Gulliver's Travels is a satire in which Jonathon Swift uses Lemuel Gulliver as a mask for his satire toward the English government. His hatred is brought out in this caustic political and social satire aimed at the English people, humanity in general, and the Whig party in particular. Swift himself attempted to conceal his authorship of the book under its original title: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts, by Lemuel Gulliver (Swift, Masterplots 2713). Swift wrote his most famous work, Gulliver's Travels, under an anonymous name. He purposely poked fun at King George I in his novel but used an anonymous name in effort to stay out of trouble (Swift, Masterplots 2713). Lilliput, Bobdingnag, Laputa, and the land of the Houyhnhnms are all lands in Swift's Gulliver's Travels that represent places in England. Jonathon Swift employed satire in his novel Gulliver's Travels to criticize the English government.
Jonathon Swift consistently mocks the English government in his novel Gulliver's Travels. He uses the Lilliputian Emperor and Empress to ridicule the English leaders, King George I and Queen Anne. He especially pokes fun at Queen Anne because she blocked Swift's advancement in the Church of England (Plot). There are two political parties in Lilliput, the Low-Heels and the High-Heels. These parties exist to lampoon the Whigs and Tories, the two major British political parties. . An argument over how an egg should be cracked causes a war in Lilliput. Wars between England and other countries are represented by the eggs in the book. Rope dancing is used by the Lilliputians to consider who should hold the higher office (Swift, Critical Evaluation of Long Fiction 3145). Swift relates this to the noble clergy in England. Jonathon Swift uses a number of tactics to satirize the English government. .
Jonathon Swift criticizes the British government by using the Lilliputians.
