The Enlightenment in Gullivers Travels
The Enlightenment in Gullivers Travels
Not only does Swift discuss the ruling of individual groups of people, but he
also discussed the point of societies falling under strict rule. In Gulliver’s
adventure to Laputa, he is told the many ways that the island as a whole is used to
rule over the cities on the ground. They rule by using the ultimate power of being
able to control weather and cause severe destruction to cities (Swift, 124). Swift is
alluding that the island of Laputa is similar to that of absolutist rulers in England.
Absolutist rulers have almost all powers to do almost anything they wish to those
that they rule. However, similar to the city that successfully rebelled against the
floating island of Laputa, such philosophers as David Hume and Immanuel Kant
taught people that they should only be ruled if and by whom they want to be ruled.
In the case in Gulliver’s Travels, the city below the island did not want to be ruled
by the floating island, so they took action and were able to set up their own
government to live by their own society’s standards (Swift, 126).
Throughout all four islands that Gulliver comes across, he learns a new,
totally different, way of living at each island. Whether if this involves a new
language at each island, new types of food, or different ways to govern, Gulliver
adapts to each and finds strengths in each society’s rules and realizes that their
rules are well-suited for their specified needs. This ability for Gulliver to adapt
relates to the ability of societies across the world to learn and accept new cultures
and ideas from each other during the Enlightenment. This spread of cultures has
allowed societies to adapt ideas that allow for the betterment of their society.
Although Swift takes a very comical view of this using examples such as the fact
that the peoples of Laputa must be hit with “flappers” in order to talk or to listen,
this still shows that some societies act differently and Gulliver had to adapt also by
being hit several times on the ears and mouth while in conversation with the
Laputans (Swift, 114).
Although they are human in form and feature, the Yahoos are, indeed, animals.
They are filthy and they stink. They are omnivorous but seem to prefer meat and
garbage. (Significantly, they eat nearly everything prohibited by the biblical and
Levitical food codes.) They are "the most filthy, noisome, and deformed animals
which nature ever produced . . . " and they are "restive and indocible, mischievous
and malicious."
The Yahoos, however, are not merely animals; they are animals who are naturally
vicious and represent Mankind depraved. Swift describes them in deliberately
filthy and disgusting terms, often using metaphors drawn from dung. In terms of
their evolution, the words used to describe the Yahoos are "degenerating by
degrees."
Swift positions Gulliver midway — figuratively and literally — between the super-
rational, innocent horses (the Houyhnhnms) and the filthy, depraved Yahoos.
Gulliver, however, reacts to the Yahoos with immediate and overpowering
detestation and is horrified by the Yahoos' similarity to him. He lacks the humility
to see himself as a sort of Yahoo. Rather, his pride leads him to try to become a
horse. Gulliver will try with admirable determination to improve himself; he will
try to change himself into a more horse-like state, but he will fail. He is, simply,
more of a Yahoo than a Houyhnhnm.
Houyhnhnms live simple lives wholly devoted to reason. They speak clearly, they
act justly, and they have simple laws. Each Houyhnhnm knows what is right and
acts accordingly. They are untroubled by greed, politics, or lust. They live a life of
cleanliness and exist in peace and serenity. They live by the grand maxim:
Cultivate Reason and be totally governed by it. So perfect is their society, in fact,
that they have no concept of a lie, and therefore no word to express it. The only
word for evil is "Yahoo."
Swift thus establishes a range, or spectrum, of existence. The horses are literally
innocent, having never (in theological terms) "fallen"; the Yahoos are super-
sensual and seem depraved. The Houyhnhnms are ice-cold reason; the Yahoos are
fiery sensuality. In between these extremes is Gulliver.