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A Modest Proposal, By Jonathan Swift

1315 Words6 Pages

Firstly I would like to introduce Jonathan Swift as a person. I would like to mention his life, which we can say influenced his literature movement. Jonathan Swift was born as an Irish man shortly after his father passed. His birth is dated on 30th of November 1667 in Dublin. Although he was born in Ireland, he was raised up in England by his uncle, where he was very well educated. When Jonathan Swift was a young man, he graduated at Trinity College and then in year 1688 he worked as a private secretary to an english diplomat, Sir William Temple in southern England. This position was not right for him, so he chose to leave Temple and he became priest. After some time he came back to Sir William Temple and worked for him until Temple’s death …show more content…

But the main point is, that this essay is satirical and it is very important to understand, that he was not serious about cannibalism and other suggestions mentioned in his work. Main features of satire are irony, sarcasm or parody, and Jonathan Swift used these means to point out critical situation in Ireland. A Modest Proposal was misunderstood and misinterpreted many times, because people could not understand the irony and they got offended by Swift’s …show more content…

What I mean is, that he made some kind of “proposer” who has his own characteristics. We can see that this person is cold-hearted and he acts as he really do not care about other people. He works with his calculations and suggestions in very calm and reasonable way and he thinks about suffering people and children only as they were some statistical subjects. He propose his ideas as he is reformer. The speaker performs as a member of the upper class in Ireland and also as a Protestant.
After reading Jonathan Swift´s essay, we should feel or know, what really satire is. The main message of A Modest Proposal and also others satirical works is not to make readers laugh. These works are written to warn people and make them think about topics. Satirical works can also make people change their opinions about the conditions in society. When I read this essay the first time I was shocked and I did not know if I should take it seriously or if I should laugh. Then I started to read background information and the more I read the more I was realizing what was Jonathan Swift´s main reason at writing his satirical essay. I am sure, that Jonathan Swift’s work, A Modest Proposal, made people think about their situation more and that is the point of his

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