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Gulliver’s Travels
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Click for Summary and Plot Overview - Gulliver's Travels 1
Characters
Gulliver - The narrator and protagonist of
the story. Although Lemuel Gulliver’s vivid and detailed style of narration
makes it clear that he is intelligent and well educated, his perceptions are
naïve and gullible. He has virtually no emotional life, or at least no
awareness of it, and his comments are strictly factual. Indeed, sometimes his
obsession with the facts of navigation, for example, becomes unbearable for us,
as his fictional editor, Richard Sympson, makes clear when he explains having
had to cut out nearly half of Gulliver’s verbiage. Gulliver never thinks that
the absurdities he encounters are funny and never makes the satiric connections
between the lands he visits and his own home. Gulliver’s naïveté makes the
satire possible, as we pick up on things that Gulliver does not notice.
The Emperor - The ruler of Lilliput. Like all
Lilliputians, the emperor is fewer than six inches tall. His power and majesty
impress Gulliver deeply, but to us he appears both laughable and sinister.
Because of his tiny size, his belief that he can control Gulliver seems silly,
but his willingness to execute his subjects for minor reasons of politics or
honor gives him a frightening aspect. He is proud of possessing the tallest trees
and biggest palace in the kingdom, but he is also quite hospitable, spending a
fortune on his captive’s food. The emperor is both a satire of the autocratic
ruler and a strangely serious portrait of political power.
The Farmer - Gulliver’s first master in
Brobdingnag. The farmer speaks to Gulliver, showing that he is willing to
believe that the relatively tiny Gulliver may be as rational as he himself is,
and treats him with gentleness. However, the farmer puts Gulliver on display
around Brobdingnag, which clearly shows that he would rather profit from his
discovery than converse with him as an equal. His exploitation of Gulliver as a
laborer, which nearly starves Gulliver to death, seems less cruel than
simpleminded. Generally, the farmer represents the average Brobdingnagian of no
great gifts or intelligence, wielding an extraordinary power over Gulliver
simply by virtue of his immense size.
The King - The king of Brobdingnag, who, in
contrast to the emperor of Lilliput, seems to be a true intellectual, well
versed in political science among other disciplines. While his wife has an intimate,
friendly relationship with the diminutive visitor, the king’s relation to
Gulliver is limited to serious discussions about the history and institutions
of Gulliver’s native land. He is thus a figure of rational thought who somewhat
prefigures the Houyhnhnms in Book IV.
Lord Munodi - A lord of Lagado, capital of the
underdeveloped land beneath Laputa, who hosts Gulliver and gives him a tour of
the country on Gulliver’s third voyage. Munodi is a rare example of
practical-minded intelligence both in Lagado, where the applied sciences are
wildly impractical, and in Laputa, where no one even considers practicality a
virtue. He fell from grace with the ruling elite by counseling a commonsense
approach to agriculture and land management in Lagado, an approach that was
rejected even though it proved successful when applied to his own flourishing
estate. Lord Munodi serves as a reality check for Gulliver on his third voyage,
an objective-minded contrast to the theoretical delusions of the other
inhabitants of Laputa and Lagado.
Glumdalclitch - The farmer’s nine-year-old daughter, who is
forty feet tall. Glumdalclitch becomes Gulliver’s friend and nursemaid, hanging
him to sleep safely in her closet at night and teaching him the Brobdingnagian
language by day. She is skilled at sewing and makes Gulliver several sets of
new clothes, taking delight in dressing him. When the queen discovers that no
one at court is suited to care for Gulliver, she invites Glumdalclitch to live
at court as his sole babysitter, a function she performs with great seriousness
and attentiveness. To Glumdalclitch, Gulliver is basically a living doll,
symbolizing the general status Gulliver has in Brobdingnag.
The Queen - The queen of Brobdingnag, who is
so delighted by Gulliver’s beauty and charms that she agrees to buy him from
the farmer for 1,000 pieces of gold. Gulliver appreciates her kindness after
the hardships he suffers at the farmer’s and shows his usual fawning love for
royalty by kissing the tip of her little finger when presented before her. She
possesses, in Gulliver’s words, “infinite” wit and humor, though this
description may entail a bit of Gulliver’s characteristic flattery of
superiors. The queen seems genuinely considerate, asking Gulliver whether he
would consent to live at court instead of simply taking him in as a pet and
inquiring into the reasons for his cold good-byes with the farmer. She is by no
means a hero, but simply a pleasant, powerful person.
Yahoos - Unkempt humanlike beasts who live in
servitude to the Houyhnhnms. Yahoos seem to belong to various ethnic groups,
since there are blond Yahoos as well as dark-haired and redheaded ones. The men
are characterized by their hairy bodies, and the women by their low-hanging
breasts. They are naked, filthy, and extremely primitive in their eating
habits. Yahoos are not capable of government, and thus they are kept as
servants to the Houyhnhnms, pulling their carriages and performing manual
tasks. They repel Gulliver with their lascivious sexual appetites, especially
when an eleven-year-old Yahoo girl attempts to rape Gulliver as he is bathing
naked. Yet despite Gulliver’s revulsion for these disgusting creatures, he ends
his writings referring to himself as a Yahoo, just as the Houyhnhnms do as they
regretfully evict him from their realm. Thus, “Yahoo” becomes another term for
human, at least in the semideranged and self-loathing mind of Gulliver at the
end of his fourth journey.
Houyhnhnms - Rational horses who maintain a
simple, peaceful society governed by reason and truthfulness—they do not even
have a word for “lie” in their language. Houyhnhnms are like ordinary horses,
except that they are highly intelligent and deeply wise. They live in a sort of
socialist republic, with the needs of the community put before individual
desires. They are the masters of the Yahoos, the savage humanlike creatures in
Houyhnhnmland. In all, the Houyhnhnms have the greatest impact on Gulliver
throughout all his four voyages. He is grieved to leave them, not relieved as
he is in leaving the other three lands, and back in England he relates better
with his horses than with his human family. The Houyhnhnms thus are a measure
of the extent to which Gulliver has become a misanthrope, or “human-hater”; he
is certainly, at the end, a horse lover.
Laputans - Absentminded intellectuals who
live on the floating island of Laputa, encountered by Gulliver on his third
voyage. The Laputans are parodies of theoreticians, who have scant regard for
any practical results of their own research. They are so inwardly absorbed in
their own thoughts that they must be shaken out of their meditations by special
servants called flappers, who shake rattles in their ears. During Gulliver’s
stay among them, they do not mistreat him, but are generally unpleasant and
dismiss him as intellectually deficient. They do not care about down-to-earth
things like the dilapidation of their own houses, but worry intensely about
abstract matters like the trajectories of comets and the course of the sun.
They are dependent in their own material needs on the land below them, called
Lagado, above which they hover by virtue of a magnetic field, and from which
they periodically raise up food supplies. In the larger context of Gulliver’s
journeys, the Laputans are a parody of the excesses of theoretical pursuits and
the uselessness of purely abstract knowledge.
Mary Burton Gulliver - Gulliver’s wife,
whose perfunctory mention in the first paragraphs of Gulliver’s Travels
demonstrates how unsentimental and unemotional Gulliver is. He makes no
reference to any affection for his wife, either here or later in his travels
when he is far away from her, and his detachment is so cool as to raise
questions about his ability to form human attachments. When he returns to
England, she is merely one part of his former existence, and he records no
emotion even as she hugs him wildly. The most important facts about her in
Gulliver’s mind are her social origin and the income she generates.
Gulliver’s Houyhnhnm Master - The Houyhnhnm
who first discovers Gulliver and takes him into his own home. Wary of
Gulliver’s Yahoolike appearance at first, the master is hesitant to make
contact with him, but Gulliver’s ability to mimic the Houyhnhnm’s own words
persuades the master to protect Gulliver. The master’s domestic cleanliness,
propriety, and tranquil reasonableness of speech have an extraordinary impact
on Gulliver. It is through this horse that Gulliver is led to reevaluate the
differences between humans and beasts and to question humanity’s claims to
rationality.
Don Pedro De Mendez - The Portuguese
captain who takes Gulliver back to Europe after he is forced to leave the land
of the Houyhnhnms. Don Pedro is naturally benevolent and generous, offering the
half-crazed Gulliver his own best suit of clothes to replace the tatters he is
wearing. But Gulliver meets his generosity with repulsion, as he cannot bear
the company of Yahoos. By the end of the voyage, Don Pedro has won over
Gulliver to the extent that he is able to have a conversation with him, but the
captain’s overall Yahoolike nature in Gulliver’s eyes alienates him from
Gulliver to the very end.
Brobdingnagians - Giants whom Gulliver
meets on his second voyage. Brobdingnagians are basically a reasonable and
kindly people governed by a sense of justice. Even the farmer who abuses
Gulliver at the beginning is gentle with him, and politely takes the trouble to
say good-bye to him upon leaving him. The farmer’s daughter, Glumdalclitch,
gives Gulliver perhaps the most kindhearted treatment he receives on any of his
voyages. The Brobdingnagians do not exploit him for personal or political
reasons, as the Lilliputians do, and his life there is one of satisfaction and
quietude. But the Brobdingnagians do treat Gulliver as a plaything. When he
tries to speak seriously with the king of Brobdingnag about England, the king
dismisses the English as odious vermin, showing that deep discussion is not
possible for Gulliver here.
Lilliputians And Blefuscudians -
Two races of miniature people whom Gulliver meets on his first voyage.
Lilliputians and Blefuscudians are prone to conspiracies and jealousies, and
while they treat Gulliver well enough materially, they are quick to take
advantage of him in political intrigues of various sorts. The two races have
been in a longstanding war with each over the interpretation of a reference in
their common holy scripture to the proper way to eat eggs. Gulliver helps the
Lilliputians defeat the Blefuscudian navy, but he eventually leaves Lilliput
and receives a warm welcome in the court of Blefuscu, by which Swift satirizes
the arbitrariness of international relations.
James Bates -
An eminent London surgeon under whom Gulliver serves as an apprentice after
graduating from Cambridge. Bates helps get Gulliver his first job as a ship’s
surgeon and then offers to set up a practice with him. After Bates’s death,
Gulliver has trouble maintaining the business, a failure that casts doubt on
his competence, though he himself has other explanations for the business’s
failure. Bates is hardly mentioned in the travels, though he is surely at least
as responsible for Gulliver’s welfare as some of the more exotic figures
Gulliver meets. Nevertheless, Gulliver fleshes out figures such as the queen of
Brobdingnag much more thoroughly in his narrative, underscoring the sharp
contrast between his reticence regarding England and his long-windedness about
foreigners.
Abraham Pannell - The commander of the
ship on which Gulliver first sails, the Swallow. Traveling to the Levant, or
the eastern Mediterranean, and beyond, Gulliver spends three and a half years
on Pannell’s ship. Virtually nothing is mentioned about Pannell, which
heightens our sense that Gulliver’s fascination with exotic types is not
matched by any interest in his fellow countrymen.
Richard Sympson - Gulliver’s cousin,
self-proclaimed intimate friend, and the editor and publisher of Gulliver’s
Travels. It was in Richard Sympson’s name that Jonathan Swift arranged for the
publication of his narrative, thus somewhat mixing the fictional and actual
worlds. Sympson is the fictional author of the prefatory note to Gulliver’s
Travels, entitled “The Publisher to the Readers.” This note justifies Sympson’s
elimination of nearly half of the original manuscript material on the grounds
that it was irrelevant, a statement that Swift includes so as to allow us to
doubt Gulliver’s overall wisdom and ability to distinguish between important
facts and trivial details.
William Prichard - The master of the
Antelope, the ship on which Gulliver embarks for the South Seas at the outset
of his first journey, in 1699. When the Antelope sinks, Gulliver is washed
ashore on Lilliput. No details are given about the personality of Prichard, and
he is not important in Gulliver’s life or in the unfolding of the novel’s plot.
That Gulliver takes pains to name him accurately reinforces our impression that
he is obsessive about facts but not always reliable in assessing overall
significance.
Flimnap - The Lord High Treasurer of
Lilliput, who conceives a jealous hatred for Gulliver when he starts believing
that his wife is having an affair with him. Flimnap is clearly paranoid, since
the possibility of a love affair between Gulliver and a Lilliputian is wildly
unlikely. Flimnap is a portrait of the weaknesses of character to which any
human is prone but that become especially dangerous in those who wield great
power.
Tramecksan - Also known as the High-Heels, a
Lilliputian political group reminiscent of the British Tories. Tramecksan policies
are said to be more agreeable to the ancient constitution of Lilliput, and
while the High-Heels appear greater in number than the Low-Heels, their power
is lesser. Unlike the king, the crown prince is believed to sympathize with the
Tramecksan, wearing one low heel and one high heel, causing him to limp
slightly.
Slamecksan - The Low-Heels, a Lilliputian
political group reminiscent of the British Whigs. The king has ordained that
all governmental administrators must be selected from this party, much to the
resentment of the High-Heels of the realm. Thus, while there are fewer
Slamecksan than Tramecksan in Lilliput, their political power is greater. The
king’s own sympathies with the Slamecksan are evident in the slightly lower
heels he wears at court.
Reldresal - The Principal Secretary of Private Affairs
in Lilliput, who explains to Gulliver the history of the political tensions
between the two principal parties in the realm, the High-Heels and the
Low-Heels. Reldresal is more a source of much-needed information for Gulliver
than a well-developed personality, but he does display personal courage and
trust in allowing Gulliver to hold him in his palm while he talks politics.
Within the convoluted context of Lilliput’s factions and conspiracies, such
friendliness reminds us that fond personal relations may still exist even in
this overheated political climate.
Skyresh Bolgolam - The High Admiral of
Lilliput, who is the only member of the administration to oppose Gulliver’s
liberation. Gulliver imagines that Skyresh’s enmity is simply personal, though
there is no apparent reason for such hostility. Arguably, Skyresh’s hostility
may be merely a tool to divert Gulliver from the larger system of Lilliputian
exploitation to which he is subjected.
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Symbols
Lilliputians
The
Lilliputians represent the human tendency to consider themselves the most
important creatures in the universe, but their tiny size and insignificance in
the world as a whole reveals the error in this belief. For example, even after
peace has been reached with the neighboring island of Blefscu, the emperor is
not satisfied with his victory. He wants to enlist Gulliver in continuing the
war so he can take over Blefscu. The emperor has little regard for his
neighbors because his beliefs differ from theirs, and he thinks his own importance
justifies the lives that may be lost if the war continues.
Brobdingnagians
The
Brobdingnagians' size magnifies both their best and worst aspects, symbolizing
how all humans have the capacity for great good and beauty, as well as ugliness
and evil. The farmer's family, Gulliver's first acquaintances in Brobdingnag,
illustrate both extreme greed and extreme kindness. The farmer himself has no
problem with exploiting Gulliver as a kind of sideshow attraction, to the
detriment of Gulliver's health. The farmer's daughter, who Gulliver calls
Glumdalclitch, is devoted to Gulliver's care, even leaving her family behind to
accompany Gulliver to the royal court so she can protect him.
Laputans
The
Laputans, and their ground-dwelling counterparts on Balnibarbi, symbolize the
futility of seeking knowledge without the means or desire to put it to
practical use. The Laputans eschew most normal human interactions, preferring a
life of the mind, puzzling over mysteries of mathematics, physics, and
astronomy all day. They are unable to construct sturdy homes, and their ideas
often cause them stress, but they continue to pursue knowledge for its own
sake. On Balnibarbi, the projectors engage in studies and experiments with the
aim of improving the lives of their people, but their understanding of science
and other topics is so incomplete that they lack the ability to construct
useful experiments or learn anything that might accomplish their goals.
Houyhnhnms
The
Houyhnhnms symbolize the rule of rational thinking and the benefits of
collective living, but also the loss of individual identity that comes with
extreme devotion to reason. While rationality has allowed the Houyhnhnms to
construct a culture based on benevolence and friendship, peaceful and
harmonious within, they are also overly beholden to the culture's rules and
norms. Therefore, a recently widowed Houyhnhnm does not outwardly mourn her
husband's passing, but she also does not live long after him. The master and
his family have affection for Gulliver but social pressures force them to exile
him. The denial of normal emotions prevent a full engagement with life.
Yahoos
The
Yahoos symbolize a complete loss of rationality in a primitive state, but they
also show how ongoing oppression can drive humans into this primitive state.
Ample evidence of their propensity for violence appears in the novel; Yahoos
fight one another; they hoard stones; and on one occasion a female tries to
sexually accost Gulliver. At the same time, the Yahoos have little and are
subject to abuse, enslavement, and rejection by the Houyhnhnms, which
introduces a chicken-and-egg scenario: Are the Yahoos rejected because they are
primitive, or are they violent because they have been rejected? Perhaps, as the
Houyhnhnms claim, the Yahoos are a lost cause. On the other hand, the Yahoos
have very little means for survival, which drives them to extreme measures.
Click for Summary and Plot Overview - Gulliver's Travels 1
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