A Look at Society Through Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels

The royalty of England in the early 1700's are characterized by powdered wigs, rich textiles, and heavy ornamentation. They are also associated with excessive fanfare, mental illness, and wildly nonsensical decrees. Gulliver, whose story takes place during this glittering period, is a traveler whose journeys take him to unknown, bizarre lands. Each place Gulliver visits is inhabited by a curious, flourishing monarchy, with flaws parallel to those of his native England. The ridiculousness of each of these countries is the heart of the story, which is a rather unforgiving satiric analysis of the often less-than-glamorous English royal court. The exaggerated, zany lands Gulliver visits in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels satirize the pompous, ridiculous nature of 18^th century English royal courtiers.