Shock Value and Effectiveness of “A Modest Proposal”
“A Modest Proposal,” one of the first and most prominent examples of satire in the English language, continues to serve as a guide in political arguments on topics as diverse as climate change, healthcare, and others. Swift’s biting humor still astonishes and delights readers today just as much as it did in 1729, despite the fact that he authored the essay in response to the particular socioeconomic circumstances in which his native Ireland was situated. Undoubtedly shocking as it was meant to be, the work surprises the reader with its acute topics exposed to irony.
The Central Point of Swift’s Satire
This satirical and ironic essay’s primary rhetorical goal is to get the attention of a readership whose indifference has already been put to the test. Swift takes a pessimistic stance, assembling a horrifying collection of ethically dubious positions to smear people everywhere with accusations and slander. It is written: “I am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is no saleable commodity” (Swift). Hence, it mocks the culture of pamphleteering and political ostentation that has developed in reaction to the Irish problem in addition to the unintentional evil of the English affluent and the hopelessness of the Irish poor.
Historical Context and Swift’s Motivation
Swift’s impression of the Irish people’s passivity and the deteriorating economic realities in Ireland inspired Swift to write the piece. Swift appealed to the Irish Parliament on numerous occasions, urging it to finance Irish industry, tax landowners, and implement modern agricultural practices. It was the best way to reach the public because it was the only means of impacting ordinary people at that period. What is more, any other public statement would have been considered an assault or criticism of the authorities, which was strictly punished.
Metaphoric Devouring vs. Literal Starvation
In addition, the author addressed the issue of famine and how not a single Irish was doing anything to help. These people could afford the minimal necessities and are ostensibly starving to death. Swift illustrated how poorly the Irish are being treated by using the metaphor of “devouring the Irish” in a brief line.
The work illustrates the nation’s self-destruction in a startlingly literal way, calling attention to it. The metaphor can be perceived literally as if it were a matter of cannibalism. Many connotations are implied when the concept of cannibalism is introduced. Swift compares eating people to various ways that people or a nation might be consumed. People are eaten alive in a cannibalistic act of injustice and inhumanity under British domination, where people are insatiably consumed by all things Irish.
Swift’s Satirical Persona and Genuine Proposals Hidden Beneath the Satire
Despite what would initially appear to be the case, Jonathan Swift is not the nameless speaker in “A Modest Proposal.” Instead, he is a distorted figure created to stand in for a group of people that Swift particularly detested. It appears that the applicant is a wealthy, intelligent, Protestant Englishman who has no regard for the compassion of the Irish Catholic poor. He is a meticulous but utterly misguided planner whose lofty intentions to better Irish society ignore even the most fundamental notions of morality and human decency.
For instance, he says: “for this kind of commodity will not bear exportation, the flesh being of too tender a consistence to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it” (Swift). Moreover, he states “.., of being a little cautious not to sell our country and consciences for nothing” (Swift). It signifies that despite being intelligent, his wit comes every now and then to point out the weakness of politics.