Rhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal

Swift, Jonathan. 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 public. 1729. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1080/pg1080-images.html.
In this passage from A Modest Proposal, Swift explores the idea of cannibalism and why this proposal was created. Through the use of satire, rhetorical tropes and political implications, Swift is able to create a convincing proposal to persuade his audience to his idea of a perfect world.
This can be exhibited through the first few sentences where Swift uses melodramatic phrases through describing how he has “been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts” (Swift)

Swift explains that “(he is) not so violently bent upon (his) own opinion” (Swift) but however if it were “proposed by wise men”(Swift) it will be found as a “innocent cheap, easy, and effectual” (Swift) proposal. This can be considered as Swift addressing the audience, especially the male population of his audience. This can also be taken as Swift referring to political stands as he addresses wise men to propose his proposal. Swift then continues by addressing the audience and asking “author(s) to consider the two points” (Swift) he is about to propose. One of these points is that by resorting to cannibalism, this will allow “for a hundred thousand useless mouths and backs” (Swift) to find food. This can be seen as the narrator using his writing to voice his opinion to the audience by referring to individuals as useless. The second point addresses the economic state of the country and how selling “the beggars” (Swift) will allow for the economy to grow. This can be seen as a persuasion technique as Swift discusses how they is “millions of creatures, who would be debt of two million pounds sterling if begging was a profession” (Swift). This convinces the audience to perceive the country’s people as beggars who don’t work for what they need, pushing Swift’s idealistic views onto them. Swift also elaborates on his point further through discussing the politicians who may oppose him and how they may “first ask parents of these mortals (referring to the adults as if they were still children) whether they would not at this day think it as great happiness to have been sold for food at a year old” (Swift). This demonstrates that Swift does not have any sympathy towards others and believes that his proposal is the way to a prosperous future where children are currency in common trade. These two points correlate with the remainder of the text; ‘A Modest Proposal’ as these themes