SATIRE

Satire is an artistic and literary genre given in the form of fiction, holding up human or individual
vices, follies, abuses or shortcomings to ridicule and to laugh at government, individuals society,
with an intent of shaming them. Satire can help us to confront the unpleasant reality and see the
world as it is. Swift is the representative author of the satire genre in the 18 century, in fact he
wrote essays against corruption, decline of politics and riches.
An example of Swift’s satire is Modest proposal (Juvenalian satirical essay) published
anonymously by Jonathan Swift in 1729. In which Swift used satire as a way to express the issue
of poverty in Ireland and to demonstrate the heartless and cruel attitude of the riches. Through
serious tones, Swift tells the audience that children of poor families are troublemakers and how
they will supply to the feeding and clothing of numerous amounts of people. in Swift’s opinion,
kids should be used as an article of trade and not even considered a human being. This
suggestion is ironical in itself because Swift’s proposal to sell and eat excess children is not
modest at all, but is it a rational solution to Ireland’s problems. That make this essay like a
cannibalistic proposal because he suggests recipes for cooking kids. For this reason Modest
proposal is the fundamental of the satirical genre.
An other important satirical essay of Swift is Gulliver's Travels , which is a masterpiece of
satire, used like his defense against his enemies and against humankind.
The first three parts of Gulliver's Travels, which describe the societies of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, and
Laputa, satirize different aspects of eighteenth-century English society—its politics, its wars, and
its new science. For example in the part 1 Lilliputians have an argument about how to break an
egg, but it becomes a fight against each other, as Parliament did for the heel height suitable for
menBut the satire also focuses on the human animal. In the great and controversial fourth book
the purely rational Houyhnhnms are really ideal and perfect beings with comeliness and stregth
and on the other hand the Yahoos are stupid and vicious humanoids.
In the conclusion of the essay there is a sense of diversity, in fact he feels diverse and alone.
Every time in his 4 voyage the 4 populations: first the tiny Lilliputians; then the giants of
Brobdingnag; then the inhabitants of Laputa ; finally, the "thinking horses" of the land of the
Houyhnhnm. But he doesnt find the category ,at which he belongs, and nobody can help him
neither his family, because he can’t dare their smell, touch and sight, nor Houyhnhnms, because
they send him away due to his appearance.
Thanks to the work of Swift, Today satire is a strong and socially to express opinion and idea of
the contemporary society.