Irony in Swifts A Modest Proposal Essay - 790 Words

Although I realize your concern, you have missed the point of this well thought out essay completely. Despite what you may think about A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift, this essay is a satire master piece filled with irony. Swift’s essay was not intended to convince people to eat babies, but to call attention to the abuses Catholic’s face from their well-to-do Protestants. He only uses eating babies in his essay to explain to the reader the impossible burdens the Protestants are imposing on the Irish Catholics and by making their life hard, they are making a life of a new born impossible. He makes his first point on page 411 when he tells the reader that eating babies is no problem for landlords because they have â€Å"already devoured†¦show more content†¦He is saying that Protestants are not caring and are ready to ruin the lives of many others. By saying that when asked as an adult, a Catholic would rather have been â€Å"sold at a year old†¦an d thereby avoided†¦misfortunes†¦ [and the] impossibility of paying rent† (416), he is again pointing out the mercilessness of Protestants. He is not saying that these people would like to be sold as food so cooking them up is acceptable, but bringing the point back to the fact that Protestants are being too cruel on innocent lives. Overall, Swift is also using irony by relating this unheard of cruelty to babies to cruelty animals. He suggests that buying children alive and â€Å"dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs† (411) is the best way to serve them. This was intended to tell the audience that the Protestants are basically treating the Catholics like animals with no regard to life. This carefully crafted technique lets the reader see how malicious the Protestants are actually being, and that they are killing Catholic babies alive by ruining any chance at a good life. Swift did not actually mean for people to go out and cook babies lik e pigs to get the most satisfactory, he simply meant that if you are going to treat them like pigs, you might as well eat them like pigs. If the people of Britain can’t see that through adults, maybeShow MoreRelatedIrony in Jonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal1101 Words   |  5 Pagesusually kept serious and Irony and satire are widely used in such writings. On the other hand while describing the recent developments in genetic engineering, the tone would be objective and humor or satire would be ineffective here. Jonathan Swift was famous for his sarcastic remarks on the government of his days and his works are full of satire and irony which appear to be humorous but carry a sharp edge which make them effective for expressing political ideas. â€Å"Irony refers either to a situationRead MoreModest Proposal Analysis Essay1122 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"A Modest Proposal† is an essay written by Jonathan Swift as a reaction to the social problem faced by the Irish in 1720’s. Swift’s daring dark and social satire and dark irony to make a statement in this literary work triggered the minds of the rich Englishmen and Irish landlords to question their actions towards the poor Irish people. By giving a drop of horror and barbarity sarcastically, Swift was able to attack the practices of those who were seated in power and exploited the rights of the impoverishedRead MoreJuvenelian Satire in A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift Essay1052 Words   |  5 Pagesgrievances or concern s can fall upon deaf ears and change can be slow or non-existent. However, Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet A Modest Proposal, uses clever, targeted, and ironic criticism to bring the social state of Ireland to the attention of indolent aristocrats. He accomplishes such criticism through satire, specifically Juvenalian satire. Swift’s A Modest Proposal stands as an example of the type of satire that plays upon the audience’s emotion by creating anger concerning the indifferenceRead MoreSatire Modest Proposal Essay837 Words   |  4 Pagesupon deaf ears and change can be slow or non-existent. However some social commentators, such as Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet A Modest Proposal, use clever, targeted, and ironic criticism to bring the social state of Ireland to the attention of indolent aristocrats. He accomplishes such criticism through satire, specifically Juvenanlian satire. Swift’s A Modest Proposal stands as a perfect example of the type of satire that pl ays upon the audience’s emotion by creating anger concerning the indifferenceRead MoreSatire of a Modest Proposal Essay1331 Words   |  6 PagesIrony is a beautiful technique exercised to convey a message or call a certain group of people to action. This rhetorical skill is artfully used by Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet â€Å"A Modest Proposal.† The main argument for this mordantly ironic essay is to capture the attention of a disconnected and indifferent audience. Swift makes his point by stringing together a dreadfully twisted set of morally untenable positions in order to cast blame and aspersions on his intended audience. Jonathan Swift’sRead MoreJonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal949 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"A Modest Proposal† by Jonathan Swift takes place in Dublin Ireland in the 18th century. The narrator is a very ironic character. His â€Å"modest† proposal is anything but modest. This short story takes place during a famine. Since there was a famine, Swift proposes the idea that people sell their one year old children to the rich so they would not be a burden to their family. One important way in which the author engages the audience’s attention and tries to help his readers see deeper politicalRead MoreJonathan Swift Satire Analysis1108 Words   |  5 Pagesomparing Irony In both Mark Twain and Jonathan Swift’s articles there is an effective use of irony. Irony in satirical writing is normally used for the speaker to convey the opposite intended meaning to which they are stating; along with antiphrasis, the use of a word when the opposite meaning is implied, irony makes a valuable asset to satirical literature. The sarcastic use of irony was input to both readings to express the writer’s disappointment towards their societies teachings during theirRead MoreA Modest Proposal For Preventing The Children Of Poor People1458 Words   |  6 Pages whose hard-hitting essay â€Å"A Modest Proposal For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland, from Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick† is one of the most popular and analyzed texts within the world of satire, and truly makes one think about the art. One article that explores Swift’s use of satire within â€Å"A Modest Pr oposal† is Paddy Bullord’s â€Å"The Scriblerian Mock-Arts† This essay delves deeply into Swift’s works, and the art of satire inRead MoreEssay about A Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift1165 Words   |  5 PagesIrony is a beautiful technique exercised to convey a message or call a certain group of people to action. This rhetorical skill is artfully used by Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet â€Å"A Modest Proposal.† The main argument for this bitingly ironic essay is to capture the attention of a disconnected and indifferent audience. Swift makes his point by stringing together a dreadfully twisted set of morally untenable positions in order to cast blame and aspersions on his intended audience. Jonathan Swift’sRead MoreA Modest Proposal Response846 Words   |  4 PagesModest Proposal Response Emily Pendyk Parsons AP English 11 December 18, 2011 Dear Mr. Smarmy: I am writing in response to your request of the elimination of Jonathan Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal† from the classrooms, libraries, and the school system as a whole. Let me begin by telling you that I took what you said into deep consideration, but after discussing with the work with some of the English teachers at Martin’s Groves Junior High School and conducting research on my own time, it’s