CONCLUSION
8 December 2010 by KSENIIA
I think, after the presented overview of Jonathan Swift’s probably most prominent and most famous works, it is possible to draw some conclusions.
It is easy to see that satire plays a very important role in Swift’s writings. You can hardly find any work by him which will not contain any ironic observations, either explicit or hidden. And the author’s “obsession” with this stylistic device is clear: you cannot criticize overtly those who are in power if you want to keep your position in society or, sometimes, even life. However, Swift’s ingenuity allows him to show current problems of his time and even state his point of view (even if sometimes it is very radical and goes against the opinion of the government). He knows that satire protects him from direct accusations and possibility to end up in jail or gallows.
As Swift’s major concern was about political and social issues of his country, he wrote nearly always about that. That is why nearly always we find his writings satirical and ironic. Without the protection of humour, sometimes good-natured, sometimes bitter, one could not talk about the problems of economy, religion, education, poverty, literature, knowledge, etc. as it would be extremely dangerous.
The nature of Swift’s satire can be very different. I think it depends on the topic the author deals with. Very often, if he speaks about some ambiguous questions as religion or literature, Swift uses softer and funnier satire. He does not sound categoric and does not impose any of his thoughts on the reader. Moreover, it can be difficult to understand his own attitude to the problem, probably because he does not want to support openly any of the participants of the conflict. He keeps the distance to be objective in his presenting the state of affairs to the reader.
However, sometimes the topic may be too serious or too painful for the author to laugh about it light-heartedly. Usually it is the topic about his motherland, Ireland, that provoked his bitterest satire. From time to time it may even stop looking as satire but turn into a political petition calling for action. The emotions of disappointment, anguish, worry and love for his country and his compatriots become too strong to be hidden under the cover of humour and irony.
In any case, Swift’s powerful weapon called satire proves to be a very effective one. With the help of it the author reveals and ridicules the flaws of his society and urges his contemporaries to act and rectify the situation, or, at least, to be aware of it.