Essay on “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift

  1. Lemuel Gulliver is one of the most vivid and bright characters from the “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift that can be discussed in terms of morality and fictional integrity. This side of character analysis means that a character possesses high moral principles and is inherent in strong refusal to yield to corruption at the same time adhering to a code of strong moral principles.  At first glance it seems that Gulliver dreams of material pleasures and values: “My Father had a small Estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the Third of five Sons. . . . I was bound Apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent Surgeon in London . . . my Father now and then sending me small Sums of Money. . . . When I left Mr. Bates, I went down to my Father; where, by the Assistance of him and my Uncle John . . . I got Forty Pounds, and a Promise of Thirty Pounds a Year.” (Swift) However he is not a coward and fights for justice. On the contrary, Gulliver undergoes a terrible experience of nearly escaping the death of being devoured by a giant rat, imprisoned by pirates, sexually assaulted by a small girl, shipwrecked on unknown shores and shot with poison arrows. And that is definitely not all, as he endures a 16-year isolation from people and this is very hard to bear. But Gulliver is so brave and modest that he rarely talks about those things.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. The reason why Pamela, the main character of the novel by S. Richardson “Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded”, is sometimes regarded as prostitute, is rather vivid. It is not always easy to see the subtle fringe between moral behavior and the visibility of it. However, she is not a prostitute at all. She first faces the wrong attitude of society after her mother dies and she, a 15-year-girl, faces the sexual harassment of her employer. She is offended and upset, for she has nothing to do with her master’s behavior and everything she needs is work and a place where to eat and to sleep. Pamela’s words sound a little ironically while mentioning “a gentleman”. When she first realizes what her master is planning to do with her and her body, her only expression is offended propriety and moral outrage: “This very gentleman (yes, I must call him gentleman, though he has fallen from the merit of that title) has degraded himself to offer freedoms to his poor servant!” (Richardson) The situation gets more complicated after she falls in love with her persecutor and answers his feelings. However, it can be easily explained why she is often considered to be a prostitute, and why she is not. Being a servant, she gets money for her job. Prostitutes also get money for what they do. However, the job of a prostitute and the job of a servant differ in one aspect: loyalty. A prostitute must be a professional in what she does. This is what she gets her money for. But a servant must be loyal to his or her master and doing his or her job well, servants get paid for their loyalty. Pamela’s aim at serving was to show her loyalty to the family she lived and served in. Thus, by no means she is a prostitute.


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