Critical Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” In the work entitled “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the theme of social injustice is enhanced by the use of verbal irony to convey a charged message. The ambiguous title and introduction to Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece does little to prepare the reader for shocking content revealed later in the text. Swift’s work is powerful, poignant and persuasive because it strikes at the heart of the modern readers ethics, as it likely would have done for the author’s contemporary audiences. Jonathan Swift’s 1729 masterpiece is a satirical metaphor centered around the pervasive assertion, “the English are devouring the Irish.” Jonathan Swift gives a more comprehensive exordium concerning his work stating that is it “a modest proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents and country, and for making them beneficial to the public (Swift 1199). The purpose of this essay is to critique, analyze, and delineate the different components of a “A Modest …show more content…
First, he presents a problem, along with facts and calculations. Like for example when Swift discusses the “prodigious number of children” that were causing an “great additional grievance” especially in the “present deplorable state of the of the kingdom” (Swift 1200). He reels the reader in by describing images of extreme wretchedness and utter hopelessness, then he employs the use of rationalism to play down the reader’s moral considerations. He successfully uses logic to get the audience to subconsciously lower their moral defenses and seriously consider his proposal. Jonathan Swift’s use of sarcastic irony confuses the reader as to the essays true purpose, effectively causing them to put down all guards so that they will have no safeguards when he aims his penetrative
In the “Modest Proposal” essay Jonathan Swift uses a variety of satire and techniques to convey his message. Through the use of techniques of satire such as incongruity and hyperbole, Swift turns his message into something humorous and sarcastic to get his message across. In this essay, I will give a brief historical context for the satirical piece written by Swift, discuss the message the author was trying to convey, and how he used satire to get his message across. Modest proposal was written in 1729 by Jonathan Swift with the objective of shocking the English Society into the unjust policies towards the Irish, which gave a demonstration that the Irish were living a life of unfairness. At the time, Swift describes the town of Dublin as a place where many female beggars would be located in the streets asking passerby for money.
Throughout “A Modern Proposal,” Swift makes it a point to use ideas and terms that dehumanized people and their children. This causes the essay to make the reader feel uncomfortable and slightly detached from the world. It appeals to the moral side of people. Many people use this kind of method when writing in order to make the readers feel more sentimental. When people feel more sentimental towards a cause, they are more likely to stand up and stop being so
By presenting an absurd and shocking solution to the problem, Swift sought to highlight the moral bankruptcy of the ruling class and the indifference of those in power. The essay was indeed effective in drawing attention to the plight of the Irish and the oppressive nature of British rule. It sparked significant debate and outrage, both in Ireland and England. Some readers initially mistook the essay for a serious proposal, leading to even more discussions and outrage.
In fact, he refers to “A very worthy Person, a true Lover of his Country, and whose Virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased, in discoursing on this matter, to offer a refinement upon my Scheme”(17). As a result, Swift shows that even the most patriotic person to both Ireland and Britain (since Ireland was under British control at the time) realizes that within this current situation of poverty, this proposal is a solution and can be acted out in many different
Swift shapes the text in a satiric way to portray to his audience his point of view on the topic at hand, and with the use of sarcasm Jonathan Swift mocks upper-class people who are affected by the overcrowding and poverty in Dublin. The usage of a satiric tone and sarcasm help Swift develop solutions to contemporary social problems that will work. In the “Modest Proposal”, written by Jonathan Swift, diction is a key rhetorical device in this piece, because of the way Swift portrays his thoughts through satire. Diction is the style of speaking or writing determined by the choice of words by a speaker by or a writer, Swift’s audience sees his diction as inhumane because of the way he proposes solutions to the world’s problems, such as in paragraph twenty one where he
Rhetorical Analysis Essay: A Modest Proposal Dr. Jonathan Swift places himself as a villain who is willing to do evil deeds to answer hard questions. What pushes Swift to write the essay “A Modest Proposal” is Ireland's economic and social problems. In this satirical essay Swift highlights the problems in Ireland and gives a sarcastic solution to make people feel guilt. Swift’s use of dehumanizing language is used to make the reader oppose Swift’s modest proposal.
Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a very interesting take on how the Irish government should cure the famine that the country was then facing. However, the entire proposal was completely bizarre, and the whole point of the essay was to bring attention to the idea that they needed a solution to the all the problems they were experiencing but the proposal was definitely not it. He even had a strongly developed plan as to how his proposal would work which makes the reader feel as if he is serious about selling children, eating them, and using their skins as a fashion accessory; however, ultimately this proposal was not his true goal. Jonathan Swift skillfully used different styles of writing, such as imagery and irony, to show why the
Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a satire which is a type of a persuasive writing. Satire is a use of irony or humor to expose or criticize people’s bad habits or vices. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift wrote it to surprise English society to awareness of England’s unfair policies against Irish. Swift uses persuasive appeals or techniques to convince the reader that England didn’t care about the Irish at all. It was brutal and merciless.
1729, a Papist infected Ireland was being devoured by the taxes that the British placed on them. The taxes were turning into what once was a glorious place into ruins. Jonathan Swift, an Englishman and Irish sympathizer, realized that someone had to do something to wake up the British. This lead to the creation of A Modest Proposal, a pamphlet heavy with irony and juvenalian satire, which was how Jonathan Swift planned on compelling the British to do something about the poor situation in Ireland. His use of rhetorical devices gets his point across in an effective and powerful way.
Irony is established by using a persuasive tone of diminution, which reduces the mankind to the level of beasts. According to Swift, “(...) mares in foal, their cows in calf, or sows when they are ready to farrow”, (Swift, P.25). Swift implies that he wishes for child caring to be a trade such as animal farming. Overall, the examples used are overstated to a certain point that may be difficult for the reader to understand. With this use of Irony, Swift can disturb the reader into paying more attention to the problems occurring in Ireland.
Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a very interesting take on how the Irish government should cure the famine that the country was then facing. However, the entire proposal was completely bizarre, and the whole point of the essay was to bring attention to the idea that they needed a solution to the all the problems they were experiencing but the proposal was definitely not it. He even had a strongly developed plan as to how his proposal would work which makes the reader feel as if he is serious about selling children, eating them, and/or using their skins as a fashion accessory; however, ultimately this proposal is not his true goal. Jonathon Swift skillfully used different styles of writing, such as imagery and irony, to show why the Irish should sell their children to the rich to eat.
An author, no matter what his or her purpose, cannot belittle a group of people in his or her audience. In A Modest Proposal, written by Jonathan Swift, the misogynistic tone disempowers his criticism of society. As Swift writes, he uses a misogynistic tone that weakens his argument. This piece would be much more effective if Swift did not include misogynistic language. Misogyny is the dislike of, or prejudice against women.
As an element within satire, Swift uses irony to further his tongue-in-cheek essay. In such cases, his examples are written in the opposite of what he means in ways that direct the true meaning (Ehrenpreis 309). The imagery and language Swift pens is intended to promote awareness of the impoverished and the public's duty to solve it, but in actuality, his pithy remarks show he does not care for the poor or even see them as human beings. His proposal suggests this because otherwise the speaker would not advocate selling children in poverty to be consumed by the
Swift’s satire consisted of many “modest theories.” For example, you may have heard people talk about overpopulation. You may have your own theories about it, but what about eating children? In this instance, Jonathan Swift used his form of humor, also known as satire, to get his point across, in which wrote a pamphlet called “A Modest Proposal,” a mockery for the ideas of how to deal with overpopulation. “Satire is a technique employed by writers to
Swift uses his satire as a way to draw attention to daily conditions that many families in Ireland are suffering from. His extreme plan of eating children is used as a way to draw the attention of the government towards helping improve the economy. By using irony Swift is able to help make his plan a more believable solution to invoke change. Even today Swift 's plan can be seen as a persuasive technique, using logic and statistics to convince the