Indeed Swift’s satire is seen as “savage, relentless” whereas Gay’s is “gentle and comic” (Dearing 16). Swift is, of course well known for his very judgemental and political satires as well as his political engagement first with the Whig then the Tory. Yet Swift was the first to put politics in ridicule either by ‘reducing’ them as he did in Gulliver’s Travels where in Book 1 the Whig and Tory division is represented by a separation inside the Lilliputian court according to the size of their shoe heels, between high heels and low heels or by taking an extreme stance. But his satires did not criticized or points out the negative, on certain cases it also furnishes an answer to the problem it had raised. Indeed in A Modest Proposal for instance
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Humans are seen as commodities, the character of Pleachum discusses others in relation to what they will bring to him in term of monetary value. This critic of the loss of humanity towards capitalism is also criticized by Swift in A Modest Proposal where cannibalism is offered as a possibility for it would be financially preferable, but also in Gulliver’s Travels when Gulliver, in Book II, is depicted as a sort of circus animal that people pay to see before being sold to someone else like an object. The satire played a dangerous game of criticizing powerful and influential people for that reason they often used allegory or sort of code-names to escape censorship or repercussions. “Real names turn Satyr to abuse” (Marshall 60), Walpole for example which was a privileged target of satire (Swift satirize him in at least 4 such as A Libel on D. D[elany] or To Mr Gay, An epistle to a Lady) was called the Great Man or Statesman in the satire criticizing him (in The Beggar’s Opera he is called Bob Booty, ), everyone knew these names represented him but no one could prove that it was actually the …show more content…
Indeed, Swift often depicted as the greatest satirist if his time and Gay, who although being often being underestimated as a simple follower of Swift or Pope, embraces more the image of satire and its full potential in the 18th century wrote the most successful satirical works of the century because it stirred people’s attention either by shocking them or by pleasing them. Either way, they are example of successful satires but they had to face the consequences of criticizing and targeting the powerful: Gay’s sequel to The Beggar’s Opera was forbidden on stage by Walpole and it made Gay lost his house at Whitehall and had his patroness excluded from royal presence. The satire of Gay only became bitterer before his death in
Humans are seen as commodities, the character of Pleachum discusses others in relation to what they will bring to him in term of monetary value. This critic of the loss of humanity towards capitalism is also criticized by Swift in A Modest Proposal where cannibalism is offered as a possibility for it would be financially preferable, but also in Gulliver’s Travels when Gulliver, in Book II, is depicted as a sort of circus animal that people pay to see before being sold to someone else like an object. The satire played a dangerous game of criticizing powerful and influential people for that reason they often used allegory or sort of code-names to escape censorship or repercussions. “Real names turn Satyr to abuse” (Marshall 60), Walpole for example which was a privileged target of satire (Swift satirize him in at least 4 such as A Libel on D. D[elany] or To Mr Gay, An epistle to a Lady) was called the Great Man or Statesman in the satire criticizing him (in The Beggar’s Opera he is called Bob Booty, ), everyone knew these names represented him but no one could prove that it was actually the …show more content…
Indeed, Swift often depicted as the greatest satirist if his time and Gay, who although being often being underestimated as a simple follower of Swift or Pope, embraces more the image of satire and its full potential in the 18th century wrote the most successful satirical works of the century because it stirred people’s attention either by shocking them or by pleasing them. Either way, they are example of successful satires but they had to face the consequences of criticizing and targeting the powerful: Gay’s sequel to The Beggar’s Opera was forbidden on stage by Walpole and it made Gay lost his house at Whitehall and had his patroness excluded from royal presence. The satire of Gay only became bitterer before his death in