A Modest Proposal Summary

Eighteenth century Ireland was full of economic and religious struggles. The majority of the population was Roman Catholic, but then Protestants and Presbyterians came in, breaking up Catholic owned land and banishing the Roman Church hierarchy. Land was disputed between the groups in Parliament, and this showed some flaws in power in the Irish Parliament. (Baker) Protestants were at a clear advantage, being able to hold large estates and will land to their eldest son. Alternatively, Catholics had to divide all their land to all male heirs, and over their time their land shrunk into small plots. Catholics were restricted from voting, marrying a Protestant, joining the armed forces, owning weapons, even for self protection, or being educated …show more content…
The way he gave these suggestions, however, was extremely sarcastic. In the essay, he seems to brush them off as nothing, only passing thoughts. He knew that those suggestions were actually unattainable, like having all landlords be more merciful to their tenants. The problems in Ireland were the government and the wealthy people. Landlords at the time would charge tenants a considerable amount, and then be unforgiving if the tenants could not pay it on time. The Irish government gave seemingly unfair advantages to Protestants, and restricted the rights of Catholics. Swift was sickened by the state of his country, so therefore, A Modest Proposal was written. A Modest Proposal was one of Jonathan Swift’s more controversial works. It is a harsh criticism of the state of eighteenth century Ireland, and was a bold satire. It was meant to be thought provoking, and point out some real flaws in society. Swift challenged the status quo, because he cared about his country, and didn’t like the state that it was