《格列佛游记 》的批判性分析
T ravels
A C ritica l A na lysis of Gu lliver ’s
Abstract: B ased on Gulliver’s four voyages in Jonathan Swift’sGulliver ’s Travels this paper ana 2 lyzes the au thor ’s satirical view of the state of European governm ent and religions, and inquiry into the corruption of men, and his desire to establish a harmonious and democratic Houyhnhm - like society.
Key words: satirical; Houyhnhm - like society; Gu lliver ’s Travels
The nam e of Jonathan Swift is one of the very greate st nam es in English literature, and The Ta le of a Tub and Gu lliver ’s Travels are two of the greatest sa tires in the English language.
Jonathan Swift wa s born of English parents in Dublin in 1667 and becam e a product of Irish cul2 ture and learning. He was educa ted a t the Kilkenny School and Trinity College in Dublin, and becam e an a ssistant to author and dip lom at SirW illiam Tem 2 ple. He left this position after Temple died in 1699 to earn his priest’s ordination. He worked as a clergyman in Ireland, traveling throughout the Unit2 ed Kingdom , and exp loring his frustrations with so2 c iety through his w ritings. He wrote about the pover2 ty he saw among the peop le, the typical daily life of city folkand the p roblem s he w itnessed in the social order. It is thisw riting that makes Swift one of the most renowned satirists of English soc iety and B ritish history. He believed that social conventions were outdated and m ust be changed, and qualities of m ind (and not physical beauty) should be the foun2 dations of love. He also found a heavy interest in politic s, taking up weight in the Tory party of Eng2 land’s governm ental party system. F rom such ob2 se rvations in government and religion, and love and gender inequality, Swift produced an enormous body of work. H is writings fall into several categorie s, in2 c luding poetry, short stories, political essays, and novels. In 1742, he was dec lared of unsound m ind, and died in 1745 in Dublin.
Gu lliver ’s T ra vels is the immortal work of Jon2
a than Sw ift. The book becam e trem endously popula r as soon as it was published in 1726, and can be justly ranked am ong the best nove ls of the world lit2 e ra ture and has not lost its significance even to the current socie ty. It is a c lassic which always a rouses the interestof every child to share Gulliver’s ad2 ventures into fantastic lands, and m akes every m a2 ture reader brood over his bitter satire on the hum an race. In it, Swift explore s gender differences, poli2 tics, class, money, race, science, education, exploration, love, physica l strength, physical beauty, and then satirize on them bitingly. Through depicting the experiences of his four voyage s to dif2 ferent lands, Gulliver intensely satirizes the hypo2 c ritica l, greedy, decep tive and aggre ssive na ture of the hum an socie ty. He a lso mocks the corrupt reli2 gious and political systems in his hom eland, Eng2 land, which is caught in constant wa rs and vio2 lence. He hopefully desire s to e stablish a harmoni2 ous and democratic Houyhnhm - like society which is ba sed on reason and w isdom. W hen he can not reach his ideal society before the c rue l reality, he turns to paying attention to his own moral up lift w ith2 out ca ring for others, and becom es a comp lete pes2 sim ist who tries to escape from the real world.
Gullive r m akes four deep - sea voyages, which are desc ribed in the four pa rts of the book. In Part One, “A V oyage toL illiput”, Gulliver finds him 2 se lf tied down by a race of dwarfs who are only one
①作者简介: 李 江 , 云南大学大学外语教学部讲师 (云南 昆明 , 650091) 。
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思想战线 2009年人文社会科学专辑 第 35卷 №12009 V o l 135
- twe lfth the size of his own. This is his
first travel, in
which he visits L illiput Gulliver is
faced with the m
inute peop le, ca lled L illiputians. He judges the country’s inhabitants he
m ee ts to be as perfect
and innocent as their
appea rances. He refers to the L illi2 putian empe ror as
“His Impe rial M aje sty”
and blindly agrees to
perform any dem anded service, e2 ven though he could ea sily ove rpowe r the tiny na2 tion. Gulliver is used as the Emperor’s absolute weapon to conque r his world of two islands. It is
on2 ly afte r his service s have been exp loited, Gullive
r
rea lizes how crue l and deceitful the
L illiputians truly are and his personality begins to transform. Swift
al2
so criticize s the re ligious beliefs of the
L illiputians. In L illiput, M inisters
are chosen strictly on tightrope walking
or stick jum ping. If they do well, they are able to m ainta in their positions as m inisters. Sw
ift
also criticizes the English political parties. H is use of the term s H igh Heels and
Low Heels to compare the m eaningle ss battles of the
W higs and Tories is quite ironic. He also mocks the religion war that was going on in England, through the use of the
wa r
be2 tween L illiput, and its nearest neighbor, B
lefuscu. (Zhu, 74)
In Part Two, “A V oyage to B robdingnag”, Gullive r
face s a world with everything being twelve tim es its norma l size. B ecause of his unfavorable
ex2 periences
on L illiput, Gullive r approaches the
B rob2 dingnagians w ith suspic ion and contempt. A
lthough
this race is far more benevolent and trustworthy, Gullive r give s it more criticism and disrespect I
t
becom es obvious tha t his dissatisfac tion rela tes di
2
rec tly to his inferiority among these huge beings. Gullive r
him se lf
adm its:
Th is m a de m e
ref lect how va in an a ttem pt it i
s
fo r a m an
to endeavor d oing h im self honour am ong
those w ho a re ou t of a ll deg ree of equa lity or com pa ri 2 son w ith him. A n d yet I ha ve seen the m ora l of m y own behavior very f requen t in Eng land since m y re 2
tu rn, w here a little con tem ptible va rlet, w ithou t the least title to birth, person, w it or comm on sense,
sha ll presum e to look w ith im portance, and pu t h im 2
self upon a foot w ith the grea test persons of
the king 2 d om. (Swift, 110)
Gullive r is beginning to get involved in the
mor2 a l controversie s he observes, and then satirize the socia l and political conditions he
observed. Even the
using destructive weapons. ( Lu, 70 ) H is second voyage shows us the filthy m ental and
physical char2 acte ristics of
m an. Gulliver’s first owner in
B rob2 dingnag represents the selfishness of
m an. Gullive r is constantly displayed in public, abused for the profit
of the owne . W hen his owne r finds out that Gullive r
is weakening, he sells
him immediately, at a high price in orde r to
m ilk eve ry last penny out
of Gullive r.
In Pa rt Three, “A V oyage to Laputa ”, Gul2 liver is pulled up to a flying
floating island tha t
hov2
e rs above ground. On the floating island of
Laputa, Gullive r meets the Laputans who run their world
through m athema tics and science, and allow their land to be dic tated by
a giant lode stone a t the cente r of the island. Eventually, Gulliver grows wea ry of the se people, for they cannot communicate
w ithout
the help
of a flappe r. So, he journeys to the islands below and m eets diffe rent races of
peop le. Gulliver’ s third voyage, to the floating island of Laputa is one of the
most satirical of the whole book. In this voyage Sw ift criticizes the Royal Society of
England, in which he says is composed of usele ss philoso2 phers, inventors, and scientists. In the view of Gullive r, he regarded the science
of Laputa
a s p seu2 doscience, which is distorted and abused by
Lapu2 tans. (Sun, 100
- 101)
In Pa rt Four, “A V oyage to the Houyhnhn - m
s”, Gulliver becom es trapped in a world where
horses represent civiliza tion and reason, while hu2 m ans, referred to a s Yahoos, turn out to be wild,
savage and ignorant. After the horses, ca lled
Houyhnhnm
s, m ake him rea lize how corrup t hum an beings is, Gulliver
begins to love the ir
virtuous soc i2 e ty. A t the end
of his story, he says:
B u t the Houyhnhm s,
w ho live und er the govern 2
m en t of R eason, a re no m ore p roud of the good qua l 2 ities they posses, than I shou ld be for not w an ting a leg or an arm , wh ich no m an in th is w its w ou ld
boast of, a lthough he m ust be m iserab le w ithou t them. I dwell the lon ger upon this subject f rom th e de 2
s ire I have to m ake the society of an Eng lish Ya hoo by any m eans n ot in supportable, and therefore I here en treat those who have a ny tinctu re of th is absurd
vice, tha t th ey w ill no t presum e to appea r in m y sigh t (Swif t, 305)
The Houyhnhnm s
compare Gulliver
and the Ya2
King criticizes the cruelty of hum an m ass - killing by
hoos and find m any sim ila rities between the two.
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The only difference is that Gullive r, and
m ankind, has learned the benefits of clothing, and he now
and again could be a rational c reature. That comparison deep ly shocks Gullive r because he him realizes
se lf
tha t he is so si ilar to those savage crea tures. So he tries his best to hide his body from the view of the Houyhnhnm
s unde r the guise of already ragge
d
clothing, and he argue s:
I wan ted no fence aga inst f raud or oppression;
here w as neither physician to destroy m y body, no r law yer to ru in m y fortune; no inform er to w a tch m y
w ords a nd actions, or fo rge accusations a ga inst m e fo r h ire; h ere w ere no g ibers, censu rers, backbiters
,
pickpockets, h ighw aym en, houseb reakers, a ttor 2 n eys, baw ds, buffoons, gam esters, politicia ns,
w its, splenetic, ted ious ta lkers, con trovertists, rav 2 ishers, m u rders, robbers, virtuosos; no lead ers o r fo llowers of pa rty and faction, no encou ra gers t
o
vice, by seducem en t o r exam ples: no dungeon, ax 2
es, g ibbets, w h ipping posts, or p illo ries; no cheat 2 ing shopkeepers or m echan ics: no prid e, van ity, o r affecta tion: no fops, bu llies, d ru nka rds, strolling
w hores, or poxes: no ra nting, lew d, expensive w ives: n o stupid p roud pen dan ts: no im portuna te, overbearing, quarrelsom e, noisy, roa rin g, em pty, conceited, sw ea ring com pan ions:
no scound rels,
ra ised f rom the dust upon the m erit of their vices, o r nobility th row n in to it on a ccoun t of their virtu es:
no
L ords, fidd lers, Jud ges or dancing - m asters. ” (Swift, 279)
W hen Gulliver is expe lled from the island b
y the Houyhnhnm
s, he returns to England alte red.
W
hen he finally returns hom e after his voyages,
he
discovers that he cannot endure the company of othe r hum ans, inc luding his w ife, and he
even faint2
swhen his w ife kisses hi .
He gets worse and
worse, and cannot even bea r to look at his own re2
flection because he knows what degeneration it re2
presents. He no longer cares to look upon his fam i2 ly, and spends all his ti e with the two horse s he buys to keep in his nea rby stable. B efore he returns hom e, he even i
agine s:
M y D
esign w as, if
possib le, to d iscover som e
《格列佛游记 》的批判性分析★
李 江★
sm a ll island un inh abited, yet sufficien t by m y L abou r to furn ish m e w ith N ecessa ries of L ife, w h ich I w ou ld have though t a g rea ter H app iness than to be first m in 2 ister in the politest Cou rt of Eu rope; so h orrible w as
the Idea I conceived of retu rn ing to live in the society and under the Governm en t of Yah oos. For in such a S olitude as I desired, I cou ld at least en joy m y own
Though ts, an d ref lect w ith D elig ht on the V irtues of those in im itable Houyhnhnm s, w ithout any O pportu 2 n ities of m y ow n S pecies. (Sw ift, 291)
The tragic he ro returns hom e in exile. His hom ecom ing is the most
a liena ting experience of
all “Gulliver is an odysseus gone sour, a homecome r
who, in a satiric version of narrative rest, is de2 pressed and dra ined by his very re sources a s a hu2
m an ” ( R iche tti, 75 - )
be ing. 76 Gulliver deve l2 op s a satirical view of the state of European govern2 m ent and religions, and an inquiry into the corrup2
tion
of m en. He hopefully desires to establish
a har2 monious and democ ra tic Houyhnhm - like society. B ut because he can not find a
way out
of the rea l so2 c iety to embrace his Houyhnhm
ian ideal, he choo2 se s to retire into his
own inner world and become s a comp lete pessim ist who tries to escape from the real world. Tha t’s Gulliver’s individua l tragedy, and the tragedy of the
whole hum an soc iety as well.
Reference: [1
] Sw ift Jonathan:
Gulliver ’ s Travels ,
Beijing: Foreign L an 2
guages teaching and Research Press, 1996.
[ 2 ]
Richetti, John, ed: The Cam bridge Compan ion to the
Eigh teenth
Cen tury
N ovel 1London:
Camb ridge University
Press, 1998.
[3] Zhu, Yanm ei:“The A rt of Iron y in Sw ift ’s L illipu t ”.
Beau ty
& Ti es, V ol. 3 (2005): pp 173～74.
[4] Zhu, Yanm ei:“A Commen t on the C riticism of the E ighteen th
C entu ry L ife in England in Sw ift ’s Gulliver ’s Travels ”.
Jou r 2
nal of Adult Education in Hebei Un iversity, V ol. 5 No. 2
(2003) pp 169～71.
[5] Sun , Shaoxian. “On the S cien ce Su bject in Gu lliver ’s Travels ”
Fo reign Literatu re Studies, V ol.
4 (2002) : pp 199～102.
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)
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