A Modest Proposal

Irony in A Modest Proposal

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift is a seemingly outrageous proposal, but by the proposal he indicts the English Protestants for their cruel and inhumane treatment of the Papists, or the Catholics, through both economic and Political oppression. And Swift has ironically shown these oppressions, unawareness and cruelty of the Government, landlords and the masses by this essay.

Swift's motives for writing A Modest Proposal, which appeared in 1729, were complex. He lived in an Ireland which was a colony and it was politically, militarily and economically dependent upon England. It was clearly in England's interest to keep a weak Ireland that could not threaten England, and the measures that kept were weak. As a result, Ireland was a desperately poor country, overpopulated, full, as Swift said, of beggars. She was devastated periodically by famine, heavily taxed, and with no say at all in its own affairs. England controlled the Irish legislature. English absentee landlords owned most of the land. Irish manufactories were deliberately disabled so that they could not compete with those in England.

Jonathan Swift's masterful satire, "A Modest Proposal", proposes to solve the devastating poverty in Ireland by selling poor children as food for wealthy families. Swift goes on to explain how this would solve all of Ireland's problems from domestic abuse to poverty. Swift's projector explains his proposal in depth, in many ways treating these children as nothing more than a new type of livestock. Towards the end, however, Swift lists numerous reforms that could help the country. This list makes a change in tone.

In the essay, Swift shocks the reader with the idea of eating babies to solve the problems of famine and poverty in Ireland. However, Swift was not solely aiming at humorous comedy. The overstated proposal knocks the reader back, but certain passages in the essay seem to carry a hint of real, sustaining anger and revolution. As William Goodman, Dept. Of English, Brown University, Ontario, Canada, says, "Jonathan Swift's argument in A Modest Proposal is not just ridiculous; it is perhaps the most utterly and completely ridiculous argument ever written, and as such, it perfectly fits Swift's intentions."

In the essay, Swift ironically criticizes the inaptitude of Irish politicians, the hypocrisy of the wealthy, the tyranny of the English. This is seen most clearly when his projector muses that England would be more than willing to eat the Irish even without such a proposal, saying, "….I could name a country which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it."

Yet perhaps even more criticism is heaped on the Irish for not recognizing the horror of their own situation, and not taking constructive steps to remedy the problem. Without excusing any party, the essay shows that not only the English but also the Irish themselves and not only the Irish politicians but also the masses are responsible for the nation's lamentable state.

In the title of this essay, Swift categorizes these children as burden instead of assets. A child becomes burden to the country, or to the society, or to the family when he is deprived of five basic needs of human being and when he is unable to manage his livelihood by fair means to support himself and his family. Actually it is the duty of the Government to provide these facilities, but when the Government is busy with their own exploitation, human rights must be broken.

He asserts to provide the nation a very beautiful environment which will be better for everybody. He says, "But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the children of professed beggars; it is of a much greater extent..."After that he unveils his most inmost proposal saying , . "I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child, well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food..."obviously it is a shocking proposal, because no civilized man wants to eat human flesh. By saying this he has ironically indicated that, although the landlords, Governments, and other authorities are fully unaware to take constructive steps to solve the problem of population among the Irish people, they will be glad to get the advantages from them by any of cruel ways for their own exploitation.

His "Modest Proposal" offers statistical data, political analysis, and even future projections to the improvements that will e made upon the country. Swift not only points out the numerous advantages of his proposal, but also challenges other to come up with their own one that solves the problems of poverty and overpopulation in a manner that is more beneficial to their country.

As this essay is full of irony, Swift attacks sometimes the Governments, sometimes the landlords, and sometimes the masses. On a large level, he indicts the brutality of man as a whole. Even in the opening paragraph he says, "It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin- doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms." It is not the shame for those people only, but it is also a shame for the whole nation. This is why the nation itself is also responsible for this lamentable situation. His compassion for the bleak situation is severe one, and he includes a critique of their incompetence in dealing with their own problem.

His piece protests the utter inefficacy of Irish political leadership, and it also attacks the orientation of so many contemporary reformers toward economic utilitarianism. While Swift himself was an astute thinker, he often expressed contempt for the application of supposedly scientific management ideas to humanitarian concerns. The main rhetorical challenge of this bitingly ironic essay is capturing the attention of an audience whose indifference has been well tasted. Swift makes his point negatively, stringing together an appalling set of morally untenable position in order to cast blame and aspersion far and wide.

The very fact that such an immodest proposal can be given and received with such seriousness proves that all people involved have lost even the thinnest shred of human decency and respect. Moreover, Swift is very much sure that Irish Government, landlords and their rich people will be glad to eat human flesh without saying anything, because they have lost their sense.

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