In Gulliver's Travels, a novel written by Jonathan Swift, there are many political themes and satirical descriptions of the English government. During Swift's time, in the early 1700s, the Tory government and the Whig government opposed each other. Hoping they would make him a member of the Church of England, Swift joined the Conservatives, but was not appointed to the position by the Queen. When the Tory government got into trouble for treason with the French, the Whig government took over and Swift abandoned politics to publish Gulliver's Travels to show the disagreements between the two parties and between the Protestant English and the Catholic French, who were not d agreement on religious questions. values. Swift also wrote Gulliver's Travels to show his idealized vision of English society. In the novel, Swift criticizes the government as he recounts the adventures Gulliver has on different islands with groups of foreign and unique people. In a way, Swift creates utopian societies on Lillitupian Island and Brobdingnag Island to show the imperfection of the government that existed in England. When Gulliver, Swift's main character, interacts with these societies, he criticizes some of their customs and laws. He notes that these societies are not utopian from his point of view. While there are many themes in Gulliver's Travels, this article will focus on the first and second parts, examining the utopian societies that Swift creates for Gulliver to experience through his interactions with the government system of the Lilliputians and the Brobdingnagian people. In the first part of the novel, Gulliver sets sail for the Pacific Ocean and, dramatically, a storm sinks his ship, dragging him to an island. On the island, the Lilliputians, who are twelve... half of the card... whose main goal is to prevent civil wars. This type of army represents Swift's ideal militia, rather than a professional army. The Brobdingnagians show Utopia Swift's wishes for England because the way England was governed caused a lot of conflict between the people. As can be seen, Gulliver's Travels is a good example of Swift's idea of English government. The novel satirizes the way English government was superficial through Lilliputian society and the type of government England should have through Brobdingnag society. Swift was able to make a social statement through his utopia of “pushing an ideal, ideology, or political demand to its logical extreme to have it serve as a warning to society.” (A Novel Approach to Politics pg.21) Utopia served as a satirical comedy to reach England and show the mistakes of the government.
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