Analysis Of Gulliver’s Travels By Johnathan Swift From A Narratological Perspective

Jonathan Swift(1667~1745) is the prominent English satire master in the 18 th century and he is a great litterateur and thinker. As a prolific writer, Swift wrote in a variety of genres. His works encompasses novels, essays, letters and narrative poems etc., which have greatly influenced the succeeding writers. His satire works, especially, his representative satire novel Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver has a great satirical art value, which retains its greatness and artistic virtue regardless of ages and cultures.This thesis applies the theory of classical narratology to the analysis of Gulliver’s Travels. By looking specifically at the narrative situation used in the work, the author aims to analyze how Swift skillfully brings about the narration of the whole story and eventually realizes the effects of satire.The author mainly focuses on the analysis of the three elements of narrative situation: narrative person, focalization and narrative mode. Through detailed study on the use of these three elements, the author attempt to offer a fresh new perspective to enjoy Swift’s ingenuous satirical art in Gulliver’s Travels.