A Modest Proposal Situational Analysis

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 insulted the British government, society, and other important matters within England. Swift used satire to expose the shortcomings within England. He did it this way so he wouldn’t be put in jail. Although some may argue Swift used too much satire, in this case, he was able to point out wrongdoings of the English. Swift did not go overboard in his use of satire because it was his way of using speech to speak out against policies.

This essay will be analysing a close reading of Jonathan Swifts ‘A Modest Proposal,’ focusing on the literary technique of satiric meaning and the effects this has on the overall message including references to the definition of satire from Murfin and Ray. The use of Satire is present in Jonathan Swifts ‘A Modest Proposal’ since it involves “using irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm to expose humanity's vices and foibles (Murfin and Ray 251),” which we can identify predominantly in the dialogue of the text. The essay will be anaylsed through referring to one set reading provided by Barbara Bengels ‘Swifts modest proposal’ and how Swift uses the proposal to discuss the “Children of Poor People (in Ireland) Being a Burden to their Parents, or

Jonathan Swift uses rhetorical devices, logical, ethical, as well as emotional appeals to highlight the difference between Swift’s satirical attitude and the narrator’s serious attitude concerning poverty and starvation. These various articles and different exerts from “A Modest Proposal” show the misleading content of the proposal in order to save Ireland and help them become a free country

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 is an enlightenment thinker that uses satire in his writings to bring awareness to the political power and mistreatment of the people of Ireland, ‘‘he was angry or in a fit of despair over Ireland 's economic condition’’(DeGategno). Swift uses satire throughout his proposal, by suggesting to the people of Ireland that they should harvest the little children of the poor. Swift stated that by making ‘‘Them Beneficial to the Public", Ireland would be in a better circumstance. Swift proposed that the poor children 's guardians should give birth to however many number of children as would be possible and offer them for sustenance. Instead of Swift addressing the issue straightforward, Swift used Satire ¬¬¬¬which employs irony sayings- one thing while meaning its opposite—in order to present an argument.

Of the six advantages Swift enumerates, one might consider the sixth as the most sardonic since it is absurd for a mother to breed their own child to a heavy weight for economic gain. Also, the description of the relationship between husbands and wives improving since men would no longer beat their wives because they view them as cattle raising their profit. Moreover, Swift’s ridiculous proposition that an advantage would be the competition between parents to produce the “the fattest child to the market”. Swift uses the essay to satirize both his subject and his political proposal by using irony to resolve the issue of the Irish people’s economic struggle. His immoral proposal shocks the readers and forces them to think about the issues Ireland was facing specifically the tyranny of the upper class.

In the satirical short story, “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift depicts the immoral treatment of the Irish by the imperial power, Britain. The 18th century brought great frustrations to Ireland in that the people were being oppressed by imperialism, which led to poverty and hunger. Swift satirically proposes a solution for Ireland’s problems by using a variety of rhetorical techniques: twisted humor, irony, and metaphor. Swift suggests that the only way to save Ireland from overpopulation and poverty is to kill the children of the poor families and serve them to the nobility of Ireland. Swift goes so far as to think of recipes and ways to make the skin into gloves and handbags.

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

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

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.

Swifts comparison to the poor class as animals being fattened to be served as a meal shows how he looks down on people who do not have as much money as him. Swift is mocking how people in poverty are taking up valuable resources; he believes that eradicating the lower class will fix the problem. This is ironic since

There are so many ways to take everything and there are multiple responses to them as well. Responses, while they may be normal, can also challenge the status quo of the time period. In the essay “A Modest Proposal” Jonathan Swift challenges the status quo of the time and place in which it was written by coming up with outrageous ideas, using sarcasm and satire, and coming up with actual ideas that would change life forever. During Jonathan’s time, no one would ever think about children being the economic problem or even eating the children. He threw out these ideas that were completely different but could solve the problem.

Swift uses a Pathos based form of persuasion based on emotion. He describes the poor with sarcasm, anger, and resentment. This is evident when Swift writes, “It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags,” (385). Then he shocks them with fear, savagery, and inhumane ideas. Again we see this in his work, “Those who are

Swift’s goal was to gather the underprivileged children and ship them off to rich landowners who could afford