Gulliver s Travels - Dr. Regulus Allen PDF

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Dr. Regulus Allen...

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Background: (won’t be tested on any dates on this exam) Anne: -1702-1710 whig ministries (advisors) Lord Godolphin -1710-1714 Tory ministries -Robert Harley (earl of oxford) -Henry St John (viscount of Bolingbrook) -Anne’s son died -Last stuart monarch when she died in 1714 ● ●

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Distant relative- Sophia (Protestant) Electress of Hanover ○ Stuart line ends and Hanoverian line begins Has son named George I (german prince and left the English kingdom to Whig minister) ○ Whig minister- Sir Robert Walpole (“prime minister”) = Flimnap in book ○ George I is the Emperor in the book George’s son was George II and kept Sir Robert Walpole ○ George II died in 1760

Jonathan Swift ● Both irish and english (first contradiction) ● Born in 1677 in ireland to English parents ● Sympathetic of the suppression of Irish by the English ● Educated in Trinity College ● Work as a secretary to a whig in England and got a masters at Oxford ● 1692 ordained into anglican church ○ Anglican church (church of england, Protestant, “high church” ○ Anglican clergyman vs Satirist ● Returned to ireland and 1702 doctor of divinity, but was unhappy because he wanted a bishop in england ● 1708 returned to england and tried to increase position through Whig connections ○ Had a problem with their liberal views ○ WHig thought puritan anglicans were okay ● Switched from Whig party to Tory Party ● Friends with Robert Harley ● 1714 all of swift's hopes were vanished ● George I declared war on Tory ● Swift exiled to ireland but returned to England ● In 1726, he brought manuscript (gulliver’s travels) to england to be published ● Sir Robert Walpole, there was heavy censorship ● Misanthrope vs Humanist ○ Against mankind (attacking) vs offering correction

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Friends published his book, but the tamer version and done under a persona (1726) ○ Travels into several remote nations of the world in four parts By Lemuel Gulliver ○ Missing Jonathan’s Swift name ○ Lemuel Gulliver wrote it technically (fake character and author) 1735 Final edition

Artistic Features: ● Persona- projected speaker in text behind which the actually author can writes ○ Latin word mask ○ Entire character constructed and pretended to be the author of Gulliver ● Genre: ○ Children’s Literature ○ Imaginary voyage ○ Satire ■ Attacking England, individuals in England ○ Allegory ■ The characters represent real people like Anne and Charles I ■ Characters and setting make sense on a primary level and a secondary level of symbolism ○ Part 1- Lilliput (land of small people ○ PArt 2- Brodignang (land of the giants) ○ Part 3- Laputa (the whore) focused on scientific observations ○ Part 4- Houyhnhnm land (horses can talk, yahoos-instinctive passionate humans) ● Themes ○ Manipulation of perspective/perception ■ Spectacles / Telescope ● Allegories to England ○ Tiny People ■ Little Minded ■ Size of England (small) vs British Empire (large) ■ Tiny Islanders with inflated ego ■ 6 inch monarch who they believed ruled the entire universe ○ Factions at home (2511, 2512) ■ High Heels (Tory’s) vs L ow Heels (Whigs) ■ Tory’s are more conservative ■ Whigs are more liberal ■ The emperor will only use low heels in office ■ George 1st will only use Whigs ■ Tramecksan vs. Slamecksan ○ Conflict / Invasion From Abroad ■ Lilliput vs. Blefuscu ■ English vs France ○ Religious Differences ■ Little-Endians (Protestantism) vs. Big-Endians (Catholicism)

“Primitive way of breaking eggs” → Catholicism Henry the 8th “decrees breaking of eggs from the other side” → turning england to Protestantism ■ ***1688*** THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION!!!!! ■ James the Second ■ Jonathan Swift was thrown out of England after 1688 ■ Swift says it’s a miniscule difference between Catholics and Protestants Gulliver Taking Ships / Not killing enemies ■ Uses spectacles and telescope ■ Has a peaceful perspective ■ Has an ability to see the big picture ■ Lilliputians see with great exactness, but at no great distance 4 Capital Crimes ■ Crimes that you pay for with death ● Urinating within royal grounds ● Refusal to kill Big-Endians of Blefuscu ● Friendly to Blefuscudian ambassadors ● Planning a trip to Blefuscu, only getting verbal consent t, he needed it in writing ■ 2025 → Only decide to take out his eyes ● Allegory to Gulliver’s perception ■ Gulliver flees Lilliput and go to Blefuscue ■ Blefuscu isn't very different so decides to go back to England ■ Tory Ministers (Oxford + Bolingbroke) What other victims of satire? ■ Everyone, Human nature in general Gullivers bodily functions? ■ (2497) ■ Swift pretty much shows his bodily functions every time ■ Related himself to english mindset, takes all their food and water, focused on himself ■ Part of it is for humor (ARTISTIC FEATURE: Scatology - toilet humor) ■ See him peeing on castle as satire on Queen Anne ■ Seems like an attack (the obvious insult) but attempting to correct the practice of religion, thereby save England, thereby save the queen. ■ Attack pride Great Chain of Being ■ Theorizing all beings in a hierarchy ■ God - Angels - Humans - Animals - Plants - Microscopic Life ■ We like to think about what makes us similar to Angels, but are ashamed of what links us to Animals ■ ■

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Gulliver (Swift) writes an angry letter to publisher in 1727 after first edition published ○ Helps develop the persona

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○ Why is everyone so angry about the book if i'm talking about Liliput not England? ○ Calls everyone a yahoos, stuck in this world P2491- i know utopia is fake, but my place is real (claim of truth) ○ I wrote this to fix you, not for your approval P2178- Swift writes his own eulogy ○ Line 455- he's going after the vices not the people themselves ○ Only makes fun of faults that the people can fix ○ You can’t help to be stupid, then he pities them

Chapter 1: Shipwrecked, he’s exhausted; when he comes to, hes tied down by small people and they don't speak english ○ Starts to learn the words of the small people ○ His approach was rational; but he was tempted to squash them Chapter 2: ● Introduced to the emperor; he's taller by a nail’s length, so admirable and handsome ○ Uses sarcasm; praise for dispraise ● P2501- “in the meantime”- the people of lilliput are still trying to figure out what to do with them, they can kill him with the poison ○ The relationship between Gulliver and people of Lilliput is similar to the relationship between the catholic and the irish ○ The people of lilliput (the english) are treating Gulliver (the irish) poorly and badly ● P2502- call him the great man mountain and describe the things in Gulliver’s pockets ○ We are defamiliarized with the people of Lilliput's descriptions of the things in the Gulliver’s pockets ○ Pocketwatch- god; it was his oracle ○ Return everything but the guns, swords, gunpowder and bullets ■ people of lilliput don't trust him and maybe he can't trust the people of lilliput ■ He lets people of lilliput take his weapons ■ He hid the telescope and glasses ● Represents Manipulation of perspective/perception ●...