An analysis of the swift modest proposal

His impassive approach meshed with caustic raillery definitely stirs an otherwise complacent reader as well as dares to expose the flaws pertinent to the society.

Check new design of our homepage! His impassive approach meshed with caustic raillery definitely stirs an otherwise complacent reader as well as dares to expose the flaws pertinent to the society. Penlighten Staff Last Updated: Feb 10, Behind the Mask By virtue of his ironic representation of political and societal flaws, many of Jonathan Swift's work had to be published either anonymously or under pseudonyms.

Jonathan Swift's writing style is influenced by the Juvenalian style of satire that employs weapons of satire and sarcasm to bring forth the incompetencies and flaws of society and politics.

Known as one of the most famous English satirical essays, A Modest Proposal was published anonymously in Dublin in as a short pamphlet. There's remotely nothing modest about 'A Modest Proposal' as the essayist mentions of cannibalism and infanticide with a vapid tone; but satire is meant to be like that.

Jonathan Swift starts the essay by describing a melancholic sight of riled women environed by an assemblage of ragamuffins.

From the SparkNotes Blog

These gnawing bunch of kids not just pose a problem to their parents who have to think about ways to keep their gobs munching, but are a major contributing factor for the kingdom's undoing. A mother can still brook up with the one-year-old kids, as they make the sucklings.

However, with nature's sadistic in this context rule of growth, providing grub for the growing ones becomes disproportionately troublesome. Swift then does some frigid reckoning with the number of babies needed, number of Irish couples capable of breeding, number of little gobs that can be fed by their parents, etc.

The meat of the human babies may be a bit difficult to swallow, but Swift goes on to add that a certain gourmet American gentleman suggested that a well-fed child can make for ambrosial food that can be easily boiled, baked, stewed, or roasted as well as lend themselves scrumptious in a ragout or fricassee.

He then goes on to tell about the profits that mothers can reap from their children and continue increasing their financial wherewithal. Swift later goes on to say that he sees the poor either growing up and becoming thieves or fighting for the Pretender in Spain probably James Edward Stuart who was determined to take on his rightful British and Scottish thrones or sell themselves as bound workers in the plantations in the West Indies.

He believes that his proposal's sole intention is to abate the crisis of the poor and gratify the rich. When he begins with the essay, he comes across as a social scientist, as if presenting an emphatic picture of the fettle of women and children in Ireland. However, his sensitive side soon transmogrifies as he directs his satirical attack on the papists and politicians.

Those whose eyeballs popped out in horror and disgust with Swift's suggestion at treating human babies as delicacies can restore them back as he is only making use of this savage proposal to draw readers' attention to the arrogance showed by the English toward their Irish subjects.

While he doesn't make efforts to overtly instill sympathy toward the Catholics, his caustic style of writing does make ample sarcastic and outrageous comments that allude his concern for them, however fleeting or humorous it may seem.

He builds the overall idea of overpopulation as a result of Catholic breeding, thus, proving the effective nature of his proposal.

A Savagely Ludicrous Solution Swift's frightening and imbecile calculation that he supports with statistics and logical reasoning, is the central idea of the proposal. People who treat humans as mere figures and the ones who fail to view them with compassion and humanity wouldn't shy away from actuating Swift's proposal of looking at babies as livestock.

From boiling to baking to roasting, they have been subjected to all sorts of cooking methods. The ease and indifference with which he discusses the suggested usage of kids as meat is shockingly immoral.

He says that the sole purpose of the parents should be to rear their kids only to have them butchered and earn their livelihood. Parents, landlords, laborers, etc.

This proposal only regards the interests of the adults and discusses how it would positively impact the lives of parents. A sound economy necessitates adults and not kids, and when kids are contributing to the economy by lending themselves as meat, they are, in a way, affording assistance to the society.

Jonathan Swift's wordplay is grotesque, graphic, and very sarcastic; nonetheless, with 'A Modest Proposal', he manages to prove his argument using his effective skills at polemic literature.A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift Words | 6 Pages “A modest proposal” by Jonathan Swift is an essay, which was written to elaborate the poverty of people in Ireland.

A Summary and Analysis of 'A Modest Proposal' By Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift's inflammatory and biting wit suffused essay, A Modest Proposal is most likely to disturb humorless folks. His impassive approach meshed with caustic raillery definitely stirs an otherwise complacent reader as well as dares to expose the flaws pertinent to the society.

The Reader in A Modest Proposal" focuses on two aspects of A Modest Proposal: the voice of Swift and the voice of the Proposer.

Phiddian stresses that a reader of the pamphlet must learn to distinguish between the satirical voice of Jonathan Swift and the apparent economic projections of the Proposer.

In this collection of essays on Swift’s life and literature, essayist Patrick Kelly finds A Modest Proposal rhetorically brilliant but mistaken in its economic diagnosis of Irish poverty. Kelly, Ann. Jonathan Swift and Popular Culture: Myth, Media, and the Man. A Modest Proposal Jonathan Swift.

This entry presents criticism of Swift's satire A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of the Poor People from Being a Burthen to Their Parents, or. Rhetorical Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’ A Modest Proposal is a satirical pamphlet that examines the attitude of the rich towards the poor starving children in their society.

Jonathan Swift uses a number of rhetorical devices effectively as he highlights his proposal.