In the passage, “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift utilizes satirical strategies as a tool to express his concerns to his audience. Swift does this to persuade his audience to understand where he is truly coming from. Throughout the passage, Swift protests bad behavior of the culture of poor people and the conditions of the economy. Additionally, he talks about the brutal situations of how the British are treating the Irish. Swift presents his thoughts by using logos, juxtaposition, and satirical comments in order to allow others to comprehend the current situation from his perspective. Throughout the passage, Swift uses logos to try and make sense out of his reasoning. He does this in order to help persuade others into believing he has legitimate reasons behind his statements. …show more content…
He gives one example by saying, “...we are told by an eminent French physician, that fish being a prolific diet, there are more children born in Roman Catholic countries nine months after Lent than any other season.” Here, Swift compares the number of children and fish that are present during a certain time. He does this to further prove his case in hopes of convincing people that they should buy into his train of thought because there are a numerous amount of babies compared to foods we regularly eat. Later in the passage, Swift compares eating children to roasting pigs by saying, “... I recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife as we do pigs.” This quote is added to appeal to his audience in order to compare the kids to a commonly eaten dish. Throughout the passage, swift uses different rhetorical devices to portray to his audience how badly the British are treating the Irish. He uses juxtaposition and logos in order to do so and uses satirical strategies to further prove his point. He proposes the idea of eating children to compare the situation between the Irish and the French as equally
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Show MoreThe dire poverty in Ireland in 1729 brought about worriment for adults, adolescences, young children, and even unborn offspring. In “A Modest Proposal” written by Dr. Jonathan Swift, a proposal is made to deal with the problems that devastated thousands of Irish lives. In order to convey the difference between the narrator’s proposal and attitude and Dr. Jonathan Swift’s actual proposal of how to deal with the poverty issues in Ireland, Swift uses rhetorical devices such as logical reasoning, sarcasm, and emotional appeal throughout the essay. The narrator expresses that the mothers are unable to work for their livelihood because of the one or many children they have to tend to.
Swift pulls on ones heart strings by making the subject of his paper the consumption of infants and small children as a way to boost the economy. An example of this is when he states that women cannot have abortions (Swift, par 5) but could sell their children to be slaughtered and served on a platter, much like livestock (Swift, par 10). For Swift to express such a hypocritic opinion was extremely risky, but served its purpose since it surely stirred up the emotions in many readers. The idea of a family sitting down and devouring an actual infant child for supper creates a disturbing image, but the image of a mother selling her infant creates a unique reaction. One’s first response to this would be absolute disbelief, which in a way helps establish the papers validity by causing the reader to second guess why one would do such a thing.
This demonstrates that Swift does not have any sympathy towards others and believes that his proposal is the way to a prosperous future where children are currency in common trade. These two points correlate with the remainder of the text; ‘A Modest Proposal’ as these themes
Swift makes extensive use of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos within the first eight paragraphs to create a strong initial argument that captures the audience’s attention and provide assurance that the information presented is viable. Swift starts with an appeal to Pathos by describing the state of Ireland: “the Streets, the Roads, and Cabin-Doors, crowded with Beggars of the female Sex, followed by three, four, or six Children, all in Rags, and importuning every Passenger for an Alms” (Swift, 1). The description of Ireland leaves a gloomy effect on the audience, as they are met with a somber tone set forth by a description on how thousands of people are affected by the poverty in Ireland. Swift continues this appeal to Pathos by describing the state of families within this poverty: “this prodigious number of Children, in the Arms, or on the Backs, or at the heels of their Mothers, and frequently of their Fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the Kingdom, a very great additional grievance” (Swift, 2). This description of the melancholy state of Ireland creates an emotional appeal because, the thought of having mass amounts of children being forced to cling to their Mothers and Fathers in a desperate struggle for survival, is a morose image.
When it came to Ethos, Swift was not quite as persuasive as he could have been. He does have a background when it comes to writing about corrupt governments in tales such as “Gulliver’s Travels.” The way Swift wrote this essay, however, makes it feel slightly less objective. Even when he is writing from the point of a wealthier Irishman, his overall tone shows a large amount of contempt towards the higher economic classes. Instead of allowing the readers to read alternative arguments on this subject, he focused strictly on his own opinion.
Swift’s use of food imagery is an attempt to lighten the mood but gives off a abhorrent effect. This is exactly what Swift wants; Swift starts the sentence by saying, “a young healthy child well
While the poor people of Ireland continue to breed, the rich will have elaborate feasts and dinner parties with the meat of peasant’s children. The idea of the poor raising food for the rich as a solution to poverty is ludicrous as well as highly ironic. The rich will continue to enjoy the luxuries of the upper class such as wealth, power, and fine dining, while the peasants raise their meat for them. The upper class is undoubtedly the British that rule over Ireland, and by eating their oppressed they show their power and superiority. Swift is commenting that British control in Ireland is as treacherous as people eating their own babies as means to survive.
Swift uses a speaker to portray the message he was trying to relay. Swift, as the author, does not believe in the words that are in A Modest Proposal, whereas the speaker is confident in his
This will bring much more success than any of the other proposed existing measures that have been published. A Modest Proposal excellently uses rhetorical strategies to model satire. In showcasing its use of irony, humor, and exaggeration, this speech also utilizes these ideas to criticize politicians when Swift denotes this speeches absurdity. Swift obviously does not sincerely want the people of Ireland to sell their children as food for profit. His satirical approach makes overtures to his exceedingly successful argumentative strategies.
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
This example points out that the upper classes’ fine dress is coming at the expense of the lower class. Swift used imagery as an underlying factor, so the government and other readers would not be able to commit to the proposal because Swift really doesn’t want the proposal to
The article gives appeals to the article emotionally, “their helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn into thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for the Pretender of Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes” (1). He aims this at the thoughts of the audience by trying to make them feel sorry for the children by saying they will not be good for anything. Not only does Swift use various rhetorical devices, humor, and emotional appeals to appeal to the audience, but also an ethical appeal. He says, “…that it will
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.
At the time when Swift’s proposal was made, Britain’s dictatorial reign in Ireland had left the nation in poverty and disarray. Criticising a nation was much easier to do in a joking tone or be harder to read rather than direct and upfront. Swift wanted to discuss these issues and found by writing in satire he could have the readers’ attention in way that a seriously written piece could not reach. Satire is present when Swift convinces the audience that he is an empathetic individual introducing the proposal with a sophisticated and compassionate manner beginning in the sentence, "I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection (1)," luring the reader into a sense of false trust as he begins the descriptions of the poor in Ireland. The reader is led to believe at first that this is a serious essay however it is not until deep into the proposal the reader can see how Swift uses satire to propose his thoughts found in the sentence, “a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled;” continuing on that, “no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust (1).”
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