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Jonathan Swifts Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver in Houynhnmland
One of the most interesting questions about Gullivers Travels is whether
the Houyhnhnms represent an ideal of rationality or whether on the other
hand they are the butt of Swift's satire. In other words, in Book IV, is
Swift poking fun at the talking horses or does he intend for us to take
them seriously as the proper way to act? If we look closely at the way that
the Houyhnhnms act, we can see that in fact Swift does not take them
seriously: he uses them to show the dangers of pride. First we have to see
that Swift does not even take Gullver seriously. For instance, his name
sounds much like gullible, which suggests that he will believe anything.
Also, when he first sees the Yahoos and they throw excrement on him, he
responds by doing the same in return until they run away. He says, "I must
needs discover some more rational being," (203) even though as a human he
is already the most rational being there is. This is why Swift refers to
Erasmus Darwins discovery of the origin of the species and the voyage of
the Beagle_to show how Gulliver knows that people are at the top of the
food chain. But if Lemule Gulliver is satirized, so are the Houyhnhnms,
whose voices sound like the call of castrati. They walk on two legs instead
of four, and seem to be much like people. As Gulliver says, "It was with
the utmost astonishment that I witnessed these creatures playing the flute
and dancing a Vienese waltz. To my mind, they seemed like the greatest
humans ever seen in court, even more dextrous than the Lord Edmund Burke"
(162). As this quote demonstrates, Gulliver is terribly impressed, but his
admiration for the Houyhnhnms is short-lived because they are so prideful.
For instance, the leader of the Houyhnhnms claims that he has read all the
works of Charles Dickens, and that he can singlehandedly recite the names
of all the Kings and Queens of England up to George II. Swift subtly shows
that this Houyhnhnms pride is misplaced when, in the middle of the
intellectual competition, he forgets the name of Queen Elizabeths husband.
Swifts satire of the Houyhnhnms comes out in other ways as well. One of the
most memorable scenes is when the dapple grey mare attempts to woo the
horse that Guenivre has brought with him to the island. First she acts
flirtatiously, parading around the bewildered horse. But when this does not
have the desired effect, she gets another idea:
"As I watched in amazement from my perch in the top of a tree, the sorrel
nag dashed off and returned with a yahoo on her back who was yet more
monstrous than Mr. Pope being fitted by a clothier. She dropped this
creature before my nag as if offering up a sacrifice. My horse sniffed the
creature and turned away." (145)
It might seem that we should take this scene seriously as a failed attempt
at courtship, and that consequently we should see the grey mare as an
unrequited lover. But it makes more sense if we see that Swift is being
satiric here: it is the female Houyhnhnm who makes the move, which would
not have happened in eighteenth-century England. The Houyhnhm is being
prideful, and it is that pride that makes him unable to impress Gullivers
horse. Gulliver imagines the horse saying, Sblood, the notion of creating
the bare backed beast with an animal who had held Mr. Pope on her back
makes me queezy (198).
A final indication that the Houyhnmns are not meant to be taken seriously
occurs when the leader of the Houynhms visits Lilliput, where he visits the
French Royal Society. He goes into a room in which a scientist is trying to
turn wine into water (itself a prideful act that refers to the marriage at
Gallilee). The scientist has been working hard at the experiment for many
years without success, when the Houyhnmn arrives and immediately knows that
to do: "The creature no sooner stepped through the doorway than he struck
upon a plan. Slurping up all the wine in sight, he quickly made water in a
bucket that sat near the door" (156). He has accomplished the scientists
goal, but the scientist is not happy, for his livelihood has now been
destroyed. Swifts clear implication is that even though the Houyhnhmns are
smart, they do not know how to use that knowledge for the benefit of
society, only for their own prideful agrandizement.
Throughout Gullivers Travels, the Houyhnhms are shown to be an ideal gone
wrong. Though their intent might have been good, they dont know how to do
what they want to do because they are filled with pride. They mislead
Gulliver and they even mislead themselves. The satire on them is
particularly well explained by the new born Houyhnhm who, having just been
born, exclaims, "With this sort of entrance, what must I expect from the
rest of my life!" (178).
ADDITIONAL FEATURED ESSAYS
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