Utopian Satire in Gulliver's Travels
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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript _has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely. event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml48106-1346 USA 313.'761-4700 800.'521-0600 "NO MORE EXISTENCE THAN THE INHABITANTS OF UTOPIA": UTOPIAN SATIRE IN GULLIVER'S TRAVELS by Joseph E. Argent · A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Ph.D Greensboro 1995 UMI Number: 9531822 Copyright 1995 by Argent, Joseph Edward All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9531822 Copyright 1995, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 (S) 1995 by Joseph E. Argent APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Date of Acceptance by Committee M(J~c~ )-Cf, lttq~ Date of Final Oral Examination ii ARGENT, JOSEPH E., Ph.D. "No More Existence than the Inhabitants of Utopian: Utopian Satire in Gulliver's Travels. (1995) Directed by Dr. James E. Evans. 262 pp. This study provides the first book-length examination of Gulliver's Travels as a utopian work. Swift relies on the genre of the utopia for the structure of each of the book's four voyages and as a means to further his satire on human nature, English society, and utopianism itself. The first two chapters introduce to the reader the methods and vocabulary of Utopian Studies, the critical approach utilized in this dissertation. They lay the foundation for the later examination of Swift's complex manipulation of the genre by analyzing various definitions of utopia, by examining the connection between satire and the utopian tradition established by Thomas More, and by detailing aspects of the structure and themes of utopias that served as probable sources for Gulliver's Travels. The remaining chapters explore each of Gulliver's four voyages as a separate utopia. Lilliput contains elements of both a eutopia and dystopia designed to serve as satiric analogies to Gulliver's England. Brobdingnag is a political utopia, whose virtues directly contrast to European corruptions. Laputa and Lagado are scientific dystopias which attack the utopianism of Francis Bacon's The New Atlantis and the Royal Society. Houyhnhnmland is an ambiguous utopia in which many of Swift's ideals are set forth, while at the same time swift satirizes Gulliver's irrational adherence to utopianism. The conclusion suggests further study of Swift's participation in the utopianism of the opposition Patriot Movement, which was dedicated to bring back England's past virtues. Works by swift, Bolingbroke, Pope, and Gay all contain utopian elements that further the criticism of England under the Walpole administration. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This utopian project could never have been completed without the Brobdingnagian effort of my Dissertation Advisor, LTim Evans. Thank you, you have been 11 a most magnanimous Prince." I would also like to thank Jim Ellis, Jean Buchert, and Tom Kirby-smith for reading the manuscript and offering several useful comments and suggestions. I am grateful for the support of my parents. They have instilled in me the love of learning and the tenacity required to see the successful end to my efforts as a student. They have taught me the way "to search out this Utopian ground." This dissertation is dedicated to my wife, Peggy. Her patience, encouragement, and word processing skills have been invaluable. But most importantly, she has taught me the true meaning of utopia. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page APPROVAL PAGE . • . 11 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 11.1 CHAPTER I . INTRODUCTION •..... c • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 Utopia and Satire . 1 Utopia and Swift 5 II. UTOPIA/UTOPIAN SATIRE/SATIRE OF UTOPIA .......•. 12 What is Utopia? . 12 Structure of Utopia ........................... 25 Themes and Motifs • . • . • . 3 3 III. LILLIPUT: TRANSFORMATION OF UTOPIA ........... 41 Utopian Capers . 41 "a most ingenious People••: Eutopia ........... 44 The Technology of Utopia ..•.•...............•. 46 "a most magnanimous Prince" .•......•........... 55 "Our ancient Constitution''····················· 62 Swift's Utopia ................................ 72 "the most scandalous Corruptions": Dystopia .. 79 IV. BROBDINGNAG: A PATRIOT UTOPIA •................ 91 Utopos Stands On His Head ..................... 91 An Imperfect Commonwealth ...................• 94 Utopia Magnified . 98 An Imper:fect People . 105 Gulliver's Other Eden .....•.................. 108 A Modern Patriot . 112 The English Dystopia .......................... 122 The Patriot Utopia ............. , . • . 127 V. LAPUTA, ETC.: THE PROSTITUTION OF UTOPIA ....... 143 The Battle of the Utopias ...................• 143 The Etymology of a Dystopia .................. 147 That Airy Region . 150 Tyranny of Dystopia .......................... 159 The Utopian Academy . 16 9 iv Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg 179 VI. HOUYHNHNMLAND: A MISANTHROPE IN UTOPIA 190 An Ambiguous and Inverted Utopia 190 Hard and Soft Answers 192 The Perfection of Nature 198 Perfect or Ideal? ..•.... 204 A Misanthrope in Utopia 216 VII. CONCLUSION 227 Utopos strikes out 227 Beyond Redriff 230 NOTES 233 WORKS CITED 249 APPENDIX 256 v 1 I INTRODUCTION: VISIONARY SCHEMES "I have now done with all such visionary Schemes for ever." --Gulliver to his Cousin Sympson Utopia and Satire Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's ~ravels is at once a satire, a utopia, and a parody on utopias. More precisely, it can be called "a utopian satire" because the utopia serves to further the satiric ends. While working in the framework of a utopia, swift masterfully manipulates the genre's conventions, bending the utopia to fit his satiric purposes, even when one of those purposes is to attack utopianism itself. However, it would also benefit our understanding of Gulliver's Travels to see that the book stands on its own merits as a utopia, not in spite of its satirical agenda, but because of it. "[U]topia and satire," Robert C. Elliott 2 explains, "are linked in a complex network of genetic, historical, and formal relationships" (3). During the course of this study we will see that the satire of Gulliver's Travels is following closely in the utopian tradition established by Thomas More. Furthermore, we will see that the utopia provides the book with an overall structural and thematic unity, while within each of Gulliver's four voyages Swift explores the idea of utopia. The primary purpose of this study is to examine Gulliver's Travels within its utopian framework and to provide the first book-length analysis devoted to Swift's complex, satiric use of the utopia and utopian themes. This study provides the needed breadth and scope to examine the utopian components of each part of Gulliver's Travels more fully than the existing articles and chapters of books. By examining the whole of Gulliver's Travels, I trace the utopian themes and motifs as they occur in each voyage. I also discover how swift's use of the utopia creates one kind of coherence for the separate parts of the book. Finally, I reassess Swift as a satirist by examining how his own utopian impulse, as well as his reaction to other types of utopianism, shape the satire of Gulliver's Travels. The emphasis on utopian satire will provide useful ways of reading several sections of the text. To accomplish this kind of interpretation, I rely on the critical approach of Utopian Studies, a field of inquiry designed to examine 3 various aspects of utopian thought. 1 The interests and vocabulary of Utopian Studies contribute to the consideration of probable utopian sources for Gulliver's Travels, isolating important utopian themes that Swift explores, discovering a multitude of motifs and techniques that are decidedly utopian, and supplying a precise terminology. Through this approach I have been able to re-assess some of Swift's satirical methods by looking at Gulliver's Travels as a utopia which uses the conventions of the genre in a multitude