Modest Proposal Analysis Essay Example

“A Modest Proposal” is an essay written by Jonathan Swift as a reaction to the social problem faced by the Irish in 1720’s. Swift’s daring dark and social satire and dark irony to make a statement in this literary work triggered the minds of the rich Englishmen and Irish landlords to question their actions towards the poor Irish people. By giving a drop of horror and barbarity sarcastically, Swift was able to attack the practices of those who were seated in power and exploited the rights of the impoverished. In “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift attacks the English and Irish aristocracy through the use of satire, metaphor, and irony. By equipping his literary work with sarcasm, Swift was able to create a whole new sense of scope that needs to be analyzed as a whole context itself rather than as a minute understanding of views that can easily be perceived if not properly comprehended.

Swift was able to voice out his point by employing satire in which undermined the limits of his true boundary about disseminating the violence that the aristocrats have created themselves. The idea that Swift is trying to give that he wants the government to employ digs a certain degree of their conscience to make themselves aware of their own practices. Satire became Swift’s mode of sword for him to pierce through the parliament of such cruel acts that is not any different from what he is suggesting in his proposal. Swift’s employment of dark humor to criticize the aristocrats became the body itself that shaped the harsh reality that the Irish were currently facing. As Swift states that “it is very well known that they are dying, and rotting, by cold famine, and filth and vermin.. they cannot get work and consequently pine away for want of nourish..” an underlying statement had already been created to form a caricature to mock the actions and attitude that is revealed among the practices of rich people of that time. The cannibalistic traits that Swift revealed in his proposal