GULLIVER'S TRAVELS AS A MENIPPEAN SATIRE.

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Name: Divya choudhary

Course : M.A English

Topic : Gulliver's Travels as a Menippean Satire

Semester   : 01

Roll No      : 07

Paper No   : 2

Paper Name : Neo-Classical Literature

Enrolment No: 15101007

Email ID    : choudharydivya400@gmail.com

BatchYear   : 2015-17

Submitted To: Department Of English                     

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Æ     GULLIVER'S TRAVELS AS A MENIPPEAN SATIRE.

"The genre of Menippean satire is a form of satire, usually in prose, which has a length and structure similar to a novel and is characterized by attacking mental attitudes rather than specific individuals or entities". This is a ream broadly used to refer to prose satires that are rhapsodic in nature, combining many different targets of ridicule in a fragmented satiric narrative similar to a novel. Satire  is the genre of literature of sometimes graphic and performing art in which vices, follies, abuses and short coming are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations and society itself into improvement. This form is named after the Greek cynic menippus [3rd century B.C] of Godara, his work, which are all lost were and important influence. on Varro and Lucian. The menippean satire genre is named after him. His works, now lost, influenced the works of Lucian and Marcus Terentius Varro [116 B.C - 27 B.C]. Such satires are sometimes also termed Varronian satire. M.H Abram's classifies menippean satire as one form of indirect satire, the category opposed to the formal satire moves rapidly between styles and points of view such satires deal less with human characters than with the single minded attitudes or "Humours", that they represent: The pedant, the Braggart, the Bigot, the miser, The quack, The seducer etc Critic Northrop Frye observed.

"The novelist sees evil and folly as social diseases but the menippean satirist sees them as diseases of the intellect".

He illustrated this distinction by posting Squire Western (Tom Jones) as a character in novelistic realism, but the tutors Thwackum and Square as figures of Menippean satire.

Paul Salzman, taking menippean satire as a genre as rather ill defined. Describes it as a mixture of allegory, picaresque, narrative and satirical commentary. Frye found the term "cumbersome and in modern terms rather misleading" and proposed as replacement Anatomy (taken from Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy). In his theory of prose fiction it occupies the fourth place with the novel romance and confession. Menippean satire plays a special place in Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of the novel. In problems of Dostoevsky poetics, Bakhtin treats Menippean satire as one of the classical "Serio-comic" genres, alongside Socratic dialogues and other forms that Bakhtin claims are united by a "Carnival sense of the world", wherein "Carnival is the past Millennia's way of sensing the world as one great communal performance" and "is opposed to that one sided and gloomy official seriousness which is dogmatic and hostile to evolution to change". In a series of articles, Edward Milowicki and Robert Wilson, building upon Bakhtin's theory have argued that menippean is not a period - specific term as many classicists have claimed, but a term for discursive have claimed, but a term for discursive analysis that instructively applies to many kinds of writing from many kinds of writing from many historical periods including the modern. As a type of discourse, "menippean" signifies a mixed, often discontinues way of writing that draws upon distinct multiple traditions. It is normally highly intellectual and typical embodies an idea, an ideology or a mind set in the figure of a grotesque, even disgusting, comic character.

1.    Political satire - Universally applicable

2.    Human beings - Microscopic observation

3.    Sciences and technology - Its adverse effect

4.    Human race - Its futile and frivolous existence.

Gulliver's travels is an excellent example of menippean satire placing the everyman Gulliver into increasingly strange situations and having him try to explain his own society in a positive light. After hearing the stories of England, the king of Brobdingnag comments: "...I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl open the surface of the Earth". Those who speak with Gulliver often think themselves either in society and manners and since Gulliver only speaks the simple truth about his society the social attitudes of each society are strange but they seem to function for better than the otherwise normal English society of the book. Menippean satire lacks the focus, of the primary target rather than a single target, it takes a scattergun approach that aims poisonous prongs at multiple targets. It goes not follow a sustaining narrative and being more rhapsodic, menippean satire is also more psychological. Gulliver's travels as a whole, qualifies as a menippean satire as it satirised various aspects of the society all at once, having no fixed target. The person of Gulliver exposed all of Swift's intentions and concerns the best. In the four parts of Gulliver's travels. Lilliputians as insignificant corrupt politician, to Brobdingnagians as epitome of moral giants, lived in the land of Utopia where human pride was insignificant to Laputians as the mad scientists and lastly Houyhnhnms were animals and they represented the perfection of nature. The general theme of the satire is that serious defects affinity society. Politicians, religious leaders, social planners, military tacticians, educators indeed, all of society's elite- often hamper progress through political machination aggression, misguided science and art and out-and-out stupidity. Swift attacks intectuality of human beings. He shows the bitter truth of the society in a satirical way. Though his stories full of fiction but the real intent is different. Swift attacks man's wickedness and stupidity. In the first voyage, Swift tells us that the people were very tiny which indicates their narrow mind. We also come to know about the selection of government officials through rope-dancing. That is totally arbitrary and ridiculous. The description of the emperor, the court and the ministers of Lilliput give a realistic picture of English political life under George I, a picture which, although seen through a telescope, loses none of its essential features: the corruption of the ministers, the court intrigues and favouritism, the squabbles of the Whigs and Tories over trifling differences in policy, the demagogy of the religious slogans and many others.

There was a war going on between Whigs and Tories and the reason was about breaking an egg. Lilliputians argued, "That all true believers shall break their eggs at the convenient end, here the convenient and could be interpreted as the small end. People choose death rather than to surrender. Gulliver catches the ships at Blefuscu part.

In the second voyage to Brobdingnag, the condition is reversed. Gulliver is small and people are like giants. Some scholars are sent to examine Gulliver. The examine his shape and said that he could not b produced according to the regular laws of nature. Then they observed his teeth and said that be wins a carnivorous animal. One of them said that he might be an embryo. When Gulliver tells about his culture to the king, be makes fun of his culture and England seems insignificant to the king.  The national and individual identity is at risk here. The personal importance of an individual is threatened. Swift shows imperfection of culture and not of an organisation or a law. Gunpowder is a big achievement for Gulliver but for the king it has no significance.

On the third voyage to Laputa, be is attacked by some pirates it is a floating island which represents the distance between the government and the people. The king lives on the floating island and the people below it. Swift satirizes as the king has concerns for his people but never comes down to meet them. The voyage is totally imaginary. The king has two flappers servants with flappers stand besides their masters. Intellectual people like thinkers and scientists are busy in their day dreams. This world is totally different from Europe. People here are so busy that they never enjoy a minutes peace of mind. The society seems non-human the life here seems abstract and absurd. Very much different types of experiments were done here like agriculture, weaving and spinning, a method of building houses. Swift also describes about a land of sorcerers and magicians called Glubdubdrib. Unnatural things happened here like they had the power to called the dead spirit. People performed magic and called the spirits to renowned people. Swift also tells us that people are opinionative, peevish, coveters, morose, vain and talkative. They are not capable of friendship. They don't have affection for anyone. their prevailing passions are envy and impotent desires. Swift makes fun of women saying that they looked more horrible than men. They thought that women should be taxed according to their beauty and their skill at dressing. People here use technology Swift also satirises on the deformed human beings and deformed culture. People here are so called educated.

The fourth voyage is to the land of Houyhnhnms.  who are horses endowed with reason. People are greedy and selfish whereas animals are rational and cultured. Swift challenges the traditional idea the humans are rational animals. Swift presents the truth about human nature in opposition to illusion. Swift controls Gulliver's voice. Swift makes him unreliable and untrustworthy while inserting him into a variety of social situations with ever changing conventions. Swift goes beyond the languages those of class, gender and ethnicity by creating different languages and social systems and bringing his author character into them. This type of satire is normally very intellectual and embodies an idea, an ideology or a mind set. An attack on mental attitudes rather than specific individual.

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