Compare and contrast between the King of Lilliput and the King of Brobdingnag. Or, Compare and contrast the Lilliputian Emperor with the Brobdingnagian King as rulers in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.
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Ostensibly, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is an adventure story detailing a sailor’s journey to four fantastic lands. But, at a deeper level, it is a bitter satire satirizing the political and social systems of eighteenth-century England. Besides successfully using irony, ambiguity, and symbolism, Swift also adopts the technique of comparison and contrast in order to bring his ideas home. In the book, the tyranny and pride of the diminutive Lilliputian emperor is set in stark contrast to the benevolence and simplicity of the Brobdingnagian King. They are poles apart not only in terms of their physical stature but also in terms of the qualities they possess. In the first book of Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver arrives on the island of Lilliput inhabited by six-inch tall people. Swift delineates the Lilliputians as corrupt and morally depraved.
In the book, the tyranny and pride of the diminutive Lilliputian emperor are set in stark contrast to the benevolence and simplicity of the Brobdingnagian King. They are poles apart not only in terms of their physical stature but also in terms of their qualities In the first book of Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver arrives on the island of Lilliput inhabited by six-inch tall people. Swift delineates the Lilliputians as corrupt and morally depraved. In the book, the Lilliputians stand for excessive pride. Despite their smallness, the Lilliputians think very highly of themselves. The Lilliputian Emperor is an absolute monarch and seems to be an incarnation of pride.
He is an excessively proud man and his pride manifests in his dealing with his subjects. He is a fingernail taller than his subjects. A handsome man with strong features, an olive complexion, and a regal bearing, the Lilliputian Emperor is corrupt, petty, arrogant, obsessed with foolish ceremonies and political shenanigans. He has turned the court into a place of intrigue and conspiracies. He is out and out a politically corrupt man. The Lilliputian Emperor is a tyrant who hankers after absolute power. He is a viciously proud man. His pride is manifest in his desire of subjugating completely his Blefuscudian foes. He wishes to become the ruler of what to him seems to be the entire world. In contrast to the tiny, petty Lilliputians, the Brobdingnagians are huge and unexpectedly docile. The Brobdingnagians are physically gigantic but are of simple and uncomplicated nature. The Brobdingnagian King, with all his positive qualities, stands in stark contrast to the Lilliputian Emperor. He rules through love, not fear. He is kind, benevolent, gracious, always seeking the well-being of his subjects.
Unlike the Lilliputian Emperor, the Brobdingnagian King is a virtuous man. He is evidently a fair, merciful ruler. He is portrayed as a just, wise, and strong monarch. For him, force is a measure of absolute last resort, and the notion of gunpowder, of which he had never heard until Gulliver explained it to him, horrifies him. The Brobdingnagian King is a simple man who has little ideas about political intrigues and intricacies. Whereas the Lilliputian Emperor has turned his land into a place of corruption, intrigues, vices, and wars, the Brobdingnagian King has turned his kingdom into a utopia that is ruled by ideal customs, laws, and procedures. The Emperor of Lilliput possesses insatiable lust for power. In stark contrast to this diminutive emperor, the giant King is a man of common sense, kindness, and consideration. He is more humane than the minuscule emperor. In Swift’s book, the Lilliputian Emperor and the Brobdingnagian King are two opposite figures. The Emperor of Lilliput exemplifies pride and cruelty. On the other hand, the Brobdingnagian King is a figure of common sense and kindness. In “Gulliver’s Travels” the Brobdingnagian King is contrasted sharply to the Lilliputian Emperor. Whereas the former stands for what is ideal and good, the latter stands for all that is worst.
Compare and contrast between the King of Lilliput and the King of BrobdingnagCompare and contrast between the King of Lilliput and the King of BrobdingnagCompare and contrast between the King of Lilliput and the King of BrobdingnagCompare and contrast between the King of Lilliput and the King of BrobdingnagCompare and contrast between the King of Lilliput and the King of BrobdingnagCompare and contrast between the King of Lilliput and the King of Brobdingnag
