“Swift expresses his cynicism and misanthropy in Gulliver's Travels." - Discuss.

Question: “Swift expresses his cynicism and misanthropy in Gulliver's Travels." - Discuss.

Or, "Swift expresses his cynicism and misanthropy in Gulliver's De Travels" – How far do you agree?

Or, Do you think Swift's attack on man in part (iv) of Gulliver's Travels is convincing? Justify your point of view.

Or, The Last Book of Gulliver's Travels is an expression of misanthropy. Discuss.

Or, Do you consider Swift a misanthrope in Gulliver's Travels? Justify your answer.

Or, Evaluate Swift's pessimistic view of love as embodied in Gulliver's Travels.

Or, Is Swift a misanthrope or anything else? Give relevant reasons for your answer.

Or, Comment on Swift's attitude to mankind as revealed in Gulliver's Travels.

Or, Would you consider Swift a misanthrope? Give reasons for your answer.

Or, How would you defend Swift against the charge of misanthropy?

Or, Discuss the charge of misanthropy brought against Swift.

Or, Is Swift a misanthrope? Give reasons for your answer.

Or, “Swift is often called a misanthrope”. Do you agree?

Or, Comment on the Book IV of Gulliver's Travels.

Or, Evaluate part -4 from your point of view.

Or, Can Swift be called a misanthrope?

Or, Discuss Swift as a misanthrope.

Answer: Jonathan swift is called a misanthropist. He is charged with misanthropy by some critics. Because his Gulliver's Travels is the. most famous prose satire in which under the guise of a tale of adventure, he attacks the pettiness, the coarseness, the meanness, and the beastliness of mankind. Swift writes in a letter to his friend Alexander Pope with regard to this book that the chief end of all his labors is to vex the world rather than divert it. He also confesses, "I have ever hated all nationalities, professions, and communities but principally hate and detest that animal called man... Upon this great foundation of misanthropy, the whole building of my Travels is erected”. With subtle observation, Swift has noticed the irrationality of mankind. When we read the fourth part of Gulliver's Travels we experience that he has compared man with the beastlike Yahoos. Yahoos are a race of animals that are the embodiment of all sorts of misdeeds. Thus Swift comparing with this manlike beast reduces the human beings to a lower creatures. Here his hatred and detestation of mankind are obvious. For this reason, he has been bearing the epithet of misanthropy. But he is not a complete misanthropist because he loves sweetness and light. He also admires men and women who are sincere, truthful, and humble.

To Swift mankind is unreasonable and irrational. So man can do everything whether it is good or bad. Showing the all kind of vies swift has bitterly satirized his contemporary society. He has criticized the follies, foibles, deformities, and absurdities of man. In the first part of the book “A Voyage to Lilliput,” swift is ridiculing the irrational customs and beliefs of the Lilliputians who after all represent human beings reduced to a small sealed. He ventures to extinguish the fire of the king's palace by urinating. In this part, he shows more inhuman qualities which make us think that swift is a misanthropist.

In “Voyage to Brobdingnag”, the 2nd part of the book, swift satirizes the ugliness, the coarseness, and the foulness of the human body by making us look at human beings through the magnifying glass. According to the Brobdingnagian king, the history of Gulliver's country is only a heap of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, and banishments resulting from avarice, hypocrisy, cruelty, hatred, and ambition. Swift's satire on human beings reaches its climax when the king makes the following remark

“I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives, to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.”

Such a kind remark about mankind helps prove swift's misanthropy. Because he represents the human beings as the odious vermin or insect which is crawling upon the surface of the world, Is it possible for a philanthropist to attribute man like that?

In part III, the description of Laputans also reveals the irrationality of these people. These people are completely engrossed in their own meditation and cogitations. Their interests are limited only to mathematics and music. They have no peace of mind because all the time they are worried about the disaster that will worried about the disaster that will one day overtake this planet. In this part swift has severely satirized the Royal Society of England under the guise of Grand Academy of Lagado., The experiment of science is mercilessly attacked by him. So, it will have seemed that swift is a hater of science. But actually, he has attacked the abuses and malpractice of science.

The last part of Gulliver's Travels is “The Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms." In this part, swift's satire on human irrationality is very scornful, bitter, and devastating. Human beings are here degraded and represented as Yahoos who are described as unreachable brutes cunning gluttonous and disposed to great mischief. There are no such vile deeds as Yahoos perform. They are lusty as well as disputable and quarrelsome. They look like human beings but their body is covered with four feet. So, they are manlike four-footed animals. Swift has compared these beasts with mom kind. Here we get a misanthropical touch. Because he reduces the man to the beast.

On the other hand, swift praises the virtues and the way of life of Houyhnhnms. Houyhnhnms are a race that represents horses. They are polite and gentle. They are governed by reason and Nature. Because reason and Nature are their sufficient guide. However, Swift has painted this race as the ideal one. The society of the Houyhnhnms is an ideal society. This nation is peaceful and glorious. So, swift or Gulliver does not want to leave this country. Gulliver ventures to say that the Houyhnhnms are superior to human beings. Such a positive attitude to the Houyhnhnms and the condemnation of human beings make us meditative and speculative. So, we cannot but call him a misanthropist. That is why; he has tried to reduce the man to the horses.

In the view of this detailed exposure of human irrationality, folly, and propensity to vice, it would seem that swift is a cynic and misanthrope. There is no doubt at all that his opinion of mankind is very low. That does not, however, necessarily mean that he hates the human race. Though some critics have accused him as a misanthropist, he is not, in fact, completely so. That is why he loved Stella deeply and had a personal relationship with Pope and others. Gulliver likes Glemdalcliten very much. He praises her now and then. This event proves that swift is not a hater of mankind and not a misanthropist. Actually, he wants to make the world better showing the man's disastrous vices and corruption. And this is the great duty of a great satirist.

However, we may say that swift is apparently a misanthropist but not genuinely. He does not hate mankind. But principally he hates and detests that animal called the man who is vicious and corrupted. We cannot call him an extreme cynic. In fact, he tries to penetrate the vices of humanity because he wants to correct them and teach them some norms.