It is a well-known fact that the linguistic heritage of J. Swift is characterized by vivid satirical orientation. In literary and aesthetic categorization, satire is considered to be an integral part of the more general comic category which is understood as a special form of relations to the reality. In this case, satire is not only a kind of comic, but also the specific means of artistic reproduction of reality revealing it as something distorted, incoherent, internally untenable through the comic, ridiculed, accusatory images. Satire creates an image of high conditionality, and is achieved by means of exaggeration, sharpening, hyperbole and grotesque. The ideal is expressed through anti-ideal satirist, that is, through his flagrant lack of conviction in the subject. Consequently, a satirical image is the result of deliberate distortion of the picture of human life for the purpose of showing clear negative aspects of life phenomena (Singh). Swift’s “Gulliver Travels” is closely related to his reality. In each of the parts of "Gulliver's Travels", the power of satire Swift consists in concrete facts, characters and situations which acquire common human sense, and are valid for all times and people. Judging from certain text examples, one should state that Swift is close to the use of Menippean satire principles in his “Gulliver’s Travels”.
Menippean satire is a genre of ancient literature, the kind of diatribe. It is characterized by a compound of philosophical reasoning with parodic satire. This genre is named after its founder, the writer Menippus the Cynic. Menippean satire distinguishes extravagant plots, intentional paradox of conflict and syllables, typical rapid transitions from serious considerations to the fantastic twists and sharp satire. The human characters are presented schematically, common are characteristic patterns, such as a bouncer, a fanatic, a miser, a seducer (Diniejko).
In “Gulliver’s Travels”, one of the features of menippea is represented by carnival laughter. This laughter is often found, especially when describing the practices, for example, rope dancers in Lilliput, Academy of projectors, or the description of the life of Jehu. Another striking example is when the little dwarf called as joy and terror of the universe, the monarch of monarchs who makes kings of the earth shake from fear. Also menippea is characterized by exceptional freedom of plot and philosophical fiction. This feature is also easily observed when the author sends his hero to the non-existent country, for instance, Lilliput, Blefuscu, Laputa, Brobdingneg, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glabbdobrib, describes the fictional creatures such as Houyhnhnms, midgets, giants, Jehu, their fictitious customs and so on (Choudhary).
Many scholars state that the most important feature of menippea genre consists in fantasy. The main function of fantasy does not lie in the positive realization of the truth, but in its quest, provoking, and challenging nature. For this purpose, the characters are raised to heaven, descend into hell, or visit the unknown fantastic countries. Swift character travels to unknown lands, and rises to heaven, for example, the flying island of Laputa, and talks to the dead on the island of Glabbdobrib. And it happens for a particular purpose. In his novel, Swift expresses different ideas, for example, the idea of the right customs, correct laws, and so on. Through the words of Gulliver, Swift criticizes customs of other countries and modern reality. It may be formulated in the following way: nothing but a bunch of conspiracy, troubles, killings, beatings, revolutions and expulsions are treated as the worst result of greed, hypocrisy, rage, partisanship, madness, hatred, cruelty, envy, lust, anger and ambitions. One of the most striking examples of the idea of challenges is represented through the idea of a natural person. It means that people, being in a natural environment, lose spirituality and turn into Jehu (Fuch).
Naturalism is another feature of menippea. Swift describes in detail what Gulliver eats, what he wears, how he lives, where he defecates. The author describes a strong flavor which comes from the giants, disgusting habits of Jehu climbing the tree and defecating out on Gulliver’s head. There is a special type of menippea, experimenting fiction. This feature of Menippean satire is used by Swift novel to describe Gulliver studying with interest, sometimes fear and bewilderment the habits of unknown to him countries. For instance, the Lilliput country has a custom when the Emperor expresses his mercy for those called to death penalty in the meeting of the State Council (Choudhary).
Menippean satire is characterized by psychology when the author portrays the image of unusual, abnormal moral and psychic conditions. For sure, it is easy to observe this feature at the end of the book when the protagonist I could not stand his wife and children, and even their smell was unbearable for him. In addition, every time Swift describes in detail the psychological state of Gulliver, when the character is in a certain country. For instance, being in the Lilliput country, Gulliver feels lonely, but at the Giants’ country he feels humiliation. Scenes of eccentric behavior, disorder of conventional and usual course of events, the established norms of behavior, speech and etiquette are typical of menippea. Eccentric behavior of Swift's characters is presupposed by the differences between the customs of the real and imaginary countries. Behavior of Jehu, the customs of the Lilliput country are found to be reprehensible by Gulliver, whereas the other characters often condemn the behavior of Gulliver.
Menippea includes elements of social utopia. Swift focuses on the utopian laws of the Lilliput country. This fact can be proved by the following example: if the accused can prove his innocence during the hearing, the prosecutor is immediately subjected to a shameful death. In the novel, Swift provides also the features of anti-utopia. Menippea is characterized by the extensive use of plug-genres. In the novel, Swift inserts a letter of Gulliver written to Richard Simpson, or the indictment midgets. Publicism is another feature of Menippean satire presented in the text. In the Swift's days, "Gulliver's Travels" was a very relevant and vital novel, as contained criticism of the government. And even now, after a long time, Swift's work does not lose its publicistic nature, and has became a model of ironic satire (Choudhary).
Disclosure of the major social contradictions in the novel is carried out in a generalized image of the state. England and Europe appear to exist in several dimensions and may be observed from different perspectives. So, tiny inhabitants of the Lilliput country are fantastic and satirical transformations of Europeans, the embodiment of the incurable vices of the society. Comparison and harping on creatures of different sizes gives the author an opportunity to show a person from a different perspective and discover new sides of human nature. The eyes of a Lilliputian perceive a human being as a huge creature, and the giant’s eyes consider a human very small. It shows that everything can be observed from various perspectives, nothing is absolute and the world is subjective. However, despite the small size, the Lilliputians have their own city, manners, customs, state, Emperor, Courtyard, ministers. And, most importantly, they have wise old establishments which are gradually supplanted by modern norms. Swift uses a materialized metaphor to show servility and skills required to pursue a career at the court of Lilliput. It is necessary from childhood to train dancing on a tightrope. It is necessary to show agility and jump over a stick which holds the emperor, or crawl under it. Adoption of the power and greatness of sounds from the mouth of Lilliput are comic and reveal the relativity of all authority. The struggle between the two parties existing at the court, the party of the high heels and the party of the low heels, serve to distract people's attention from the pressing issues of life. Party struggle complements the image of religious strife. Due to the fact, at which end to break the egg, the fanatics are going to die. Swift appears here against religious bigotry and religious prejudices.
The intrigue that against Gulliver is the first excursion into the domain of human nature and the ways it manifests itself in politics. Gulliver is not only protector of the state from the invasion of the enemy, but also saves the palace from the fire. For unknown reasons, the hatred towards Gulliver is growing, maturing and transforming into something terrible. But if the Gulliver's enemies offer to kill him, his friend offers a humane measure, that is, to poke out his eyes. He believes that this will satisfy justice and delight its softness all over the world (Fuch).
Swift implies his satirical ideas not only in genre peculiarities of Menippean satire, but also implements phonological, grammatical and lexical units in the text to preserve the satiric tone of the novel. In his language, Swift makes his attitude clear towards the royal lady, Queen Anne Stewart, the ruler of Great Britain and Ireland from 1702 to 1714. The author manages to weaken the high style through the use of synonyms-qualifiers with the connotative emphasis on animal instincts. Gulliver continues to praise the queen, and the more he does, the clearer becomes the satirist mockery at the queen. The ironic attitude towards the British Queen, based on hyperbolic metaphors and epithets, raises doubts to the veracity of such praise and reveals the critical attitude of the author towards the rulers of England. The description of the Goddess of Justice in the Lilliput culture is of the particular interest. This description is a travesty of Themis, that is depicted with a blindfold as a symbol of impartiality, with a cornucopia and weights in his hands. English military leaders have become another target of Swift. The author pays particular attention to those ones who made huge fortunes in the war for the Spanish Succession. The aim of the author is to expose the corruption of the army leaders. Swift uses comparisons to emphasize how profitable war is.
"Gulliver's Travels" depict a time when bourgeois relations thoroughly entrenched in all spheres of public life. The circumstances in this satirical work have only one direction of development, expressed in broadening and deepening the scope of evil. The author notices a lot of flaws in the politics of that time and expresses his satiric attitude towards the ruling power through language units that reveal the reality of that time.
Works Cited:
Choudhary, Divya. Gulliver's Travels as a Menippean Satire. Maharaja: Bhavnagar University,
2015. Web. 21 Jul. 2016
Diniejko, Andrzej. Menippean Satire as an Ancient and Modern Literary Genre. Warsaw:
Fuch, Dieter. Diogenes the Cynic, Alexander the Great, and Menippean Satire in Gulliver's
Travels. London: Cambridge Mass, 2008. Web. 21 Jul. 2016.
Singh, Raj K. Humour, Irony and Satire in Literature. Nepal: Sanothimi Campus, 2012. Web. 21
Jul. 2016.
