SatireinLiterature文正文

1、. . . . IntroductionJonathan Swift (1667-1745) was a great Irish satirist, poet, political pamphleteer and writer. Coming from a family which had several interesting literary connections, Jonathan Swift was well-educated. Jonathan Swift wrote his own epitaph which William Butler Yeat poetically tran

2、slated it from the Latin as:Swift has sailed into his rest;Savage indignation thereCannot lacerate his breast.Imitate him if you dare,World-besotted traveler; heServed human liberty.From this epitaph, it is not hard to have a general understanding of Jonathan Swifts whole life. He held the belief hi

3、s whole life that each man is born to be equal and should have their freedom, which was showed widely in his masterpieces. Jonathan Swift is probably the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. He is well-known for many works such as A Modest Proposal,

4、 A Journal to Stella, The Battle of the Books, Gullivers Travels, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity and A Tale of a Tub.The most famous is Gullivers Travels(1726, amended 1735) which describes Lemuel Gullivers travels into several remote nations of the world, in four parts (Lilliput、Brobdi

5、ngnag、Laputa、Houyhnhnms). The protagonist is Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then a captain of several ships. This book became popular as soon as it was published.Gullivers Travels serves as a biting satire which is both humorous and critical, constantly attacking British and European society

6、through its descriptions of imaginary countries.Gullivers Travels has been the recipient of several designations: from Menippean satire to a childrens story, from Proto-Scence Ficton to a forerunner of the modern novel. It has great social significance, such as a satirical view of the state of Europ

7、ean government and of petty differences between religions; an inquiry into whether men are inherently corrupt or whether they become corrupted and a restatement of the older argument”ancients versus moderns” controversy previously addressed by Jonathan Swift in The Battle of the Books.Satire is a li

8、terary genre of Greek origin (satyr), in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its purpose is often irony or sarcasm, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, religion, and communities themselves, into improvement

9、. In Gullivers Travels, satire is shown through narration, setting, character, and plot. Jonathan Swift uses utopia and dystopia as elements of setting, and he uses a flat character, miser and tyrant type of character, moral touchstone, and grotesque to illustrate the character element of his satiri

10、cal novel.Jonathan Swift has chosen a first-person narrator in his novel of Gullivers Travels. The narrator is Gulliver who has been plunged into extraordinary and absurd circumstances during his four voyages to a multitude of strange lands around the globe. Although Gullivers vivid and detailed sty

11、le of narration makes it obvious that he is intelligent and well-educated, his perceptions are naïve and gullible. As an example, Gulliver is a naïve consumer of the Lilliputians grandiose imaginings, because he is cowed by their threats of punishment, and their formally worded condemnatio

12、n of Gulliver on grounds of treason works quite effectively on the naïve Gulliver, forgetting that they have no real physical power over him. Gulliver is a round character which is a kind of character who encounters conflict and is changed by it. He changes in relation to the places he visits a

13、nd the events that befall him as he voyages. As an example, he is the giant in Lilliput and he is worried about trampling on the Lilliputians, while he is at risk of being trampled upon and he is treated as a doll in the land of Brobdingnag. In his last voyage, he develops such a love for the Houyhn

14、hnms society that he no longer desires to return to humankind. And he becomes more and more narrow-minded as the story progresses. On the whole, Gulliver proves to be more resilient that the average man by managing to survive the disastrous shipwrecks and the foreign people.In conclusion, Gullivers

15、Travels uses satire through narration, setting, character, and plot to illustrate the weaknesses of human, and suggest ways of improvement. In other words, the novel portrays the ideal (or not so ideal) society and how Jonathan Swift views England. Each society has its own exaggerated feature. The L

16、illiputians presents the animalistic nature of humanity. Mans capability of reason is shown in the Houyhnhnms. Therefore, the Houyhnhnms serve as an example of the ideal for man. At the beginning, he is a standard issue European adventurer, by the end, he has become a misanthrope who totally rejects

17、 human society.Gulliver changes his attitude to human being and his perception to life because of the different societies he encounters. And this is the biggest satire in this novel.1 Satire in Literature1.1 The Definition of SatireFromDavid Worcesters work The Art of Satire,Satire is a diverse genr

18、e which is complex to classify and define, with a wide range of satiric “modes”.In Word Origin and History, satire is described as below, late 14c., “work intended to ridicule vice or folly”, from L. satira “satire, poetic medley,” earlier satura, in lanx satura “mixed dish, dish filled with various

19、 kinds of fruit”，lit. “full dish,” from fem. Of satur “sated”. It is firstly applied in literary sense to a collection of poems on a variety of subjects by Ennius. In Ambrose Bierces Devils Dictionary, satire is an obsolete kind of literary composition in which the vices and follies of the authors e

20、nemies were expounded with imperfect tenderness. In this country satire never had more than a sickly and uncertain existence, for the soul of it is wit, wherein we are dolefully deficient, the humor that we mistake for it, like all humor, being tolerant and sympathetic. Moreover, although Americans

21、are endowed by their Creator with abundant vice and folly, it is not generally known that these are reprehensible qualities, wherefore the satirist is popularly regarded as a sour-spirited knave, and his every victims outcry for codefendants evokes a national assent.”In Collins English Dictionary, s

22、atire is defined as (1) a novel, play, entertainment, etc, in which topical issues, folly, or evil are held up to scorn by means of ridicule and irony; (2) the genre constituted by such works; (3) the use of ridicule, irony, etc, to create such an effect c16: from Latin satira a mixture, from satur

23、sated, from satis enough1.2 The Classifications of SatireIn one aspect, satirical literature can commonly be categorized as either Horatian or Juvenalian, although the two are not entirely mutually exclusive.Horatian satire, named after the Roman satirist, Horace (65BCE8BCE), playfully criticizes so

24、me social vice through gentle, mild, and light-hearted humor. It directs wit, exaggeration, and self-deprecating humor toward what it identifies as folly, rather than evil. Horatian satires sympathetic tone is common in modern society. And there are some examples of Horatian satire include: Daniel D

25、efoes The True-Born Englishman; Alexander Popes The Rape of the Lock.Juvenalian satire, named for the Roman satirist Juvenal(late 1st century-early 2nd century CE), is a type of satire that is more contemptuous and abrasive than the Horatian. Juvenalian satire addresses social evil through scorn, ou

26、trage, and savage ridicule. This form is often pessimistic, characterized by irony, sarcasm, moral indignation and personal invective, with less emphasis on humor. Strongly polarized political satire is often Juvenalian. Some examples: Aldous Huxleys Brave New World; George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-F

27、our.Types of satire can also be classified according to the topics it deals with: politics, religion and sex. Satire which targets the clergy is a type of political satire, while religious satire is that which targets religious beliefs. Satire on sex may overlap with blue comedy and off-color humor.

28、As quoted in Wilson (2002), “the turd is the ultimate dead subject”, we could briefly get that scatology has a long literary association with satire. 1.3 The Purpose of SatireThe best definitions of satire should be formulated from a combination of its corrective intent and its literary method of ex

29、ecution. A reasonable definition of satire, then, is “a literary manner which blends a critical attitude with humor and wit to the end that human institutions or humanity maybe improved. The true satirist is conscious of the frailty of institutions of mans devising and attempts through laughter not

30、so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling”(Thrall, etc 436).The best satire does not seek to do harm or damage by its ridicule, unless we speak of damage to the structure of vice, but rather it seeks to create a shock of recognition and to make vice repulsive so that the vice will be expu

31、nged from the person or society under attack or from the person or society intended to benefit by the attack (regardless of who is the immediate object of attack); whenever possible this shock of recognition is to be conveyed through laughter or wit: the formula for satire is one of honey and medici

32、ne. Far from being simply destructive, satire is implicitly constructive, and the satirists themselves often depict themselves as such constructive critics. 2Satire in Gullivers TravelsAs we all know, is a satiric masterpiece written by Jonathan Swift. The art characteristics of Gullivers Travelsare

33、 mainly embodied in the use of satire which in fact is the soul of this novel. There are many famous satires in this novel which make people feel funny but grieved for the society and humility. On a whole view of the novel plot, Gullivers Travels has a bright political leaning. Its critic is sharp,

34、concentrating on attacking the British parliamentary politics and reactionary religious forces. The protagonist Gullivermakes deep-sea voyages which are described in the four parts of the booksLilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and Houyhnyhnms. Those adventures reflect the social contradiction in the fir

35、st half year of the eighteenth century and expose the corruption and crime of the British ruling class and the crazy robbing and cruel exploitation of the British capitalism.At that time, the British is the object of the criticism and sarcasm. The first adventure is a voyage to Lilliput which, in fa

36、ct, is the epitome of the British Empire. In that miniature nation, partisan struggle is fetal and neighbors not only want to win over each other but also want to enslave each other. The king uses a game to elect officials and the two parties in Lilliput are distinguished by their heel height. In fa

37、ct, the two parties in Lilliput imply the Whig and the Tory. Jonathan Swift used the Horatian Satires and Junivelian Satires to show the corruption and disability of garment according to those ridiculous political problems. It implies that some politicians do not care the livelihood of their people

38、at all but intrigue on some trials.This voyage to Brobdingnag which used Horitian Satires mainly criticized the parliament system and election system which are proud of English. From the point of the Queen, we could get that the British is filled with greed, competition, brutal, hypocrisy, lust, sin

39、ister and ambition. The author borrow the kings word, “ as a humble incompetent bugs” is “the nature of the small poisonous ground creeping in the most harmful kind of” to show the darkness of every aspect of the society.The third volume is about Laputa which is a flying island, and itself is a sati

40、re, meaning something without bases. And so does the people living on it. The people there do not work but just think. So, they do not have any resource of foods and in this circumstance they plunder foods from the land which is below the flying island. Whats more, they are so immersed in thinking t

41、hat they even need to be reminded there is dangerous or it is time for dinner. Jonathan Swift used Horitian satires and Juvenalian Satires to criticize contemporary British philosopher, scientist, inventor and critic who addict in fantasy and cannot make any practical contribution. Whats more, they

42、plunder foods from peasants, implying the British colonial rule and oppression for Ireland. The novel not only exposes the social darkness, but also directly satirizes human being in the deeper level. The fourth volume is in Houyhnhnms in which horses named “Houys” are the host of the land. On the o

43、pposite, the animal which looks like human being called “Yahoo” is dirty and evil. In this land, there is no money, no military police and no government. In this country, Gulliver explained to his horse master, “that when a Yahoo had got a great store of this precious substance, he was able to purch

44、ase whatever he had a mind to; the finest clothing, the noblest houses, great tracts of land, the most costly meats and drinks, and have his choice of the most beautiful females. Therefore since money alone was able to perform all these feats, our Yahoos thought they could never have enough of it to

45、 spend, or to save, as they found themselves inclined, from their natural bent either to profusion or avarice; that the rich man enjoyed the fruit of the poor man's labor, and the latter were a thousand to one in proportion to the former; that the bulk of our people were forced to live miserably

46、, by laboring every day for small wages, to make a few live plentifully.” The author noticed the capitalist society is pure relationship between people and money. Whats more, the horse master takes comparison of Yahoo and human being which is a big satire, exposing the black side of humanity. Accord

47、ing to using of satire, Houyhnhnms shows the ideal society which is full of equal and peace, without greed, ambition and hypocrisy.3.1 Satires in the First Part-A Voyage to LilliputIn that volume, the author unmercifully unveiled the mask of those so called “big shots” while he criticized the histor

48、y. He abused and attacked the darkness and dirtiness of the royal court according to satire, “the thing disgusts me most is the modern history.I looked at all the big shots of the palace in the past one hundred years and found a group of writers who are like prostitutes how to spoof the world: a cow

49、ard sets a illustrious meritorious military service, a fool puts forward the the most intelligent suggestions, people who do well in flatteringare the most sincere, people that betray a country has the ancient Romans moral, the person who ignores god is the most devout, whistleblowers are the most h

50、onest, etc. Many innocent good man are slaughtered, exiled. Many villain climbed up high in the postion, getting the king's trust. Half ofthe political activities happened in the court, privy council and the senate are almost like what the prostitutes, the tortoise and the clown do. Jonathan Swi

51、fts satire firstly points to the fatuous king and ferocious and incompetent minister collectors. Although the king of Lilliput is only a nail higher than the average common, he is conceited and arrogant to think he has all the power of rule. His ministers got their various positions just because of

52、their superb rope-skip skills. The guy gets the position as finance minister just because he jump an inch higher than others and could somersault. The author borrow this stupid selection system to satire the British government that the ruler is fautuous and the officials are incompetent and without

53、any virtue. Minister just need to be“clever” to cheer up the ruler and he will get great position and become rich. The domestic partisan struggle is intense. In fact, there is no essential difference between the two parties. They are just distinguished by the height of their heels. And the prince ha

54、d to wear a pair of shoes that one is high heel and the other is low heel to remain support from both of the parties. The king are partial to the low-heel party, so the top brass are almost from this party. The bitterness of the two parties is so deep that “they absolutely do not eat and drink or ch

55、at together”. Here the author maps the Whip and the Tories and the treacherous behaviors for competing and struggling.Whats more, the attack also point at the church. The author usethe dispute between the “main pie” and the “small pie” to send allude to the struggle between the Catholic and protesta

56、nt. The king, as a representive of the “small pie”, likes to break the small end of the egg to eat and attacks those who follow the ancient system to eat eggs by breaking the big end as heresy. And this insignificant argument results in wars. Here the author uses sharp satire to criticize the hypocr

57、isy of the church and a variety of wars that result from meaningless conflicts between church. The dispute of churches is just like the dipute of “main pie” and “small pie”. All are innocent, shameless, meaningless.In this country, Gulliver helps them to wipe out the enemys warship, but is envied an

58、d crowed out by the ministers and the noble. At last, he has to escape from the Lilliput. In fact this is the mirror of the real British social phenomenon. 3.2 Satires in the Second Part-A Voyage to Brobdingnag Jonathan Swift expresses his expectation towards British society with his unique satires.

59、 After arriving at Brobdingnag and seeing giants in front of him, Jonathan Swift is so scared that he thinks he is trapped in a barbarian and uncivilized nation. However, he finds them well-educated, kind-hearted and intelligent. The king is renowned with a good reputation, “capable, wise and intelligent, he wins the whole nations trust. Jonathan Swift introduces