Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels

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Term Paper Title	Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels
# of Words	809
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.24

Jonathan Swifts Gulliver's Travels

        Gulliver in Houynhnmland
        One of the most interesting questions about Gullivers Travels is
whether the Houyhnhnms represent an ideal of rationality or whether on
the other hand they are the butt of Swift's satire. In other words, in
Book IV, is Swift poking fun at the talking horses or does he intend for
us to take them seriously as the proper way to act? If we look closely at
the way that the Houyhnhnms act, we can see that in fact Swift does not
take them seriously: he uses them to show the dangers of pride.
        First we have to see that Swift does not even take Gullver
seriously. For instance, his name sounds much like gullible, which
suggests that he will believe anything. Also, when he first sees the
Yahoos and they throw excrement on him, he responds by doing the same in
return until they run away. He says, "I must needs discover some more
rational being," (203) even though as a human he is already the most
rational being there is. This is why Swift refers to Erasmus Darwins
discovery of the origin of the species and the voyage of the Beagle--to
show how Gulliver knows that people are at the top of the food chain.
        But if Lemule Gulliver is satirized, so are the Houyhnhnms, whose
voices sound like the call of castrati. They walk on two legs instead of
four, and seem to be much like people. As Gulliver says, "It was with the
utmost astonishment that I witnessed these creatures playing the flute
and dancing a Vienese waltz. To my mind, they seemed like the greatest
humans ever seen in court, even more dextrous than the Lord Edmund Burke"
(162). As this quote demonstrates, Gulliver is terribly impressed, but
his admiration for the Houyhnhnms is short-lived because they are so
prideful. For instance, the leader of the Houyhnhnms claims that he has
read all the works of Charles Dickens, and that he can singlehandedly
recite the names of all the Kings and Queens of England up to George II.
Swift subtly shows that this Houyhnhnms pride is misplaced when, in the
middle of the intellectual competition, he forgets the name of Queen
Elizabeths husband.
        Swifts satire of the Houyhnhnms comes out in other ways as well.
One of the most memorable scenes is when the dapple grey mare attempts to
woo the horse that Guenivre has brought with him to the island. First she
acts flirtatiously, parading around the bewildered horse. But when this
does ...

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