Satire and Feminism in Literature: Swift and Wollstonecraft

Posted on Dec 19, 2023 in English

A Modest Proposal

Essay by Jonathan Swift
Clergyman and political writer Jonathan Swift used his pen to expose injustice in society.
pseudonym Isaac Bickerstaff, (born Nov. 30, 1667, Dublin, Ire.—died Oct. 19, 1745, Dublin), Anglo-Irish author, who was the foremost prose satirist in the English language. Besides the celebrated novel Gulliver’s Travels (1726), he wrote such shorter works as A Tale of a Tub (1704) and “A Modest Proposal” (1729).
“A Modest Proposal” is a grimly ironic letter of advice in which a public-spirited citizen suggests that Ireland’s overpopulation and dire economic conditions could be alleviated if the babies of poor Irish parents were sold as edible delicacies to be eaten by the rich. Both were published anonymously.


Text Analysis: Satire

Is a type of writing that ridicules people´s behavior or society´s institutions for the purpose of bringing about a change. Jonathan Swift used satire to comment on specific political and cultural issues that concerned and angered him.

Satirical Techniques

Verbal irony: a statement that says the opposite of what it means.
sarcasm: the use of a mocking tone.
overstatement: the use of deliberate exaggeration; presenting an outrageous or shocking ideas as if it were irrational.


Reading Skill: Identify Proposition and Support