Swift's Idea Of Education In Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels is the masterpiece of Jonathan Swift, a super Irish satirist. Both Jonathan Swift and his works have been put on a significant post in Anglo-Irish literature; therefore, Gulliver's Travels, since its first publication, has always been able to arouse critics'constant interest either related to its author or the work itself. Many critics have accomplished a large number of excellent critical works in different periods from their respective points of view; fortunately on these valuable traditional foundations further researches of high quality are still being done nowadays, which have become huge challenges for those researchers who have to meet the ever-rising qualitative standard of research works. In tradition, critics like to focus on such controversial issues as Jonathan Swift's identity being a misogynist, a misanthropist or satirist, and Gulliver's Travels being a novel, a children's tale or a travel book. However, this thesis endeavors to make an original study on it from a new perspective, education, based on predecessors'research works.This analysis in respect of education puts its emphasis on the inquiry into the educational significance in travel books, the forms of education, humanistic education and moral education to dig out humanism philosophical ideas on education hidden in Gulliver's Travels and its genuine educational significance. Chapter One gives a brief introduction of Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, and classical literature review on the both by critics in different times; Chapter Two discusses the educational function of travel literature from three aspects: the prevalence of travel books in the 18th century England, a philosophical inquiry into education of travel literature and the educational process of readers of travel literature; Chapter Three deals with the educational forms in Gulliver's Travels by way of analyzing the education in Lilliput and Houyhnhnms through contrast; Chapter Four starts from discovering Swift's genuine intention of his unfriendliness to science, eradicates later generations'misunderstanding of him and then explores the spirit of humanism education in Gulliver's Travels; Chapter Five inquires the Western moral education from two dimensions of the secular and the Christian and points out humanism's disability in front of human moral degeneration. All issues in this thesis originate from its author's subtle perception and conscientious comparison of the text of this book, meanwhile, close reading together with the assistance from knowledge of history, philosophy, education and society anticipates a meticulous process of discussion and the arrival of a conclusion that Jonathan Swift holds a negative attitude towards the education of Europeans and even the entire human race in this book.