“I
grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very
proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most
of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children.” (2635)
In this passage from Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” the author puts
forth an absurd thesis as a way of attacking English and Irish politics. In
order to better combat the poverty and overpopulation of his native Ireland,
Swift adapts the persona of a concerned economist. He pretends to promote
contemporary economic theories regarding the transformation of Ireland’s
deteriorating socioeconomic conditions. His satirical opinion that the wealthy
and powerful in Britain “seem to have the best title to the children” of
Ireland is a scathing commentary of British imperialism during the early 18th
century. He focuses on the cannibalistic “devouring” of Ireland’s resources suggesting
that Irish poverty and misery is caused by the gluttony of its absentee “landlords.”
Swift’s proposition is a bitter
indictment both of the exploitive English and of the exploited Irish. The
cunningly devised masterpiece is anything but a modest proposal. Instead, it is
an exaggeration of epic proportions. However, the author’s brilliant matter of
fact satirical style and unsophisticated treatise creates an appealing argument
because of its straightforward approach. The radical solution of rendering the
children of the poor as food for the table, albeit a savage concept, affords Swift
the opportunity to express his contempt for the English, and at the same time
criticize the Irish for their lack of resistance to British tyranny.
Swift’s witty
critique transcends the miserable conditions of Ireland, and the insipid theories
of modernism. In an abrupt manner, it touches on many of the vices of the human
condition. Generosity, decency, and tenderness are scorned, and the notion of having
the neighbor’s children over for dinner takes on a whole new meaning. The cold
rationality of the unidentified narrator strikes right at the heart and
cindered soul of the enlightened Whiggery, then reigning in London. The flaws
inherent to a strict rational way of dealing with social problems, during the
Age of Reason, are parodied by the deliberately depersonalizing
pseudo-scientific logic of an already morally reprehensible system that takes
economic profitability as its sole standard. When Swift looks at who stands to
profit from the sale of “infant flesh,” he includes not only the family that
earns the eight shillings, but also the discerning connoisseur who will earn a
certain culinary reputation by serving up such a delicacy, and a nation soon to
be made famous for its “Papist” pudding recipes. For example, “a well-grown,
fat, yearling child, which roasted whole will make a considerable figure at the
lord mayor’s feast…” (2637)
In
conclusion, Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” can best be described as cutting
wit at its finest. However, the piece can also be interpreted as an accurate
historical description of conditions in Ireland during the Restoration period.
The flawless reasoning in the article’s dietary motif is a persuasive appeal to
the Irish parliament to resist England’s will and reclaim its rightful
autonomy. It is an attempt to achieve positive change amid discouraging
circumstances. In the end, the power of this legendary work lies not in the
solutions that are offered, but in the acerbic method used to get there.
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