Romanticism in Book 4: A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms

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Romanticism in Book 4 A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms
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Romanticism

• 1. An artistic and intellectual movement
  originating in Europe in the late 18th century
  and characterized by a heightened interest in
  nature, emphasis on the individual's expression
  of emotion and imagination, departure from the
  attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion
  against established social rules and conventions.
  
• 2. Romantic quality or spirit in thought,
  expression, or action.
• http//dictionary.reference.com/browse/Romanticism

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Romanticism cont.

• Romanticism came about in the late 18th century
  as a rebellious effort against the surging Age of
  Enlightenment thought. It was partly a revolt
  against aristocratic social and political norms
  of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction
  against the scientific rationalization of nature,
  and was embodied most strongly in the visual
  arts, music, and literature.

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Romanticism cont.

• Pg 289 I had settledThat nature is very easily
  satisfied and that necessity is the mother of
  invention.

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• Gulliver adopts the Houyhnhnms culture entirely,
  and in doing so, rejects the established social
  rules and conventions practiced in civil society.
  This is a way for Swift to satirize human
  civilization and those who would look to animals
  or a natural state of being for a model of how to
  live. The horses represent this natural being of
  existence where everything is pure and good-
  devoid of corruption. Thus, providing an attempt
  to escape the confines of being around people who
  Gulliver begins to view as the Yahoos
  (beastlike). However, it is impossible for
  Gulliver to live amongst them because he is
  human, and the Houyhnhnms do not encompass
  complex, human emotions- which is the main reason
  why their culture and society is successful and
  idealized.

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• Romanticism is based on feelings, not rational
  truth. Living with animals who are paragons of
  virtue, a place Gulliver feels at home in, is
  based purely on emotion and further exemplifies
  the fantasy and imagination retained in this
  place. It is too perfect for any human to live in
  because it is so fantastical and unrealistic,
  which is exactly why humans do no inhabit this
  place.

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Houyhnhnms

• Houyhnhnms are a race of intelligent horses
  described in book four of Gullivers Travels
• Contrasts against the Yahoos who are savage
  creatures, and represent all that is bad of the
  human race

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Houyhnhnms cont.

• Seen as stable, calm, reliable and and rational
  society
• Gulliver prefers the company of the Houyhnhnms
  over the Yahoos, even though the Yahoos resembles
  his physical form

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Houyhnhnms as Utopia

• Represent an ideal of rational existence
• Governed by sense and moderation
• Possess philosophy and have a language that is
  entirely pure of political and ethical nonsense.

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Houyhnhnms as Utopia cont.

• The Houyhnhnms echoes Platos Republic because
  they reject light entertainment and vain displays
  of luxury
• Appeal to reason rather then any holy writings as
  the criterion for proper action

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Houyhnhnms as Utopia cont.

• The Houyhnhnms have no need to lie nor have any
  word for lying
• Do not use force, but only strong exhortation
• Subjugation of Yahoos appear more necessary than
  cruel

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Houyhnhnms as Utopia cont.

• Discussion question
• Do you see the Houyhnhnms as an Utopia society?
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houyhnhnm

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Yahoos

• They live in servile to the Houyhnhnms.
• They are beasts that look like humans.
• -Their heads and breasts were covered with a
  thick hair. pg 167
• ? They had beards like goats. pg 167
• ? A long ridge of hair down their backs, and the
  fore parts of their legs and feet, but the rest
  of their bodies were bare. pg 167
• ? They had no tails, nor any hair at all on
  their buttocks, except about the anus. pg 167

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Yahoos cont.

• Gulliver describes them to be very savage-like,
  ugly, and unpleasant.
• -The ugly monster, when he saw me, distorted
  several ways every feature of his visage.. pg
  167
• ? Those detestable creatures.. held their food
  between the claws of their fore feet, and tore it
  with their teeth. pg 172
• ? Those filthy Yahoos.. pg 172
• ? The Yahoos appear to be the most unteachable
  of all animals. Pg 201

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Yahoos cont.

• Gulliver despises the Yahoos. He hates that the
  Houyhnhnms mistake him as a Yahoo because they
  are similar in some ways.
• ? He (Gullivers master) was convinced that I
  must be a Yahoo.. pg 175
• ? I expressed my uneasiness at his giving me so
  often the appellation of Yahoo, an odious animal,
  for which I had so utter an hatred and contempt.
  I begged he would forbear applying that word to
  me.. pg 178

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Yahoos cont.

• Gulliver can be seen as a misanthrope or
  misanthropist because he so strongly hates the
  Yahoos.
• ? Misanthrope a hater of humankind.
• ? Misanthropy is a general dislike, distrust, or
  hatred of the human species or a disposition to
  dislike and/or distrust other people. The term is
  also applicable to those who self-exile
  themselves or become loners because of the
  aforementioned feelings.

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Yahoos cont.

• At the end, Gulliver finally comes to realize
  that he is actually a lot like the Yahoos.
• ? Gulliver goes to observe the Yahoos.
• ? As Gulliver is bathing in the river, he sees a
  female Yahoo. She mistakes him as her own kind
  and rushed towards him to embrace him. It
  frightens him that he is mistaken to be the same
  kind as her.
• ? For now I could no longer deny, that I was a
  real Yahoo, in every limb and feature, since the
  female had natural propensity to me as one of
  their own species. pg 202

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Critique of Colonization

• Swift criticizes colonization in Part 4 of
  Gullivers Travels.
• Gulliver believes he only failed at one thing in
  his travels conquering the lands visited for
  England.
• The countries would not be as easy as the
  conquests of Ferdinando Cortez over the naked
  Americans (307) due to the nature of the
  inhabitants (six inch ppl, giants, flying
  islands, horses). Hence, it would be a suicide
  mission.
• Gulliver also maintains that these countries do
  not appear to have any desire of being conquered,
  and enslaved, murdered or driven out by colonies
  (309).

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Swifts use of Satire to Critique Colonization

• Swift uses satire to first establish an unknown,
  general scenario of colonization then contrasts
  it to what England surely would not do.
• A general scenario
• For instance, a crew of pirates are driven by a
  storm they know not whither, at length a boy
  discovers land from the topmast, they go on shore
  to rob and plunder, they see an harmless people,
  are entertained with kindness, they give the
  country a new name, they take formal possession
  of it for their King, they set up a rotten plank
  or a stone for a memorial, they murder two or
  three dozen of the natives, bring away a couple
  more by force for a sample, return home, and get
  their pardon. Here commences a new dominion
  acquired with a title by divine right (308).

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Divine Right

• Divine Right a right conferred by or based on
  the ordinance or appointment of God. divine right
  of kings, that claimed according to the doctrine
  that (legitimate) kings derive their power from
  God alone, unlimited by any rights on the part of
  their subjects. In English History, the phrase
  came into specific use in the 17th c., when the
  claim was prominently made for the Stuart kings
  (OED).
• Question How does Swift portray the concept of
  divine right, as seen in the scenario on page
  308?

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Satire contd

• Vs England
• This description, I confess, doth by no means
  affect the British nation, who may be an example
  to the whole world for their wisdom, care, and
  justice in planting colonies their liberal
  endowments for the advancement of religion and
  learning their choice of devout and able pastors
  to propagate Christianity their strict
  regard to the distribution of justice, in
  supplying the civil administration through all
  their colonies with officers of the greatest
  abilities, utter strangers to corruption and to
  crown all by sending the most vigilant and
  virtuous governors, who have no other views than
  the happiness of the people over whom they
  preside, and the honour of the King their master
  (309).
• V. The result?
• Swifts satire illustrates how colonization is a
  corrupt system established purely for selfish
  trade, military, and religious purposes.

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Book IV

• Juvenalian satireangry, caustic, resentful,
  personal
• Horatian satiretolerant, witty, wise,
  self-effacing, general
• Does Book IV make a shift?
• Does it tend to lean towards a specific type of
  satire?

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Changes in Narration

• Gulliver narrates his adventures in a gullible,
  naïve, dry, first-person narrative that rarely
  shows any signs of self-reflection or deep
  emotional response.
• But in Book IV he turns cynical and bitter
  in reflection
• Gulliver's attitude hardens as the book
  progresses and eventually leads up to his
  rejection of human society in the fourth voyage
• Progresses from a cheery optimist ? the pompous
  misanthrope of the book's conclusion

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Changes in Narration cont.

• He has come full turnfrom being proud of being a
  European man to disgust for all people
• ?Gulliver's experiences with various flawed
  societies foreshadow his ultimate rejection of
  human society in the fourth voyage.
• Specifically when he shuns the generous Don Pedro
  as a vulgar Yahoo

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Identity Crisis

• Gulliver is initially remarkably lacking in
  self-reflection and self-awareness
• Gullivers identification of himself with the
  giants produced only ludicrous results
• His ultimate revulsion with the human condition
• Madness and Alienation