Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Jonathan Swift was an English writer, essayist, satirist, poet, and political pamphleteer who took birth in Dublin, Ireland in the year 1667 and died in 1745. His parents were English. They shifted to Ireland during the English Civil War. Jonathan Swift’s father died when he was still a kid and then he remained under the foster care of his uncle Gordon Swift in Ireland where he attended Kilkenny College for his graduation. In 1688, Jonathan Swift returned to London and started working for William Temple as a personal assistant. He completed his post-graduation from Hart Hall, Oxford in 1692 after which he returned to Ireland, trying to be an ordained priest of the Church of Ireland. He chose to write satires and to avoid backlashes, he often published his works under pseudonyms such as Lemuel Gulliver, Issac Bickerstaff, M. B. Dappier, and Marcus Scriblerus. Some of his works were published anonymously. His first book was The Battle of the Books which was a satire against the critics of William Temple’s Essay Upon Ancient and Modern Learning that he wrote in 1696 but was published in 1704. His other more famous satire A Tale of A Tub was also published anonymously in 1704. A Tale of A Tub was a prose parody, a religious satire, or a spoof. It is a difficult satire to understand that Jonathan Swift wrote it as a defense of the British monarch’s control over the Anglican Church which was opposed by Thoman Hobbes in Leviathan. In Leviathan, Hobbes supported the sovereignty of the Church and to dissuade the threat, Swift wrote A Tale of A Tub. However, his work was misconstrued and misunderstood as a religious satire and Queen Anne considered it a blasphemous write-up. The work was also misunderstood as a spoof against the British monarchy.
The title of the book refers to the old practice of throwing a large tub into the sea in case of a whale attack on a ship. By throwing away a tub in the waters, the seamen used to distract the attacking whale. Similarly, Swift wrote this book as a tub to distract Hobbesian supporters demanding independence of the English Church from the control of the monarch. It is a religious allegory similar to that of Plato in Book IV of Republic in which Plato describes how the ship of the state is vulnerable to the whims of dissenting crew members who, under the pretext of the captain’s weaknesses fight over the possession of the ship. Jonathan Swift presented the same argument in which he expressed the defects between the government and the Church, and also, the various defections of religion including Catholicism, Protestantism, and Puritanism.
Along with the elements of religious satire, Swift also added parodies of contemporary issues and literature as “digressions” through various prose essays in between the chapters of the main story. A digression is a section of a write-up or speech that offers a temporary shift of the main subject.
Summary of A Tale of A Tub:
A Tale of A Tub is divided into Eleven chapters. The first chapter is the Introduction which begins with a ‘Blank Space’ that the author mentions later that he has lost some pages. It is a satire in itself and suggests that Introduction or ‘Foreward’ is tomfoolery. The author discusses the ways through which writers rise above the crowd like using ladders or making a pulpit to offer a speech so that their thoughts be known to the public. However, a good writer hides his best points rather than expressing them openly in the introduction. Thus, the author says that an Introduction is actually ‘hiding’ a nut in a nutshell. He then mentions the books he has read as references for his own book but the author describes the content of those books erroneously, suggesting that either he never read those books, or he simply misunderstood them, and that is one of the main themes of the book. The author suggests that people misunderstand what they read, for a variety of reasons and with a variety of results ranging from the comic to the tragic. The author mentions that his intention is to split his book into 40 sections, or chapters.
The main story of A Tal of A Tub begins in Chapter 2. The story tells about an old man who is on the verge of death. He calls his three sons named Peter, Martin, and Jack. This story is an allegory of the Reformation of Christianity in various sects. The three brothers represent the three main branches of Christianity. Peter is based on Saint Peter representing Catholic Church, Luther is based on Martin Luther representing the Church of England, and Jack is based on John Calvin representing Calvinism, the umbrella name for Puritans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Congregationalists, and Anabaptists. The father (representing God) gifts a coat to each son and commands them never to alter that coat through a will (representing Bible). The three sons are young and committed to the will of their father but with time, they face the demands of changing fashion. After traveling for several years, the three sons meet three ladies and fall in love with them. Gradually, they start committing all kinds of sins. The ladies insist that they must alter their coats to make them look more fashionable. All three sons want to add shoulder knots to their coats but any alteration is prohibited by the will. So they read the will again to find anything similar to the shoulder knot and seek the letters in the word “shoulder-knots” in their father’s will. They find those letters in the will and interpret it as an allowance to add shoulder knots to the coats. After that, they continue to find similar excuses to alter their coats while justifying their choices through the will.
The third chapter is a ‘digression’ titled A Digression Concerning Crtitics in which Swift satirizes contemporary literary critics. He makes a distinction between the “critic” and the “true critic.” In the same chapter, Swift discusses the debate over Ancient and Modern thought processes.
The fourth chapter furthers the main story. Peter is the eldest brother and thus, he dominatingly takes all sorts of titles and honors. He starts acting like a ruler and takes on various projects including buying a continent, devising new remedies, erecting a “whispering-house,” creating an office of insurance, supporting street shows, inventing a new kind of pickle, breeding a new kind of bull and handing out pardons to criminals. His practice of power soon makes him highly rich and he falls for the delusions of self-importance. His brothers, Jack and Martin try to intervene and help their elder brother to regain sanity but fail to do so. To avoid the ire of their powerful brother, they decide to leave him. They decide to translate the will of their father into the common trending language of the time. This new translation offers them new insights into what their father actually wished for.
In the fifth Chapter, Swift brings upon a digression titled “A Digression in the Modern Kind” in which he justifies the act of digression and suggests that in some cases, diversion may prove to be more instructive than instructions themselves. In this digression, Swift continues the Ancients versus Moderns topic and criticizes Modern forms of thought.
Chapter six resumes the story of three brothers. Peter is still very rich and high-headed with the gained power. However, Jack and Luther are impoverished and weak. They live together to assist each other. While Martin keeps patience, Jack is very angry about their condition. Both of them wish to follow the true desire of their father and thus they begin to remove the alterations they had made to the coats under their brother’s influence. Martin, being patient, starts removing the adornments gradually and carefully but Jack is clumsy and he decides to remove all the add-ons in one fit of anger. As he does so, his coat is torn down. This creates a rift between the two brothers.
Chapter seventh is again a digression titled “The Digression in Praise of Digressions” in which the author suggests that certain types of arguments may appear smarter and more illuminating than other sets of similar arguments. In this digression, Swift discusses the modern interpretations of wit and discusses how to appear wittier in modern times.
Chapter eight is also a digression in which Swift talks about winds and inspiration. Chapter nine is titled “A Digression Concerning Madness,” in which the author suggests that the youngest brother Jack has turned into madness. He criticizes Puritanism and then suggests that many madmen turned out to be genius and changed the course of history. Many such eccentric men were of religious convictions and then the authors give some examples. Swift describes madness as an ‘excess of vapors’ that creates genius. The author says that Jack has turned mad and has established a new sect named Aeolistism or ‘wind worshippers.’ Jack devises a ritual for all his followers that involves filling themselves with air and then grotesquely disgorging it by belching.
In chapter ten, Swift discusses different types of readers as ‘the superficial, the ignorant, and the learned.’ he suggests how each of the three kinds may perceive his book and says that he has written this story for the learned. In Chapter Eleven, Swift discusses the kinship of a traveler and his horse and how they help and assist each other on difficult terrains especially when they encounter obstacles such as dogs. Then he continues the story of the three brothers. Jack is deeply attached to his translation of the father’s will and asserts that he is the true son of his father. He uses his father’s will as an umbrella, a nightcap, a bandage, and so forth. Jack has turned into a hypocrite who remains ready to argue and quarrel at every instance and then complains that persecuted for defending the Christian faith. The author describes how Jack starts appearing exactly like the eldest brother Peter. Thus, the only sane brother of the three is Luther. The story ends abruptly without a conclusion with a note "Desunt non nulla" which means “Some things are missing.”
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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