England in the 1720s

During the 1720s, while Swift was composing Gulliver's Travels, England experienced significant political upheaval. George I, a Hanoverian prince from Germany, ascended to the British throne in 1714 following the death of Queen Anne, which marked the end of the Stuart dynasty. Although George I was neither a tyrannical nor oppressive ruler, he was generally disliked. He secured his throne with the support of the Whig party, whose ministers subsequently exploited their newfound power to suppress members of the opposing Tory party. Swift, a Tory since 1710, deeply resented the Whigs' actions against his friends, who often faced exile or worse. Understanding the political dynamics in Europe and England during this period can enhance the reader's comprehension of Swift's satire in his novel.

The Restoration

The Restoration period commenced in 1660, just a few years before Swift's birth. During this time, Charles Stuart (King Charles II) ascended to the throne, reinstating the Protestant Stuart family as England's rulers. Charles II championed a robust Church of England, also known as the Anglican Church, and garnered support from the Tories, a political faction composed mainly of church officials and landowning aristocrats. Protestants opposed to the Anglican Church aligned with Roman Catholics to form the rival Whig party. A significant point of contention between these parties was the Test Act of 1673, which mandated that all government employees partake in communion according to Anglican customs, effectively barring non-Anglicans from holding government positions.

Swift endorsed the Test Act and switched allegiance from the Whigs to the Tories in 1710, believing that a strong Church of England was essential for maintaining governmental balance. Throughout his life, Swift maintained that institutions like the church and government needed to be strong to curb human tendencies toward chaos and sin, a theme he explored in Gulliver's Travels. However, over time, Swift came to see the Tories as culpable as the Whigs for engaging in partisan politics, bickering over trivial matters, and causing governmental deadlock. When one party gained favor with the reigning king and power in Parliament, it would attack the opposition, leading to exile and imprisonment for its members. Swift satirized these selfish and petty political squabbles in Part I of Gulliver's Travels, where the Lilliputian heir (a representation of the future King George II) must walk with one short heel and one high heel as a compromise between the two parties, each of which favored different heel heights.

The Glorious Revolution and War of Spanish Succession

In 1685, Charles II's brother, King James II, a Catholic, ascended the British throne. He promptly repealed the Test Act and began appointing Whigs to his government. The Anglican-controlled Parliament secretly negotiated with William of Orange, the Protestant Dutch husband of James's Protestant daughter, Mary, to take over the throne. In December 1688, William did just that, and James II fled to France without resistance. This event was termed the Glorious Revolution because it occurred without any bloodshed.

Shortly after King William III and Queen Mary II assumed power, the Catholic Louis XIV of France declared war on Spain over trade and religious disputes. William sided with Spain in what the English called William's War. Jonathan Swift satirized this conflict in his depiction of the war between the Lilliputians (England) and the Blefuscudians (England with the Spanish, Dutch, and Germans as allies) against France. Concurrently, England was also engaged in a conflict with Ireland. Irish Catholics sought independence from British rule, and England feared France might invade through a sympathetic Ireland. Peace was achieved in 1697, but England gained little from the war, receiving no land in Spain. To project strength, William declared war again, this time against both Spain and France, initiating the War of Spanish Succession.

When William died in 1702, his daughter Queen Anne took the throne. The war continued, while at home, the Whigs and Tories quarreled. Many Whigs, who were merchants benefiting from the war, wanted the fighting to persist. In contrast, the landowning Tories wanted the war to end, as it devalued their property. Swift supported the Tories' efforts to stop the war by becoming the editor of their newspaper, the Examiner. His influential writings, along with his friend Bolingbroke's secret negotiations with France, helped end the war in 1713 with the Treaty of Utrecht. Despite these efforts, Queen Anne appeared ungrateful; she later exiled Bolingbroke and ruined Swift's chances of a career in the Church of England. Consequently, Swift returned to Ireland to seek employment as an Anglican priest.

Ireland

Catholic Ireland had been under British domination since the fifteenth century, as England was perpetually paranoid about a possible French or Spanish invasion via Catholic Ireland. England's oppressive policies had plunged Ireland and its people into poverty, which infuriated Swift. He was particularly outraged when Sir Isaac Newton, tasked with overseeing Ireland's economics, supported a currency law detrimental to the Irish economy. Swift's anonymously written The Drapier's Letters inspired the Irish to unite against England and successfully force the repeal of the law. The Irish protected Swift's anonymity, and for his efforts, Swift remains a hero in Ireland to this day.

The Enlightenment

Amidst the political debates of the time, the optimistic Age of Enlightenment was thriving. Thinkers, philosophers, and scientists like John Locke, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton were pioneering new fields, posing fresh questions, and conducting experiments. They rejected the old belief that humanity is inherently sinful due to Adam and Eve's fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. They argued that human reasoning could save individuals from their sinful tendencies. They believed that humans could create a utopia, a perfect society that addresses the issues of mankind. However, Swift strongly disagreed. He believed that reason could be misused for foolish or selfish purposes just as easily as for good, and that humans could never overcome their inherent sinful nature to create a utopia on earth. In Part III of Gulliver's Travels, he satirizes the foolishness of Enlightenment scientific and theological musings and experiments. This is followed by his depiction of a utopian society, the Houyhnhnms, into which humans can never truly integrate.

Given that any critique of human nature can be unsettling, some readers might struggle with Swift's bleak perspective on humanity. In Gulliver's Travels, only a handful of commendable human examples are portrayed, and these characters receive no acknowledgment or praise from Gulliver. The Brobdingnagian king is compassionate and wise, yet Gulliver dismisses his insights. The inhabitants of Laputa and Balnibarbi, particularly Gulliver's host in Lagado, are amiable, kind, and generous, but Gulliver seems oblivious to their admirable behavior. Don Pedro de Mendez, the most kind-hearted and generous character, is merely tolerated by Gulliver. Gulliver idolizes the Houyhnhnms irrationally, though they appear to us as lifeless beings governed solely by cold logic. Gulliver himself becomes contemptible as he distances himself from humanity. Consequently, readers are left with a profoundly dismal view of mankind.

Swift avoids direct references to religion, yet he subtly mocks religious disputes. Those looking for the promotion of Christian virtues as a means to uplift humanity will be let down. Additionally, Swift's fascination with bodily functions, odors, and anatomical parts is evident. Although this interest is not expressed crudely, it is not shied away from, and some might feel Swift dwells on it excessively. Gulliver vividly recounts his own difficulties with natural bodily functions and being targeted by another creature's excrement. Swift clearly believed that bodily functions pertain to our baser nature and used them to convey his revulsion towards humanity. While Gulliver's Travels is not obscene, it does contain imagery that some readers may find offensive.

1720s: Robert Walpole becomes England's first prime minister, granted significant authority by the German-born King George I to govern the nation.

Today: The British monarch serves as a ceremonial figurehead, while the prime minister holds actual governing power. The Parliament continues to be composed of the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

1720s: The Great Awakening begins to spread throughout the American colonies, with charismatic evangelists converting people to Protestantism. In England, John Wesley, an Anglican priest, initiates the Evangelical Methodist movement in 1729.

Today: Out of 1.9 billion Christians globally, nearly half (968 million) are Roman Catholic, 70 million are Anglican (Episcopalian), 218 million are Eastern Orthodox, 395 million are Protestant, and 275 million belong to other denominations.