Today we discussed Swift's GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. We were to have discussed Moliere's The Misanthrope but several in the class were missing due to Hallowe'en so we watched a BBC version of the play and we'll discuss it next week instead. Stephen left us with an intriguing thought which was to consider Celimene's perspective as a young widow at 20 or so, and how she is fighting and manipulating to retain her independence.
GULLIVER
What were the objects of Swift's satire in each voyage?
Lilliput - English and Irish society; religion (transubstantiation and the Big-Endians and Little-Endians) - getting into the modern times by 17th c. Aristotelian idea of the world is being disproved in Western Europe (Swift, Moliere and Montaigne - didn't defend the old but not embracing the new)
Questioning: Given that we have to change - is this the way to go?
Actual body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation) vs representative - Medieval debate and became a critical issue during the Protestant Reformation.
This time period was a tipping point for the culture - Western civilization ended up going towards Sciences and power politics, and we saw the decline of religion (in Western world).
Risky at that time to question - could be tried and executed for treason, for heresy
These days (20th c.) we use science fiction as satire since there aren't any undiscovered corners of Earth (other than the occasional use of lost Amazonian tribe scenarios in fiction).
Swift was mainly going after politicians, also hereditary aristocracy and high clergy
Starts with Gulliver as giant (self-satisfied), progresses to small (misanthropic), assaulted by nature and by the end Nature (Horse) is his master - at the time, much thinking about what was Nature, what was man's place in Nature.
Voyages of exploration especially by sea were the 18th c. version of Star Trek - going out into the unknown and finding new cultures.
No comments:
Post a Comment