Jonathan Swift

Gulliver’s Travels
A Voyage to Brobdingnag
PART II
CH 1-III
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 Chapter One
• Each chapter is advertised.
• In this chapter,

"A great Storm described, the long Boat sent to fetch Water, the Author goes with it to
discover the Country. He is left on Shoar, is seized by one of the Natives, and
carry'd to a Farmer's House. His Reception there, with several Accidents that
happen'd there. A Description of the Inhabitants."

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 Chapter One
• On June 20, 1702, ten months after his return from Lilliput and Blefuscu,
Gulliver returns to the sea in a ship named Adventure.
• The journey begins very smoothly.
• the only delay being caused by an illness contracted by the captain.
• They continue on their journey for several months until a storm begins to
brew, pushing the Adventure several miles off track.
• On June 16, 1703, the crew sees land and drops anchor, at which point the
captain sends a dozen men on shore to fetch water.
• Gulliver wanders away from the other men to observe the countryside.
• He sees them in the boat hurrying back to the ship.
• He tries to call out to them, but he sees that they are being chased by a
giant-though the giant is not able to catch the boat.
• Gulliver runs as fast as he can into the island. 2
 Chapter One
• Gulliver finds that much of the island is well cultivated.
• To his surprise, when he comes across a hayfield, he realizes that the grass
is more than twenty feet tall.
• Similarly, corn is at least forty feet high.
• Gulliver sees another giant, this time well-dressed, walking along the path
he is on.
• He notes that each of the giant's strides is about ten yards long.
• The well-dressed giant is joined by seven workers, whom he instructs to
begin reaping the corn (though Gulliver cannot understand the language).
• When Gulliver finds himself in Brobdingnag, Swift first sets up the size
ratio.
• Now the tables are turned: The Lilliputians were midgets one-twelfth
Gulliver's size.
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 Chapter One
• Exhausted and filled with despair, Gulliver lies down and hopes that he will
die.
• He writes, "I bemoaned my desolate Widow, and Fatherless Children.“
• He begins to think back on the Lilliputians who thought that he was such a
powerful and strong creature.
• he says that he now feels as a single Lilliputian would feel among humans.
• "Undoubtably," he muses, "Philosophers are in the right when they tell us, that nothing is
great or little otherwise than by Comparison."

• Gulliver runs as fast as he can into the island.

• Now Gulliver is a midget, and the giants who inhabit Brobdingnag are
twelve times Gulliver's size.

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 Chapter One
"In this terrible agitation of mind, I could not forbear thinking of Lilliput, whose inhabitants
looked upon me as the greatest prodigy that ever appeared in the world; where I was able to draw
an imperial fleet in my hand, and perform those other actions, which will be recorded for ever in
the chronicles of that empire, while posterity shall hardly believe them, although attested by
millions. I reflected what a mortification it must prove to me, to appear as inconsiderable in this
nation, as one single Lilliputian would be among us. But this I conceived was to be the least of my
misfortunes; for, as human creatures are observed to be more savage and cruel in proportion to
their bulk, what could I expect but to be a morsel in the mouth of the first among these enormous
barbarians that should happen to seize me? Undoubtedly philosophers are in the right, when they
tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison. It might have pleased fortune,
to have let the Lilliputians find some nation, where the people were as diminutive with respect to
them, as they were to me. And who knows but that even this prodigious race of mortals might be
equally overmatched in some distant part of the world, whereof we have yet no discovery. "

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 Chapter One
• When he is about to be stepped on by one of the farmers, Gulliver cries out
as loudly as he can.
• The giant stops short and picks up Gulliver to get a better look.
• Gulliver resists struggling in order to avoid being dropped sixty feet to the
ground and instead brings his hands to a prayer position and points his eyes
skyward.
• The giant seems pleased with Gulliver and, putting him in his pocket, heads
over to show his master.
• When Gulliver was living among the Lilliputians, he described them as
being like "little men.“
• The Brobdingnagians who capture Gulliver, however, do not think of
Gulliver as a "little man" or as a "little Brobdingnagian."

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 Chapter One
• The master takes Gulliver home to show his wife.
• The wife screams at first, but when she sees how polite Gulliver is, she
quickly warms up to him.
• Gulliver and the farmer try to speak to each other but are unsuccessful.
• At dinnertime, Gulliver sees that the full family consists of the parents,
three children, and an elderly grandmother.
• The farmer's wife breaks up some bread and a small piece of meat and
hands them to Gulliver.
• Gulliver gets out his knife and fork and proceeds to eat, thoroughly
delighting the whole family.
• Later, Gulliver walks across the table toward the farmer.
• Gulliver now calls the farmer his master.
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 Chapter One
• The farmer's son picks him up by one leg and dangles him in the air until
the farmer grabs him back and boxes the boy's ear.
• Gulliver, not wanting to make an enemy in his new home, signals that he
would like the boy to be pardoned, which he is.
“But advancing forward towards my master (as I shall henceforth call him,) his youngest
son, who sat next to him, an arch boy of about ten years old, took me up by the legs, and
held me so high in the air, that I trembled every limb: but his father snatched me from
him, and at the same time gave him such a box on the left ear, as would have felled an
European troop of horse to the earth, ordering him to be taken from the table. But being
afraid the boy might owe me a spite, and well remembering how mischievous all children
among us naturally are to sparrows, rabbits, young kittens, and puppy dogs, I fell on my
knees, and pointing to the boy, made my master to understand, as well as I could, that I
desired his son might be pardoned. The father complied, and the lad took his seat again,
whereupon I went to him, and kissed his hand, which my master took, and made him
stroke me gently with it.

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 Chapter One
• At this point an infant is brought into the room.
• At the sight of Gulliver, the infant cries to get him into its hand-with
which the mother obliges.
• Quickly the baby squeezes Gulliver and puts his head in its mouth.
• Gulliver cries out until the baby drops him, luckily into the mother's
apron.
• The baby cannot be quieted until the nurse nurses it.
• The sight of the woman's breast is repulsive to Gulliver.
• It is so large in his view that he can see all of its defects.

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 Chapter One
When dinner was almost done, the nurse came in with a child of a year old in her arms, who
immediately spied me, and began a squall that you might have heard from London. Bridge to
Chelsea, after the usual oratory of infants, to get me for a plaything. The mother, out of pure
indulgence, took me up, and put me towards the child, who presently seized me by the middle, and
got my head into his mouth, where I roared so loud that the urchin was frighted, and let me drop,
and I should infallibly have broke my neck, if the mother had not held her apron under me. The
nurse, to quiet her babe, made use of a rattle which was a kind of hollow vessel filled with great
stones, and fastened by a cable to the child's waist: but all in vain; so that she was forced to apply
the last remedy by giving it suck. I must confess no object ever disgusted me so much as the sight
of her monstrous breast, which I cannot tell what to compare with, so as to give the curious reader
an idea of its bulk, shape, and colour. It stood prominent six feet, and could not be less than
sixteen in circumference. The nipple was about half the bigness of my head, and the hue both of
that and the dug, so varied with spots, pimples, and freckles, that nothing could appear more
nauseous: for I had a near sight of her, she sitting down, the more conveniently to give suck, and I
standing on the table. This made me reflect upon the fair skins of our English ladies, who appear
so beautiful to us, only because they are of our own size, and their defects not to be seen but
through a magnifying glass; where we find by experiment that the smoothest and whitest skins
look rough, and coarse, and ill-coloured.

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• After dinner Gulliver signals that he is tired.
• The farmer's wife sets him on her bed and covers him with a
handkerchief.
• He sleeps until two rats the size of large dogs startle him.
• Gulliver fights them with his hanger (a short sword), killing one and
scaring the other away.
• Afterwards Gulliver signals that he needs time alone in the garden to
relieve himself.
• He asks the reader to excuse him for dwelling on particulars.

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 Chapter One
• Whatever Gulliver did not gain in perspective (in terms of size) during his
time in Lilliput, he gains in Brobdingnag.
• His time here gives Gulliver an understanding of what it is like to be
powerless.
• It also shows Gulliver how the Lilliputians must have felt when near him.
• Of course this situation is even more threatening.
• Here there are many giants, while in Lilliput he was the only one.
• This is how a Lilliputian would feel in England.
• The differences Gulliver experiences between the two islands are
heightened because of the close proximity of the trips.
• Gulliver feels even smaller in Brobdingnag than he would have felt if he
had never journeyed to Lilliput.
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 Chapter One
• Gulliver's newfound understanding of perspective helps him to feel
powerless.
• First for himself, when he curls up and rather pathetically hopes to die,
• Then for others, especially for the Lilliputians he left behind.
• As his fear rises, he becomes more and more emotional.
• Eventually he becomes so overwhelmed that he gives up, curling up into
the fetal position.
• Once Gulliver is brought to the farmer's house, many challenges await
him because of his lack of power in this land.
• A mere baby threatens his life, as do two common rats.
• Gulliver is able to fight them off in a seemingly heroic fashion, but it is
clear that he could have lost the fight.
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 Chapter One
• Gulliver is also surprised by the aesthetic differences of the world from this new
perspective.
• The nurse's breast is disgusting to him because he can clearly see every deformity and
blemish.
• He imagines what the Lilliputians thought of his physicality.
• In this chapter we again see Gulliver as less than heroic.
• Just as in Lilliput, when Gulliver did not fight against his captivity, here Gulliver does
nothing to try to avoid being captured.
• He waits until he is about to be stepped on before taking any action at all.
• He only begs for mercy from the giant Brobdingnags.
• Gulliver relies on the protection of a young girl who tucks him into a doll's cradle at night.
• Gulliver survives and thrives only partly on the basis of his good manners. For the most
part, he is a pet and a curiosity.

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 Chapter Two
• Each chapter is advertised.
• In this chapter,
"A Description of the Farmer's Daughter. The Author carried to a Market-Town, and
then to the Metropolis. The Particulars of his Journey."

• Gulliver is given into the care of the farmer's daughter, Glumdalclitch.

• The farmer's daughter teaches him the language and treats him very well,
like a child would care for a favorite doll.
• In fact, she keeps him in a doll's cradle, which she closes inside a drawer
at night to keep him safe from the rats.

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 Chapter Two
• As word of Gulliver spreads throughout the kingdom, the farmer begins
to realize that there is profit to be made.
• He takes Gulliver to the marketplace.
• Gulliver performs shows for paying patrons.
• The show is so successful that the farmer decides to take Gulliver on a
tour of the kingdom.
• Gulliver does ten shows a day, which makes him quite tired.

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 Chapter Two
My master, finding how profitable I was likely to be, resolved to carry me to the most
considerable cities of the kingdom. Having therefore provided himself with all things
necessary for a long journey, and settled his affairs at home, he took leave of his wife,
and upon the 17th of August, 1703, about two months after my arrival, we set out for the
metropolis, situate near the middle of that empire, and about three thousand miles
distance from our house. My master made his daughter Glumdalclitch ride behind him.
She carried me on her lap, in a box tied about her waist. The girl had lined it on all sides
with the softest cloth she could get, well quilted underneath, furnished it with her baby's
bed, provided me with linen and other necessaries, and made everything as convenient
as she could. We had no other company but a boy of the house, who rode after us with
the luggage.

• Gulliver's obedience continues when he is required to perform so that the

farmer can earn money.
• Gulliver becomes drastically skinny.
• But he never resists what he is being told to do.

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 Chapter Three
• Each chapter is advertised.
• In this chapter,
"The Author sent for to Court. The Queen buys him of his Master the Farmer, and
presents him to the King. He disputes with his Majesty's great Scholars. An Apartment at
Court provided for the Author. He is in high Favour with the Queen. He stands up for the
Honour of his own Country. His Quarrels with the Queen's Dwarf."

• The Queen has heard about the wondrous little creature that is making his
way around the kingdom.
• She sends for him and his master to come to court.
• Gulliver immediately impresses the queen with his compliments and
general manner.
• So she asks the farmer if he would be willing to sell Gulliver.
• The farmer, believing that Gulliver will die in about a month because he
has lost so much weight from performing, quickly names a price. 18
 Chapter Three
• Gulliver is happy to live at court and be done with performing.
• He asks only that Glumdalclitch stay as well to continue taking care of him.
• Afterward the queen carries Gulliver to the king's chamber.
• The king at first believes that Gulliver is some sort of mechanical creature.
• But, he eventually believes that Gulliver is just helpless.
• Gulliver tries to explain that where he is from, everything is proportionate
to him.
• The queen has a small apartment built and new fine clothes tailored for
Gulliver.
• She enjoys his company very much.
• Gulliver often comments that watching the Brobdingnag people eat or
getting too close to their faces is quite repulsive.
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 Chapter Three
• Gulliver and the king spend a great deal of time discussing politics.
• The King questions Gulliver about the religion, politics, and laws of
Europe.
• Gulliver explains as well as he can, including giving an account of the
divisions in religion and the state.
• The King laughs and reflects on the ridiculousness of human vanity and
pride, which is so potent a force even among people of Gulliver's size, who
are to Brobdingnagians as small and as insignificant as insects.
• Gulliver admits that after spending some time amid people of such great
size, he himself would be amused to see a group of English lords and
ladies, strutting about in their finery.
• He even thinks that he himself looks ridiculous when place next to the
Queen, so small is he.
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 Chapter Three
This prince took a pleasure in conversing with me, inquiring into the manners, religion,
laws, government, and learning of Europe; wherein I gave him the best account I was
able. His apprehension was so clear, and his judgment so exact, that he made very wise
reflections and observations upon all I said. But I confess, that, after I had been a little too
copious in talking of my own beloved country, of our trade and wars by sea and land, of
our schisms in religion, and parties in the state; the prejudices of his education prevailed
so far, that he could not forbear taking me up in his right hand, and stroking me gently
with the other, after a hearty fit of laughing, asked me, “whether I was a whig or tory?”
Then turning to his first minister, who waited behind him with a white staff, near as tall as
the mainmast of the Royal Sovereign, he observed “how contemptible a thing was human
grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive insects as I: and yet,” says he, “I
dare engage these creatures have their titles and distinctions of honour; they contrive little
nests and burrows, that they call houses and cities; they make a figure in dress and
equipage; they love, they fight, they dispute, they cheat, they betray!” And thus he
continued on, while my colour came and went several times, with indignation, to hear our
noble country, the mistress of arts and arms, the scourge of France, the arbitress of
Europe, the seat of virtue, piety, honour, and truth, the pride and envy of the world, so
contemptuously treated.

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 Chapter Three
• The King and Queen are happy with Gulliver.
• But there is one member of the royal entourage who is not happy: the
Queen's dwarf.
• Gulliver finds an enemy in the queen's dwarf, who seems to be jealous of
all the attention Gulliver is getting.
• The Queen's dwarf takes a malicious delight in finding someone smaller
than himself to bully.
• He drops Gulliver in a bowl of cream.
• Gulliver is saved by Glumdalclitch.
• Gulliver is much bothered by flies, which leave behind piles of excrement
that are obvious to him, though the Brobdingnagians cannot see them.

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“The dwarf was soundly whipt, and as a farther punishment, forced to drink up the bowl of cream
into which he had thrown me: neither was he ever restored to favour; for soon after the queen
bestowed him on a lady of high quality, so that I saw him no more, to my very great satisfaction; for
I could not tell to what extremities such a malicious urchin might have carried his resentment.”

• Swift prevents us from idealizing the giants by reminding us of their

incapacity to accept Gulliver as a miniature of a Brobdingnagian.
• Gulliver always considered the Lilliputians as miniature men.
• But this is not true of the Brobdingnagians.
• Even the King, who is affectionate towards Gulliver, thinks of him as rat-
like and as a contrivance made of clockwork.

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• The King discredits Gulliver and his fellow Englishmen.
• And, because the King is adamant toward the English, Swift has a
mouthpiece to voice some of his complaints.
• The English, he emphasizes, are contradictory.
• They "love, fight, dispute, cheat, and betray."
• In general, the Brobdingnagians do not.
• Interestingly, the only real "villain" in Brobdingnag is the Queen's jester —
a dwarf.
• The dwarf is diminutive physically and lacking in the Brobdingnagian
virtues.
• He wedges Gulliver into the hollow of a bone and dumps him into a large
silver bowl of cream.
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• The King also mocks human pretension.
• In Book I, the Lilliputians mimic human posturings and vanities.
• Now Gulliver stands small and listens to a moral giant discredit human
pride and pretence.
• Gulliver accepts the King's judgment.
• Actually, it would be false pride not to.
• The King is merely telling Gulliver what we already know about the
damage that results from inflated pride.
• But Gulliver is still gullible;
• His acceptance of the King's viewpoint reflects the fact that he is beginning
to adjust to the Brobdingnagian perspective.

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