful relation with his wife, and he says that his corporal smell is revolting, intolerable and was embarrassed of her. We could see that misogyny ideas when in Lilliput, Gulliver illustrates the carelessness of women, when he retells the story of the fire. The only way to extinguish the fire is through urination, an act so lude and grotesque that a woman could not handle it. The queen is autocratic and infuriated when Gulliver urinates on her apartment to keep it from burning. She decrees that public urination be banned and that the contaminated building be left as it is. Gulliver encounters several women in his travels but we never hear their opinions. We never find out how women think or what they feel about their own society. We also never find out what they think about Gulliver’s society.Finally Swift writes “the handsomest among these Maids of Honor, a pleasant, frolicsome girl of sixteen, would sometimes set me astride one of her nipples...” The sexual reference and the attention to the Girl’s age, signify the lack of morals instilled in some young women of Swift’s time. Swift makes examples of these women, not so much as to degrade them, but to condemn their behaviour. 3-Conclusion: By my point of view Swift reflects the ideology of his time in his book, he do a criticism of the way of the government have to govern the country, and my topic that I talk about, the idea of superiority of the man against the women. And to conclude we have to mention the remarkable imagination that have Swift to thought the names of the country he goes to in his travels. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver's_Travels
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=588551
www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2220/is_n4_v38/ai_18981384/pg_6
www.bookrags.com/notes/gt/BIO.htm