Moral lessons in Gulliver’s Travels

In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift has criticized humanity. From the beginning to the end of the book, there is nothing but criticism of mankind in every possible way. So, it is not unnatural for anyone to conclude that Swift hated humanity and we cannot expect anything good in this book. The book is full of negative criticism. 

 

Image Source 

Many people consider Gulliver to be a misanthropic character. He went from one place to another and traveled to many parts of the world. But he could not find any goodness among humanity. All he could see was that human beings are greedy for power, ignorant and selfish. Very few people in Jonathan Swift’s time believed that despite all the criticism of humanity Gulliver’s Travels contains some important moral lessons. 

In the first book, Gulliver talks about an important moral lesson through the king of Lilliput. The king said that in England, there is a bad system of only punishment, but there is no reward. By this, Swift advises the readers that we should always encourage and reward good works of good people. Another important moral lesson in Gulliver’s voyage to Lilliput is that we should not fight for small maters but support each other in society. If we do not do it then there will be no peace and stability. 

Jonathan Swift has given a very important moral lesson in book 3. There, Gulliver traveled to a science academy. The government of the country generously provided money to the scientists who were doing research. Gulliver found out that there was not a single research project that would benefit ordinary people in any way. This was the condition of England during Jonathan Swift’s time. The rich and aristocratic people enjoyed all kinds of luxury while poor people suffered. For this reason, people had no interest in government. 

In book 4, Jonathan Swift tried to say that people should not be proud at all but should focus on improving their characteristics and personalities. It was difficult for the people of Jonathan Swift’s time to understand the moral lessons of Gulliver’s Travels. Jonathan Swift was not an ordinary man. He had dreams and visions about the world. He wanted that people should try to improve themselves. He was also frustrated about the fact that the rich and aristocratic people enjoyed all the facilities in this world that money and wealth came from taxes collected from farmers and other ordinary people. The aristocratic people had everything without doing anything. Jonathan Swift wanted this to change. He wanted a better government system for the people.