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Gulliver's Travels | The Hairy Maid at the Harpsichord: Some Speculations on the Meaning of Gulliver's Travels

This critic shows how Gulliver is treated as a monster during his journey, and argues that Gulliver accepts and even encourages this role in order to distinguish himself as an individual.

When Gulliver first appears on the shores of the several remote nations he visits, the inhabitants respond to his monstrosity much as Londoners responded to monsters at Bartholomew Fair. The Lilliputians show "a thousand Marks of Wonder and Astonishment" when they first see him, and when he rises to his feet, "the Noise and Astonishment of the People ... [were] not to be expressed." In Brobdingnag, Gulliver "was shewn ten Times a Day to the Wonder and Satisfaction of all People." The Laputans "beheld [him] with all the Marks and Circumstances of Wonder." Not even the rational Houyhnhnms...

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