FREE ESSAY ON JONATHON SWIFT'S GULLIVER'S TRAVELS: BOOK FOUR

JONATHON SWIFT'S GULLIVER'S TRAVELS: BOOK FOUR

Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travel: Book Four
When Gulliver's Travels was first published in 1726, Swift instantly became history's
absolute most famous misanthrope. Thackeray was not alone in his outrage when he
denounced it as "past all sense of manliness and shame; filthy in word, filthy in
thought, furious, raging, obscene" (quoted in Hogan, 1979: 648). Since then, few literary
works have been so extremely dissected, discussed and disagreed upon. It is the magnum
opus of one of the English language's greatest satirists, but definitely does not offer
any simple answers. It is written like the typical travel book of the day, but instead of
offering a relaxing escape from the real world, Gulliver's Travels brings us face to face
with reality in all it's complexity.
Of the four books comprising the work, by far the most controversial has been the last,
"A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms". In it, the narrator, Gulliver, is deposited by mutineers on
an island colonised by two species. The Yahoos are dirty, savage and barbaric, with no
capacity for reason. These wretched creatures physically resemble humans but immediately
fill Gulliver with loathing. The Houyhnhnms, retrospectively, are a race of talking
horses governed completely by reason. They lead natural, simplified lives, and use the
Yahoos for menial labour. They are so honest they cannot conceive of the notion of
dishonesty. They regard Gulliver as a precocious Yahoo and, after a few years, banish him
from the Island. Gulliver spends the rest of his life in England, trying to talk with
horses and regarding his fellow humans "only with Hatred, Disgust and Contempt".
Gulliver's Travels is a satire, and Gulliver, as satirical devise does not have a
fully-fledged personality. Although it is dangerous to equate the narrator with author
completely, Gulliver and Swift share the same basic view of human nature. The difference,
as R. Crane says, is simply "between a person who has just discovered a deeply disturbing
truth about man and is considerably upset with one who has known this truth all the long
and can therefore write of his hero's discovery calmly and with humour". Readers have no
other source but Gulliver, and therefore, no contradicting views between which to decide.
The ending of the book is not comical, but poignant. Gulliver, once so self-assured and
proud of his species, has undergone a tragic disillusionment with cleverly forms the
climax of the entire work.
Nevertheless, Swift does, ultimately, give us a glimmer of hope for humanity. After all,
this is the Irish patriot who pronounced Ireland "the most miserable country apon earth".
Although he is passionate in his hatred for humankind, he is almost equally passionate in
his love for it. True, this is no gentle humanist who sees the world basking in a rosy
glow. Yet no one who really does not care for his own species is so angry at finding it
deficient. If Swift were really an all-out misanthrope, he would not have seen the point
of trying to make humanity aware of its condition. He would not have given two thirds of
his earnings to the poor. In his own forceful, delicate way, Swift dedicated his life to
improving society. He knew he could not make Houyhnhnms of humans, but at least he could
hold up his famous mirror of satire to show his fellow Yahoos what they really are.