《格列弗游记》中乔纳森斯威夫特的讽刺艺术---毕业论文

1、【标题】格列弗游记中乔纳森?斯威夫特的讽刺艺术 【作者】李 洁 【关键词】讽刺艺术；讽刺小说；英国社会；人性 【指导老师】程 琼 项 谊 【专业】英语 【正文】.introductiona. a brief introduction to the authoras a famous irish poet, pamphleteer, satirist and wit of augustan age, jonathan swift was born in dublin, ireland on 30 november 1667, and died on 19 october 1745, aged 7

2、8. his father died some seven months before his birth. before swift was a year old, he was taken to england by his nurse, and remained apart from his mother for three years. swift lived a poor life and was dependent upon his uncle godwin, who took primary responsibility for his studying and sent him

3、 to kilkenny grammar school(1674-82). then he studied at trinity college in dublin(1682-89), learning philosophy and theology which he showed no interests at all. he received his b.a. in 1686 and m.a. in 1692 at trinity college.after graduation, he left dublin for britain and began to work as a secr

4、etary to sir william, a retired diplomat, at whose place he met many important politicians and came to know much of the dishonest politics of the day, which have become the sources of some characters or events in his works. but when sir william died in 1699, jonathan was left hunting for a job and e

5、ventually found odd church positions in ireland.“however, with his experience and writing skills, he soon became a very fashionable satiric writer in dublin.” 1from 1707 to 1709 and again in 1710, swift was in london. he went on with his pursuit as a churchman and political journalist. in 1710, he t

6、ook over the tory journal, the examiner, attacking the whig government for its inability to end the prolonged war with france. with the repression of george i, the tories lost political power. therefore, he had to return to ireland and became the dean of st. patricks cathedral. he devoted himself to

7、 his new post.“he became the champion of irelands interest and led the attack against the bridling policies of the british government; he defended the lower clergy against the bishops; he associated himself with most of dublins charitable institutions and issued a variety of tracts and pamphlets.” 2

8、death became a frequent feature in swifts life, but he left behind a great mass of poetry and prose, chiefly in the form of pamphlets. of his numerous writings, the most forceful and the best known pieces are: the tale of a tub(1704), the battle of the books(1704), journal to stella(1710-11), the dr

9、apiers letters(1724), gullivers travels(1726), a modest proposal(1929).b. a brief introduction to the novelas swifts masterpiece, gullivers travels is an outstanding satirical fiction,which is praised as the model of world famous satirical literature due to its outstanding thought and artistic value

10、. it reflects the contradictions of british society in the 18th century, sharply satirizing and criticizing the corruption and the dirty of british political system, revealing the darkness and sin of the palace, the colonial policies, the reactionary religious forces, the police, the judicatory, the

11、 culture, the science and even the humanity as a whole, it also ruthlessly condemning british rulers bloody exploitation. the deep ideological content, the reality of the society and the satiric arts make the novel widely read all over the world. the successful use of satire in the novel exposed the

12、 sin of capitalists to the public, making them condemned by the justice.it includes four parts: book i-iv, each of which deals with one extraordinary adventure and tells the story of lemuel gullivers adventuring experience. by means of these experiences described with the satiric skill, swift reflec

13、ts the conflicts in the 18th century british society, exposing the corruptions of the ruling class and satirizing their robbery and exploitation during the capital accumulation.the first part, a voyage to lilliput, is the most imaginative and entertaining part because the story takes place in a nati

14、on full of dwarfs.the second part is titled a voyage to brobdingnag, describing gullivers visit to a land of giants, or brobdingnag. with a sharp contrast against lilliput, everything in brobdingnag is of a humongous size, almost beyond gullivers imagination.the third part talks about a voyage to la

15、puta, balnibari, glubdubdrib, luggnagg, and japan. during that voyage, the most impressive places are laputa and glubbdubdrib. laputa is a flying island, on which a curious-looking race of philosophers and mathematicians live. glubbdubdrib is a nation of magicians, who can summon the dead from the p

16、ast.the last part is a voyage to the country of the houyhnhnms, which takes readers to a strange nation where the masters are the smart horses but the servants are the human-like creatures, namely, the evil and stupid yahoos. the satire of the struggling parties of britain and the political system o

17、f britaina. the satire of the struggling parties of britainin the first part of gullivers travels, lilliput is the first country that gulliver traveled to. although it is a mini-country with a small area and people are six inches tall, the system of their society is mature, which is a mocking of eng

18、land at that time. gulliver begins his adventure on a ship which runs aground on a submerged rock. he swims to a land, and when he awakens, he finds himself tied down to the ground, and surrounded by many people only six inches tall, the lilliputians. these people are very curious at first, but then

19、 get used to gulliver being around and helping where needed. by describing or stating the circumstance of lilliput, it easily reminds us of the situation in england at that time. the two political parties in lilliput are distinguished by the height of their shoe heels: the conservative high heels wh

20、o depict the tories, and the progressive low heels, or whigs represent the political parties of the english government.“although the high heeled tramecksans are in the majority, the emperor and his chief minister determine to use of only low heels in the minister of government. the heir to the crown

21、, to have some tendency towards the high-heels: at least we can plainly discover one of his heels higher than the other, which gives him a hobble in his gait” 3.swift has adopted symbolism to satirize the struggles between britain parities. in this part, lilliput is the symbolism of britain and two

22、struggling parties in this empire tramecksan and slamecksan represent tory and whig in swifts day, because“reldresal, principal secretary told himthat for about seventy moons past there have been two struggling parties in this empire, under the names of tramecksan and slamecksan, from the high and l

23、ow heels of their shoes, by which they distinguish themselves.”4.symbolism between parties in lilliput and those in britain implies that there is actually no disparity between them. through introducing those two parties, swift satirizes the two bourgeoisie parties in britain, which are only tools fo

24、r meeting the interests of the different interest groups of the bourgeois.in a word, swift uses the artistic symbolism to transform his ideas into vivid images, thus avoiding people bored by the curt and empty description, enhancing the artistic expression and forming an outstanding satire through t

25、he combination of ideology and artistry.b. the satire of the political system of britaincorruption of political systems is one of the primary themes in gullivers travels. swift experiences many corruptions and degenerate practices in britain, which annoys him so deeply that he observes the society w

26、ith the view of a satirist toward all the unreasonable malpractices mercilessly. this corruption is a result of selfishness as well as the inability to see things from any other perspective rather than ones own. he ever said that there were many evil deeds that could not be punished by the means of

27、law and could not be corrected by the means of religion and ethics. these deeds should be disposed by the fiercest words so that they can be accused by people. the second chapter, a voyage to brobdingnag is of a typically allegorical and exaggerated satire on the political systems of england and eur

28、ope in the early 18th century.1. the court and judicatoryin gullivers travels, swift uses a lot of irony to achieve the effect of satire and its application fully embodies swifts wit of humor. irony used in the novel can be divided into two types: structural irony and verbal irony. the former means

29、the use of the structural feature with two meanings. the most common skill in structure irony is to create a naive hero or a narrator, whose purity and slowness result in a vigilant reader who have known the authors real intention in writing.in brobdingnag, the court and judicatory are criticized. a

30、fter obtaining the king and the queens trust and admiration in brobdingnag, gulliver got a chance to talk about his country before the king. he said“our dominions consisted of two islands, which composed three mighty kingdoms, under one sovereign, beside our plantations in americathe constitution of

31、 an english parliament; partly made up of an illustrious body called the house of peers; persons of the noblest blood, and of the most ancient and ample patrimonies”5however, the king makes comments on britain and british people. he exposes and criticizes british court, judicatory, sectarian, politi

32、cal parties, entertainment and so on. he also makes a bitter satire against british senators, chancellors, the judges, the padres, and the officers. the kings questions, like“what methods were used to cultivate the minds and bodies of our young nobility, and in what kind of business they commonly sp

33、ent the first and teachable parts of their lives? what course was taken to supply that assembly, when any noble family became extinct?” 6 when the king hears of the account of the historical affairs at that time, he also protests that“it was only a heap of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacre

34、s, revolutions, banishments, the very worst effects that avarice, faction, hypocrisy, perfidiousness, cruelty, rage, madness, hatred, envy, lust, malice, and ambition, could produce”7. in this part, the king points out the ills and evil that inhere in english life, and concludes that the bulk of the

35、 english people are the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature has ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth. after a two-year stay there, he leaves the good people. with such a response toward britain, swift expresses his own viewpoint toward his country that the britis

36、h history is the result of greed, struggling parties, hypocrisy, inhumanity, anger, hate, envy, lust, blackness and ambition. it can not be denied that he used gullivers mouth to make a satire toward british history.the conversation between king and gulliver seems to show gullivers patriotism, where

37、as actually they are used to satirize gullivers narrow national consciousness and lack of foresight. swift adopted the structural irony meant to suggest readers understanding oppositely.the latter means what the speaker said is different from what he intends to convey. in other words, an ironic stat

38、ement may seemingly express the speakers attitude or comments, but it also implied another totally different attitude or comments.for example, in chapter iii, part viii, swift sharply points out“i was chiefly disgusted with modern history. for having strictly examined all the persons of greatest nam

39、e in the courts of princes, for a hundred years past, i found how the world had been misled by prostitute writers, to ascribe the greatest exploits in war, to cowards; the wisest counsel, to fools; sincerity, to flatterers; roman virtue, to betrayers of their country; piety, to atheists; chastity, t

40、o sodomites; truth, to informers: how many innocent and excellent persons had been condemned to death or banishment by the practice of great ministers upon the corruption of judges, and the malice of factions.” 8in this part, the author makes bitter ironies towards those prostitute writers who disto

41、rt history. when he says he has a low opinion of human wisdom, in fact, he aims at criticizing those stupid writers and the stupid judicatory. british society was reflected in the novel, but swift had explained that he hoped he neednt to declare to the readers everything he told about here is not in

42、volved with my country. however, it is undoubtedly the author wants to tell the readers that is what britain looks like. the use of verbal irony really attracted readers attention and arouse their interests in the novel.2. british colonial policiesone of the forms of political satire is embodied in

43、british colonial policies is met by gulliver. the lilliputians are the embodiment of england of the time period. the lilliputians are small people who control gulliver through means of threats.“when in an instant i felt above a hundred arrows discharged into my left hand, which pricked me like so ma

44、ny needles; and besides they shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs in europe” 9. england was a small country that had europe(represented by gulliver) and many other parts of the world under their control. in this part, symbolism and exaggeration are used in gullivers travels to achieve sa

45、tire. for instance,“it seems the minds of these people are so taken up with intense speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the discourses of others, without being roused by some external touch upon the organs of speech and hearing; for which reason, those persons who are able to af

46、ford it always keep a flapper in their family, as one of their domestics; nor ever walk abroad, or make visits, without him.” 10the formal narrative mode and funny content form an effect of satire. swift uses the literary style and words with merry laugh or angry curse pushed sneer and condemn to th

47、e summit of spiritual culture, conveying his denial to british colonial policy.in the novel, gulliver is told that if any town should engage in rebellion or mutiny, fall into violent factions, or refuse to pay the usual tribute, the king can reduce them to obedience by keeping the island hovering ov

48、er such a town, he can deprive them of the benefit of the sun and the rain, and consequently afflict the inhabitants with dearth and diseases. swift attacks to the supervisor of the island in laputa. in fact, laputa is the representative of island, and the king symbolizes britain. the management of

49、towns in laputa is the symbolism of the british colonialism over island. in this way, the satire effect is totally achieved.3. reactionary religious forcesin the first part, a voyage to lilliput, the lilliputians tell him a story: in lilliput, many years ago, people once broke eggs on the big end. h

50、owever, the present kings grandfather once cut himself breaking the egg in this manner, so the king at the time, issued a decree that all the people were to break the eggs on the small end. of course, to gulliver, such an argument would be completely ridiculous, because he could hardly distinguish t

51、he difference in the ends of their eggs. for swift, lilliput is analogous to england, and blefuscu to france. with this event of the story swift satirizes the bickering and fighting religious forces.swift adopts symbolism to satirize religious forces in britain. he satirizes extreme catholicism and

52、protestants alike. the lilliputian big enders and little enders each wants to exterminate the other because of the way they break their eggs, though their sacred book says,“and which is the convenient end, seems, in my humble opinion to be left to every mans conscience, or at least in the power of t

53、he chief magistrate to determine. now, the big-endian exiles have found so much credit in the emperor of blefuscus court, and so much private assistance and encouragement from their party here at home”11likewise both catholics and protestants profess christs religion of brotherly love and seek to li

54、ve by essentially the same sacred text, yet they are willing to kill each other to prove that only they have the right interpretation of it. swift uses the conflicts between“the small” and“the big” to imply those between protestants and catholics. before the group represented by the majesty was goin

55、g to eat eggs, they would break the smaller end of the egg. swift satirizes hypocrisy england church and wars caused by unnecessary conflicts among religions. struggles among religions, like those among“the small” and“the big”, are ignorant, shameless and meaningless. the satire of science and techn

56、ologyswift soon embarks on his third voyage to the flying island of laputa, a mysterious land inhabited scientists, magicians, and sorcerers who are engaged in abstract theorizing and conduct ill-advised experiments based on flawed calculations. in a voyage to laputa, balnibari, glubdubdrib, luggnag

57、g, and japan, swift refreshed the readers with his straightforward and extremely competitive satiric skills.swift is an upper-class conservative, who undoubtedly looked down upon mechanists and scientists exemplified by the members of the royal society. he has little use for abstract science or tech

58、nology, but he is not opposed to science or to scientific experiment if it can be genuinely useful to mankind. he is not anti-intellectual, but he is passionately opposed to the“aerial studies” of the chemists, mathematicians, projectors, and the rest of that speculative tribe who lost themselves in

59、 useless abstractions, who wasted time and money.in the third voyage to laputa, the flying island, a scathing attack upon science and technology in the eighteenth century of britain reveals swifts thorough acquaintance with the philosophical transactions of the royal society, the leading publication of the scientific community of his day. the third voyage clearly manifests swifts contempt and