What are the main contents of Gulliver’s Travels?

"Gulliver's Travels" is a full-length travel satirical novel by the British writer Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels also describes many wonderful contents. The following is the main content of Gulliver's Travels that I have compiled for everyone to read!

The main content of Gulliver's Travels

The work is based on Mel Gulliver (also translated In the voice of Captain Lemuel Gulliver, he narrates his experiences traveling around four countries. Through Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput, Brobdingnag, the Flying Island Kingdom, and the Houyhnhnms Kingdom, it reflects the corruption and sin of the British ruling class in the first half of the 18th century. It also expressed the author's thoughts in a relatively perfect artistic form. The author used rich satirical techniques and fictional fantasies to write absurd and bizarre plots, which profoundly reflected the meaningless partisan struggle in the British Parliament at that time. The stupidity, decadence and profit-seeking of the ruling group exposes and criticizes the cruelty and violence of the colonial war; at the same time, it praises the heroic struggle of the colonial people against the rulers to a certain extent.

"Gulliver's Travels" was first published in the UK in 1726 and was highly sought after by readers, selling out within a week. Over the centuries since its publication, it has been translated into dozens of languages ??and widely circulated in countries around the world. It is also one of the most influential foreign literary works in China and is listed as a required reading in the new Chinese language curriculum standards. Movies adapted from its content were put on the big screen in 1977, 1996 and 2010 respectively. Theme of Gulliver's Travels

The scene in Lilliput described in the first volume of the novel was a microcosm of the British Empire at that time. At that time, the endless struggles and external wars between the Tories and Whigs in the UK were essentially just politicians scheming over some minor issues that had nothing to do with the national economy and the people's livelihood.

The second volume of the novel uses the King of the Great Kingdom's sharp attack on the British electoral system, parliamentary system and various political and religious measures that Gulliver was proud of, and analyzed various British systems and policies at that time. The political and religious measures expressed doubt and denial.

In the third volume of the novel, the author points his satire at the British philosophers of the time, scientists who were divorced from reality and indulged in fantasy, absurd inventors, and critics and historians who confuse right and wrong. wait.

In the fourth volume of the novel, the author uses Gulliver to answer a series of questions to reveal the essence of the war, the hypocrisy of the law and the shameful behavior of obtaining the dukedom by any means necessary.

Throughout the entire plot of the novel, "Gulliver's Travels" has a clear political tendency. Its critical edge focused on attacking the British parliamentary politics and reactionary religious forces at that time. The novel reflects the changes in British society in the first half of the 18th century through Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput (Lilliput), Brobdingnag (Adult), Laputa (Flying Island) and Houyhnhnms. Some contradictions expose and criticize the corruption and sins of the British ruling class and the crazy plunder and cruel exploitation of British capitalism in the period of primitive accumulation of capitalism.

The UK at that time was the object of criticism and ridicule by the author. Gulliver's Adventures The first place in "Gulliver's Travels" is Lilliput. In this miniature country, partisanship is at odds with each other, and neighbors not only want to defeat but also enslave each other. The king of Lilliput used a rope-rope competition to select officials. In order to obtain a few colorful silk threads awarded by the king, the officials did not hesitate to perform ridiculous performances like clowns. This small court was a microcosm of Britain at that time. Even Lilliput's political customs and regulations were exactly the same as the British political situation at that time. In the second volume, the author even criticized Britain by name. Gulliver introduced the history, system and current situation of Britain to the king of the Great People in a long speech, as well as various things to defend the country for itself. However, from the perspective of the Great People, the history of Britain is full of greed, party disputes, hypocrisy, Treachery, cruelty, anger, madness, hatred, jealousy, lust, insidiousness and ambition? are the most serious consequences. The author borrows the words of the king, "Such a humble and incompetent bug" is "the most harmful type of small poisonous bugs that nature has tolerated crawling on the ground from ancient times to the present", satirizing all aspects of British society; in the third volume, through the The boring and ridiculous scientific research conducted by the people of the Academy of Sciences in Lagdo satirized the pseudoscience of the British at that time; the depiction of Laputa Island criticized the British exploitation and oppression of Ireland.

The novel not only criticizes the current social situation, but also directly satirizes human nature itself on a deeper level. This is the case with the discussion about "money" in Volume 4. Gulliver came to the Houyhnhnms (horse) country where there was no money, no army and police, and explained to his horse owner: The Yahoos there believe that whether it is used or saved, the more money, the better, and there is no personality. When enough is enough. Because of their nature, they are either extravagant or greedy. The rich enjoy the fruits of the poor's labor, and the poor outnumber the rich by a thousand to one. So most of our people are forced to live miserable lives. The author notes the purely monetary relationship between people in capitalist society. And this raises questions about human nature.

Introduction to the characters of Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver

He was an ordinary British man in the 18th century, and he was also an unusual Robinson (the 18th-century British writer Defoe The protagonist in the work "Robinson Crusoe") is a person who is naturally adventurous and unwilling to be lonely and bored. He is a hard-working, brave, resourceful and kind man. He has a strong memory (this makes him far more than Robinson Crusoe in language learning and plays an important role in his travels), good at learning and observation, good at thinking, unique thinking, simple and gentle temperament, and good at He has a friendly attitude, kind demeanor, is easy to get along with others, knows how to repay kindness, has a gentlemanly attitude, and is willing to help his friends. He is willing to risk his life for his friends, and he is always ready to fight against anyone who is harmful to his friends. At the same time, he is smart, witty, courageous, smooth and reasonable in dealing with things, smart in speaking, decisive in doing things, able to act according to the situation, seize every opportunity to pursue freedom, and has strong self-confidence and believes that he can succeed. He is frank, patriotic, and cares about his own face. He is full of hatred, disgust and contempt for those who are hostile to him and shameless people (such as Yehu), but he respects noble people and knowledgeable scholars. In general, he is a brave man with a questioning spirit, a passion for truth, and endurance. During his travels, he gained insight into the increasingly degenerate social reality and concluded that British society was not civilized. The image of Gulliver is the embodiment of the author's thoughts. The author endows his characters with various virtues. Gulliver does not care about personal gains and losses, but cares deeply about others. Gulliver is a positive and ideal character. He always spoke candidly about his weaknesses and mistakes, but said nothing about his strengths. He is humble and studious, and strives to understand new realities with new eyes. He never gave up on himself. Even though he was treated as a plaything for people to watch everywhere, he remained calm, maintained his dignity, and talked with the king of the adult country as an equal. He had the courage to help the Lilliputian country resist foreign invasion, but categorically refused to serve the King of the Lilliputian country's aggressive expansion policy.

Phrynape

The finance minister of the Kingdom of Lilliput, Phrynape was a favorite of the King of Lilliput, and he was always flattering to the king. In order to please the king, he would try every means to make him happy, and was even willing to do things that threatened his own life and safety to gain the favor of the king. In turn, he bossed around the people, looked down on the civilians, and considered them inferior to him. Flynnap had talents and skills, but he did not use them in the right way and did not do many good things for the people. He is jealous, insidious, vicious, cunning, extremely narrow-minded, jealous, very familiar with party struggles, hates people who are more capable than himself, and is determined to retaliate. He likes to report people secretly, slander others, and is vicious and ruthless in his actions. Be determined, regardless of the consequences, and look for opportunities to retaliate at all costs, leaving no room for the opponent. Related plots: Gulliver's benevolence and generosity and his military exploits in capturing the fleet of the ancient nation of Blefus were appreciated by the King of Lilliput. Flinap became very angry and contacted other ministers to frame and slander him. Finally, Gulliver is forced to flee to Blefuscu.

Sky Switzerland

The admiral of Lilliput, ambitious and jealous, when Gulliver was reused by the king of Lilliput. He conspired with the finance minister to murder Gulliver.

King Brabdingnag

The king of the Great Kingdom, knowledgeable and kind-hearted. He is an enlightened king who is knowledgeable, rational, kind, and capable of governing the country. He governs the country with reason, justice, and kindness. He hates the despicable politicians and bloody wars that Gulliver said.

The scientists of the flying island country

are vicious and stupid. While engaged in illusory and fruitless scientific research such as extracting sunlight from cucumbers and reducing feces into food, they are also taking cruel measures. They used various methods to deal with the local residents. If the people were slightly rebellious, they would fly to the island to block the sunlight, and even put pressure on the residents.

The King of the Houyhnhnm Kingdom

He is an ideal figure in the author's mind because he is wise, diligent, brave, kind and friendly, just and honest.

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