A modest proposal jonathan swift

In “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift vents his mounting aggravation at the ineptitude of
Ireland's politicians, the hypocrisy of the wealthy, the tyranny of the English, and the squalor
and degradation in which he sees so many Irish people living. While “A Modest Proposal,”
bemoans the bleak situation of an Ireland almost totally subject to England's exploitation, it
also expresses Swift's utter disgust at the Irish people's seeming inability to mobilize on their
own behalf. Without excusing any party, the essay shows that not only the English but also
the Irish themselves—and not only the Irish politicians but also the masses—are responsible
for the nation's lamentable state. His compassion for the misery of the Irish people is a severe
one, and he includes a critique of their incompetence in dealing with their own problems.

Political pamphleteering was a fashionable pastime in Swift's day, which saw vast numbers of
tracts and essays advancing political opinions and proposing remedies for Ireland's economic
and social ills. Swift's tract parodies the style and method of these, and the grim irony of his
own solution reveals his personal despair at the failure of all this paper journalism to achieve
any actual progress. His piece protests the utter inefficacy of Irish political leadership, and it
also attacks the orientation of so many contemporary reformers toward economic
utilitarianism. While Swift himself was an astute economic thinker, he often expressed
contempt for the application of supposedly scientific management ideas to humanitarian
concerns.

The main rhetorical challenge of this bitingly ironic essay is capturing the attention of an
audience whose indifference has been well tested. Swift makes his point negatively, stringing
together an appalling set of morally untenable positions in order to cast blame and aspersions
far and wide. The essay progresses through a series of surprises that first shocks the reader
and then causes her to think critically not only about policies, but also about motivations and
values.

Economic Inequality
Swift's persona highlights the economic inequality in Ireland and England with “A Modest
Proposal.” In the beginning of the essay, he expresses great sympathy for the beggars of
Ireland, describing their destitution in detail. His solution of eating babies applies primarily to
the babies of the poor; the title of the piece states that this is a proposal for making the
“children of poor people” ultimately “beneficial to the public.” The writer suggests that the
landlords ought to eat the babies, as they have already “devoured” their parents. The writer
here is implying that the rich metaphorically “devour” the poor, achieving success largely at
the expense of the lower classes. The writer states in his final paragraph that his intention is
not only to “relieve the poor” but also to “give pleasure to the rich.” Swift’s other satires, too,
mock the rich. “An Argument Against the Abolishing of Christianity,” for example, is
narrated by a somewhat foppish narrator in order to expose the frivolities of the wealthy.
Cultural Arrogance and Colonialism
The narrator of “A Modest Proposal” is English, but he is making prescriptions for the Irish.
With this structure, Swift reveals the cultural arrogance of the English and the political
subjugation felt by the Irish. Swift mocks the view of the English as civilized and the Irish as
an uncivilized “barbaric” or “savage” people. Rumors had been circulating in the eighteenth
century about cannibalism among such “inferior” groups as the Irish and Native Americans.
Claims like these were used to support England’s right to rule over these peoples and colonize
new territories. Swift has an American suggest cannibalism in "A Modest Proposal," as
Americans (especially Native Americans) were seen as a savage, culturally inferior group
compared to the English.
Religious Satire
Almost every satirical work in this collection deals with the matter of religious excess in some
form, especially A Tale of a Tub and “A True and Faithful Narrative.” A Tale of a
Tub portrays three brothers, who represent the three branches of Western Christianity, as all
naturally licentious and without true religious conviction, having only outward appearances of
conviction. “A Faithful Narrative,” too, portrays a largely sinful town thrown into displays of
repentance when the people believe a comet is coming. “A Modest Proposal” mocks anti-
Catholic religious prejudice, as the narrator calls the Irish babies “papists" because they are
Catholic.
Satire of Literary Style
Swift’s satires do not merely comment upon certain political, social, or religious beliefs; they
are also commentary about how those beliefs are expressed. Swift’s satire is always also
literary satire. Swift wrote “A Meditation Upon A Broomstick” to mock not only Robert
Boyle’s Puritanism but also Boyle's writing style itself, calling Boyle a “silly writer.” “A
Modest Proposal,” too, sought to mock the “can-do” attitude of many writers of the day, who
thought that only one simple solution was needed to cure large and complex problems. In
addition, Swift’s use of flowery language to suggest strange or wild things generally serves to
mock the use of such language.
Ancients vs. Moderns
“The Battle of the Books” begins with a quarrel between two factions, the Ancients and the
Moderns, and soon spirals into literal combat between the groups of books. The Ancients
represent the literary classics of ancient Greece and to some extent Rome, characterized by
investigation into the nature of things, for instance as espoused by Swift’s contemporary and
good friend Alexander Pope in his satirical poems. Moderns who appreciate the Ancients and
do not merely go off in new directions also can be said to be on the side of the Ancients. The
Modern faction represents newer, scientific, reason-centered Enlightenment thought based
more in theorizing than in reality, and with a strong sense of self-reliance. The factions,
respectively, are figured as a bee and a spider.
Family
Family is a theme in both A Tale of a Tub and "A Modest Proposal." In A Tale of a Tub, the
father of the three brothers, when he gives them their respective coats, requests that they
always live together as brethren. This is an allegory for the ecumenical Christian "family" of
one Church, despite doctrinal differences. The suggestion is that Christians, although of
different specific beliefs, are "brothers" and should act as such. In "A Modest Proposal," too,
family is a theme with broader implications; in this instance the larger "family" is that of the
Irish people, which Swift's narrator offensively calls a "breed." The narrator says that poor
parents will support his proposal because it would relieve them of the burden of caring for
their young. Swift's narrator suggests that family is nothing to the Irish, exposing British
prejudices yet reinforcing the idea of communal Irish struggle.
The Moral Dangers of Scientific Advancement
“A Modest Proposal” hints at the dangers of certain types of new knowledge. At the time
Swift was writing, many political thinkers had started to apply new theories of science and
mathematics to their social ideas. Swift parodies this view by dedicating a few paragraphs of
“A Modest Proposal” to calculating the number of babies available for consumption. By
doing so, he demonstrates the perils of seeing things only in terms of numbers. Swift suggests
that this new kind of social math leaves no room for humanity; people are not numbers. With
the calculations present in “A Modest Proposal” Swift expresses his unease with taking reason
and scientific advancement too far and forgetting the human side of policy. The bee and the
Ancients similarly criticize the spider and the Moderns in "The Battle of the Books."

Eating
Eating is an important symbol throughout “A Modest Proposal,” illustrating in painfully
literal terms the predatory behavior of the upper classes, and colonial powers more generally.
For the Proposer, resorting to cannibalism is just a natural extension of the daily activities of
landlords and aristocrats. In addition, Swift uses the symbol of eating to paint humankind as
fundamentally bestial creatures—creatures not inherently rational but only capable of reason
on rare occasions.
Satire and Sincerity
Today we regard “A Modest Proposal” as a seminal work of Western satire—satire being the
use of humor or irony to reveal and criticize the evils of society. Though Swift wrote the tract
in response to the specific social conditions afflicting his native Ireland, its bitter humor
shocks and delights as much now as it did in 1729, when it circulated the streets of Dublin as
an anonymous pamphlet. The power of Swift’s satire resides in the intensity of his verbal
irony—that is, his ability to say one thing and mean precisely the opposite.

In large part, the humor of “A Modest Proposal” arises from the enormous gap between the
cool, rational, self-righteous voice of the speaker and the obvious repulsiveness of his
proposal: that the infant children of Ireland’s poor be raised as livestock, slaughtered, and sold
as food to the wealthy, who will enjoy them as a tasty delicacy. No reader, no matter her
personal values or political allegiances, will be able to take seriously the speaker’s proposal.
Thus, the reader’s engagement with the text will consist in constantly looking beyond what is
said in search of what is meant—or, to put it another way, looking for a sincere message
hiding behind the obvious satire.
One way to understand the text’s irony—this discrepancy between saying and meaning—is to
imagine the speaker as a fictional persona (call him “the Proposer”) who is totally distinct
from Jonathan Swift, the author. The Proposer truly believes in the genius of his plan, and
seems oblivious to the fact that it will strike any sane person as monstrous.

Yet, at a few moments in the text, it is possible to recognize Swift’s own voice and ideas
sneaking around or through the Proposer’s ludicrous suggestions, advancing instead Swift’s
own sincere convictions. This happens in the opening paragraphs of the essay, when Swift can
be heard speaking alongside the Proposer—it is safe to say that both he and the Proposer
share a mutual concern for the state of society in Ireland. This agreement makes the
Proposer’s sudden endorsement of cannibalism all the more shocking and hilarious when it
finally arrives. It is important to note that, in 1729, political pamphlets often made the rounds
in Ireland, many of them offering earnest if somewhat misguided solutions to the social ills
plaguing the country. Accordingly, the first readers of “A Modest Proposal” might not have
caught on to the essay’s satirical intent until they reached the speaker’s startling claim that the
flesh of an infant could make a fine “ragout,” a type of stew.

In what is perhaps the climax of the essay, Swift presents his own sincere (you might also say
“actual”) thoughts on how best to resolve the situation in Ireland. But he does so
backhandedly. Rather than state his proposal outright, he embeds it within the Proposer’s
dismissal of any and all solutions that do not involve eating children. These alternatives,
which the Proposer criticizes as impossible, will strike the reader as exceedingly reasonable,
not to mention humane. The literary term for this rhetorical move—advancing an argument by
pretending to refuse it—is apophasis, Greek for literally “speaking off.”

Misanthropy (Hatred of Humankind)

In a letter to his friend, the poet Alexander Pope, Swift famously wrote, “I have ever hated all
nations, professions, and communities, and all my love is toward individuals: for instance, I
hate the tribe of lawyers, but I love Counsellor Such-a-one, and Judge Such-a-one: so with
physicians—I will not speak of my own trade—soldiers, English, Scotch, French, and the rest.
But principally I hate and detest that animal called man, although I heartily love John, Peter,
Thomas, and so forth.”

Swift is perhaps the most famous misanthrope in the history of English literature. As
mentioned previously “A Modest Proposal” most obviously lampoons the colonial powers in
Ireland. But less obvious—and perhaps less comfortable for us as readers—are the ways in
which the essay also satirizes the poor. As becomes clear in Swift’s backhanded disclosure of
his actual suggestions for dealing with the crisis in Ireland, he tends to think of the Irish
population as depraved, self-loathing, and unable to organize on their own behalf. He is
disgusted by the way Irish husbands treat their wives, and he really does hate Catholics
(though he isn’t about to kill any of them). In this sense, he spares neither the English nor the
Irish from his biting satire.With this in mind, one could argue that the absurdity of the
proposed cannibalism illustrates not just the evils of English colonial rule, nor just the basic
hopelessness of the Irish situation, but in fact the depravity of humanity in general. For Swift,
the world is utterly and irreversibly fallen, and even on their best days humans are little more
than beasts. Therefore, even as he proposes it in total irony, Swift seems also to be genuinely
asking: why doesn’t humanity, given all of its terrible faults, deserve cannibalism?