Polotics in

Jonathan Swift was heavily involved in politics himself; he ‘published, anonymously, a political pamphlet, ''A Discourse on the Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome''.’ (http://brunei.asinah.net/en/wikipedia/j/jo/jonathan_swift.html). Swift maintained to be politically involved during the early 1700’s believing that he could change the society in place. Swift gave up politics in 1713 though due to the death of Queen Anne and the fall of the Tories. Although many consider ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ as a children’s book, this simply is not the case. Many consider it to be one of the greatest satires of the 18th century.

In Utopia, they regard Capitalism as one of the main downfalls of man and society; the Utopians believe that the poverty and crime was caused in order for a small majority of people to get rich. Utopia does not have this problem, due to the fact they have abolished money altogether for use in their community. It is believed that More went beyond simply destroying money, and argues that Utopian society ‘. . . destroys not merely money itself, but the very utility of money’, through ‘. . . the methodical and complete annihilation of the foundations of a money economy . . .’ (J.H. Hexter, More’s Utopia, p. 66-67). They do still have a large reserve of money for use in a time of crisis however, to bribe enemies in times of war. This shows a deviousness that could be seen as one of the problems that the Utopian society have; they are concerned for themselves and no other. In Utopia, the ‘government’ decided that the work that you do for the community, the good of the majority rather than the individual, pays for itself and you just receive your goods for free. The fact that everything is shared equally across the whole community, the sin of greed is gone. The political attributes throughout the Utopian society satirises the real political issues of England but More is very ambiguous over whether or not he truly believes that the Utopian society is preferable to the political situation in England with Henry the eighth in charge of the government. More did, however, believe that a world needs to have a system put in charge and that it was only the learned that could understand this, which would also explain why he wrote it in Latin, believing a Latin speaker would be learned enough to appreciate what he had to say about man and his need for a political system in which to govern their lives.

In Gulliver’s first book, when he meets the Lilliputians, the first he sees of them is once he is tied to the ground and rendered immobile. The Lilliputians use cunning to overcome the far stronger enemy by be civil and drugging him. The Lilliputians recognise Gulliver’s potential as a weapon and persuade him to battle the Blefescan. This entire situation parallel England’s political situation in Europe. The Lilliputians represent the English royal navy; working as one for the society, much as More showed in Utopia’, Gulliver representing the Countries controlled by the British Empire. His use in the battles between the two countries, Lilliputians and Blefescan, is the use of politic

Some topics in this essay:
Caesar Charles, Society Swift, Thomas More’s, Houyhnhnm Houyhnhnm, More’s Utopia, Crick Socialism, Queen Anne, Civil War, Brobdingnag Gulliver’s, England Henry, utopian society, ‘gulliver’s travels’, political situation, civil war, ‘ , 18th century, political system, heavily involved politics, houyhnhnm’s political, society political, 16th century,