Contents: IntroductionPlot Summary Themes Style Critical Overview Criticism Sources For Further Study |
Characters
Blefuscudians
Big-Enders and inhabitants of the island across the water from Lilliput, the Blefuscudians are supportive of the rebel Big-Ender refugees. They rep-resent both Catholic France — with whom England went to war several times — and Ireland — a mostly Catholic country to which English Catholics fled for political asylum.
Skyresh Bolgolam
High Admiral of Lilliput and counselor to the Emperor, Skyresh Bolgolam is the enemy of Gulliver from the start. He brings Gulliver a list of demands or conditions for Gulliver to stay in Lilliput and also teams up with Flimnap to draw up articles of impeachment, which are leaked to Gulliver by an unnamed member of the court.
Brobdingnagians
The Brobdingnagians are a race of giants who live on Brobdingnag, a country in the Arctic Sea that Gulliver visits in Part II. Gulliver is repulsed by the flaws in their skin, which appear monstrous to him. He soon realizes their form of government is superior to those of Europe. Swift implies they are moral giants as well as physical giants in comparison to the Englishman Gulliver.
Emperor of Lilliput
A fingernail taller than his subjects, the Lilliputian Emperor is a handsome man with strong features, an olive complexion, and a regal bearing. He wears Low Heels as an expression of his political beliefs. (Swift intends him to represent King George I, who was sympathetic to the Whig political party, represented by the Low Heels.) He is corrupt, petty, arrogant, obsessed with foolish ceremonies and political shenanigans — in short, a symbol of bad politicians everywhere.
The emperor is not quite twenty-nine years old but has ruled successfully for seven years. One controversy the emperor has faced is a religious conflict caused by a debate over which end of an egg to open — the big end or the little end. After his grandfather was injured by a Big End, the government outlawed their usage. Rebel Big Enders (representing Catholics) have been persecuted by Little Enders (representing Protestants) and many have fled to Lilliput's enemy, Bledfuscu (representing France).
The emperor wants to punish the Big-Ender Blefuscudians, just as the Whig party wanted to be harsher toward the Catholic French and Spanish than the Tories wanted to be when England was settling the War of the Spanish Succession. Gulliver helps repel an attack by the Bledfuscudian navy but refuses to conquer and enslave the attackers. As a result, while the emperor is respectful toward Gulliver, he is easily persuaded by his counselors to turn against him.
Empress of Lilliput
The empress likes Gulliver at first; he charms her by kissing her hand. However, when he extinguishes the fire in her quarters of the palace by urinating on the building, she is repulsed and turns against him. She represents Queen Anne, who denied Swift a position in the Church of England because she thought his satirical writings were vulgar, even though one of those writings, A Tale of a Tub, defended the Church of England against the Puritans and Roman Catholics. Queen Anne also ungratefully exiled Swift's friend, Bolingbroke, after he'd gone through the trouble of negotiating a peace with France, thereby ending the War of Spanish Succession.
Quinbus Flestrin
Flimnap
Flimnap is Lord High Treasurer of Lilliput and the best rope dancer in the emperor's cabinet. Swift meant him to represent politician Robert Walpole, leader of the Whigs (represented by the fictional Low Heels). Walpole is recognized as England's first prime minister, and Swift considered him a corrupt symbol of an oppressive party. Political office in Lilliput is gained through rope-dancing competition, and Flimnap, the ultimate politician, can turn somersaults in the air. He would have hurt himself in his acrobatics had he not been caught by a cushion, which is Swift's allusion to how George I's mistress, the Duchess of Kendall, helped save Walpole's political career in 1721.
Flimnap is an archconservative who gets upset when he realizes how much it will cost the kingdom to continue to support Gulliver, and thus turns against him. He is suspicious of Gulliver as well, thinking that his wife is somehow having an affair with him. He urges the emperor to get rid of Gulliver by any means necessary and helps draw up charges of treason against Gulliver. Unlike Skyresh Bolgolam, Flimnap is two-faced — pleasant to Gulliver's face but secretly his enemy.
Glumdalclitch
Glumdalclitch is the nine-year-old daughter of the Brobdingnagian farmer who discovers Gulliver in his field. Gulliver names her Glumdalclitch, meaning "little nurse." She is kind to Gulliver, whom she treats like a precious doll, and is allowed to continue being his nursemaid when he becomes the possession of the king and queen.
Governor of Glubbdubdrib
The governor of Glubbdubdrib, whom Gulliver meets on his third voyage, is the most powerful sorcerer on an island of magicians. He is able to summon spirits of the dead and calls up famous politicians and philosophers of old for Gulliver's entertainment. Swift included this section mostly to show how modern historians gloss over the corruption of conquerors and kings and "how degenerate the human race was in the past."
Grildrig
Golbasto Momaren Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully Ully Gue
Dr. Lemuel Gulliver is a medical doctor with an itch to sail the seas rather than make money by cheating his patients — a practice of many of his fellow doctors. He is honest, hardworking, and curious, good with languages (which helps in his travels), and has a well-rounded education. Swift portrays Gulliver as a typical middle-class Englishman of the time, complete with wife and children. In his fictional letters at the front of the book, we see a cranky, eccentric (perhaps crazy?), and misanthropic Gulliver, but the letter from his editor suggests to us that Gulliver is an honest person, well-liked by his neighbors, and hints that we will learn much more about him in the pages that follow.
As a character, Gulliver is quite inconsistent. At times he seems to be the mouthpiece for Swift himself, voicing the author's opinions. At other times, he is quite proud and arrogant, even unlik-able. Often, he is naive and easily influenced by others. Even his name, "Gulliver," suggests he is gullible. (As for his first name, "Lemuel" is a character in the Bible who is urged by his mother to judge rightly and plead the cause of the poor and needy; morality figures greatly in Gulliver's adventures.) Swift intends for readers to be skeptical about Gulliver's perceptions and morality. Gulliver is a detailed person and seems honest, so we should not doubt his facts. How he interprets those facts, however, is something we should question. In doing so, readers will begin to question their own prejudices and human failings, their own opinions and beliefs, and their own institutions.
Gulliver is at first called Quinbus Flestrin (which he translates as Man Mountain) by the Lilliputians, and then is given the honorable title of Nardac by the emperor after he captures the enemy's fleet. The Brobdingnagian girl who takes care of him renames him Grildrig, meaning "little dwarf." The Brobdingnagians also refer to him as a splacknuck after an animal of the region that is about his size. By the end of the book, Gulliver is unmistakably a misanthrope (hater of humankind), preferring the company of horses to humans, even his own family. This "madness" is the result of his fourth and final voyage, in which he was confronted with the imperfections of humanity.
Mary Burton Gulliver
Dr. Gulliver's wife, daughter of Edmond Burton, figures little into the story. After the second voyage, Gulliver criticizes her for being too thrifty, since he left her with plenty of money. She is not happy about Gulliver's choice to keep going to sea, although she agrees to allow the third voyage because it will help the family.
Houyhnhnm
Pronounced "Whin-ems," like a horse's whinny, the Houyhnhnm are a race of intelligent horses Gulliver encounters in Book IV. They are different from horses in eighteenth-century England because they are the masters over the humanlike Yahoos who toil for them. The Houyhnhnm have an nearly utopian or ideal society and are unfamiliar with the concepts of lying, deceit, jealousy, or hatred. They love all Houyhnhnm equally, enabling them to choose their partners not according to love or passion but according to genetics — that is, which pairings would produce the healthiest offspring. They school their children communally and govern themselves democratically.
Critics have long argued whether Swift presents the Houyhnhnm as an ideal society or whether they, too, are set up for satire. Those who argue the latter view point out how casually the Houyhnhnm treat the death of a spouse or loss of a child. Gulliver admires the Houyhnhnm greatly, but he can never be one of them any more than he can digest their horse's diet. He is a human, and hates this reality, but Swift implies that Gulliver ought to accept his human nature. After all, for all their positive attributes, the Houyhnhnm can't feel passionate love as humans can.
Laputans
Inhabitants of the flying island encountered in Part III, the Laputans have one eye perpetually inward (symbolizing introspection) and one eye perpetually skyward (symbolizing lofty ideals). They are brilliant, completely impractical, and so caught up in their intellectual pursuits that their servants have to slap them around to get their attention so that they can have conversations. They wear ill-fitting garments with celestial symbols on them, worship science and music, and oppress other lands, demanding taxes. Those who don't pay up are pelted with rocks. Although the Laputans threaten to smash those below with their island, they never do so because it might hurt the island. The Laputans represent Enlightenment thinkers who worship ideas at the expense of practicality. Note that "La-puta" is a play on "La puta," which is Spanish for "prostitute": the Laputans have prostituted science by fixing on knowledge for knowledge's sake, instead of putting intellectual theory to practical use.
Lilliputians
The Lilliputians are six-inch-tall people Gulliver encounters on his first travel in Book I. They live near Van Diemen's Land (Australia). Swift implies that with their petty politics, they are moral midgets as well as physical midgets in comparison to the Englishman Gulliver.
Pedro de Mendez
The captain of the Portuguese ship that rescues Gulliver on his fourth and final travel, he is extremely kind and sympathetic to Gulliver, helping him to return to England. Gulliver has been traumatized by his most recent travel and the realization that mankind in general is more Yahoo than Houyhnhnm. Thus, while Mendez is a contrast to the Yahoos, Gulliver has trouble appreciating the goodness of Mendez. Swift likely created this character to remind the reader that even if mankind is corrupt and selfish, individuals exist who are kind and good.
Lord Munodi
Lord Munodi is the former governor of the rebellious city Lagado on Balnibari, the island oppressed by the Laputans in the third voyage. Unlike his neighbors' fields and homes, Munodi's house and land are intact and prosperous because he ignored the newfangled advice of the Projectors, scientists who insisted that farmers try new "improvements" that in the end were disastrous. Munodi represents the sensible man who does not toss away tradition and insist that newer is always better.
Reldresal
Lilliput's Principal Secretary of Private Affairs, Reldresal is second only to Flimnap at rope dancing. He explains to Gulliver many of the Lilliputians' customs and the origin of the war against the Blefuscudians, asking him to help in the war effort. When Gulliver falls out of favor with the court, Reldresal proposes "mercy" in the form of putting out his eyes instead of taking his life. Reldresal represents one of George I's counselors.
Slamecksans
Lilliputians who belong to the Low Heels political party, representing the real-life Whigs of England.
Struldbruggs
In Book III, Gulliver encounters the Struldbruggs in the kingdom of Luggnagg. The Struldbruggs have immortal life but not immortal youth, so they become senile and frail. Swift uses the Struldbruggs to examine society's fear of death.
Richard Sympson
Richard Sympson is Gulliver's fictional cousin, who gets the book of Gulliver's Travels published. In a letter to the reader, he defends his editorial work on the book, setting up the idea that Gulliver is focused on details at the expense of a larger vision, which guides the reader into being skeptical about Gulliver's perceptions of events but not his facts. Sympson also defends Gulliver himself, who seems like a cranky character, suggesting that once the reader has read of these adventures he will have more sympathy for Gulliver. Thus, Sympson is less a character than a device.
Tramecksans
The Tramecksans are Lilliputians who belong to the High Heels political party, representing the real-life Tories of England.
Yahoos
The Yahoos are a barbaric race of filthy, repulsive humanoids who live in the country of the Houyhnhnm. They resemble human beings so much that the Houyhnhnm have trouble believing that Gulliver is not one of them. They represent mankind at its very worst. Gulliver begins to use the term "Yahoo" to refer to any human who is barbaric, cruel, and immoral, and later calls all humans "Yahoos."
Media Adaptations
- A live-action miniseries Gulliver's Travels was made for television in 1996 by Charles Sturridge from a screenplay by Simon Moore. The film starred Ted Danson as Gulliver, as well as Mary Steenburgen, Peter O'Toole, Ned Beatty, Alfre Woodard, Geraldine Chaplin, Ned Beatty, John Gielgud, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Omar Sharif. Longer and containing more of the book's plot than other film versions of Gulliver's Travels, this version nevertheless takes some big liberties, adding a secondary plot featuring Gulliver's wife (Steenburgen) and son. However, much of Swift's satire is maintained and the special effects are far superior to those in earlier versions (much of the work was done by Jim Henson Productions). Available on two videos from Hallmark Home Entertainment.
- The 1939 animated film Gulliver's Travels, directed by Dave Fleischer with screenplay by Dan Gordon, Ted Pierce, Isidore Sparber, and Edmond Seward, featured the voices of Lanny Ross and Jessica Dragonette. Nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Score and Best Song (for the song "Faithful Forever"). The film cuts several episodes from the plot and eliminates most of Swift's satire, but the animation is of exceptionally high quality for the era. Available from Congress Entertainment, Moore Video, and Nostalgia Family Video.
- The partially animated Gulliver's Travels (1977), directed by Peter Hung from a screenplay by Don Black, starred Richard Harris (as Gulliver), Catherine Schell, Norman Shelley, and Meredith Edwards, and the voices of Michael Bates and Denis Bryer. The film cuts much from the plot and eliminates most of Swift's satire, making the movie cloying and childish at times. Available from Video Treasures, Hollywood Home Entertainment, and Reader's Digest Home Video.
- Containing animation effects from Ray Harryhausen, The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960; also known as The Worlds of Gulliver), was directed by Jack Sher from a screenplay by Arthur Ross and Jack Sher, and starred Kerwin Mathews (as Gulliver), Jo Morrow, and June Thorburn. The film cuts much from the plot, focusing on Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput and Brobdingnag, and adding a character as a love interest for Gulliver. Much of Swift's satire is maintained, however. Available from Columbia Tristar Home Video.
- Two animated versions of Gulliver's Travels from 1979 include a short version aimed at children and narrated by Vincent Price, available from AIMS Multimedia on video, and a slightly longer version from Hanna Barbera Productions featuring the voices of Ross Martin and Janet Waldo, available on video from Worldvision Home Video, Inc. and Goodtimes Entertainment.
- An unabridged audio reading of Gulliver's Travels, narrated by Norman Dietz, is available on eight cassettes (10 hours, 45 minutes) from Recorded Books, Inc., 1989. Abridged versions include an audio dramatization originally presented on NBC Theater (a radio program), narrated by Henry Hull, available on one cassette from Metacom audio library classics, 1991; and a dramatization read by Ted Danson, available on two cassettes from Simon & Schuster Audioworks, 1996.
