Though the fist quarter of the seventeenth century was relatively peaceful, the second quarter was filled with much political corruption, upheaval, and fighting. In 1625, James I died and Charles I succeeded the throne. He appointed William Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1632, and Laud soon angered the Puritans by allowing sports to take place on Sundays. Many of the Puritans emigrated from England to North America when he began imprisoning, torturing, and executing them and other non

At the beginning of Gulliver’s Travels, Lemuel Gulliver is a physician who signs up as a ship’s surgeon in order to be able to provide for his family. He is shipwrecked, and arrives at the island of Lilliput, whose inhabitants are about six inches tall and the citizens’ small size reflects the pettiness of the political system. With the advantage of extreme size on his side, Gulliver helps the king of Lilliput by attacking and capturing the naval fleet of the neighboring island of Blefuscu. Gulliver finally escapes Lilliput and returns to England for a short time before he goes on a second voyage to Brobindag.

Jonathan Swift’s style is composed chiefly of satire, allegory, and irony. Swift used satire to examine both the achievements and shortcomings of individuals and society. Because of this, he is considered the foremost prose satirist in the English language and one of the greatest satirists in world literature. “Satire consists of a mocking attack against vices, stupidities, and follies, with an aim to educate, edify, improve.”(Fietlowitz 3) Another one of Swift’s most important tools is allegory, which is a device in which characters, situations, and places have a significance that goes beyond simply what they are in themselves. Allegory, like satire, is used to teach. Irony is when the intended meaning of a statement or an action is opposite to that which is presented. An excellent example of irony is when the Brobdingnagians appear gross, but are filled with beauty.

Once he arrives in Brobdingnag, Gulliver finds himself dwarfed by sixty-foot tall inhabitants. His now tiny size makes him extremely dependent on others for security and care, and huge rats and a curious toddler endanger him. Disaster breaks out when a gunpowder show, intended to impress the Brobdingnagians, goes terribly wrong. A speech he delivers to the Brobdingnagians, which describes the English political practices of his day, is also met with contempt. Being forced to live in a miniature box, Gulliver suddenly leaves Brobdingnag when a giant eagle flies off with him and drops him in the ocean, where a ship rescues him.

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