Jonathan Swift's satirical essay "A Modest Proposal" on the surface follows the classical elements of persuasive writing that we use today. His essay is often modeled in editorials and columns today. However, with careful attention to his audience and a few clever tricks, Swift uses these classical elements to his own purpose, and the reader is caught in a persuasive trap. Let's see how he accomplishes this.
             The last half of the eighteenth century has been called the Neoclassical Age, a time when writers and leaders looked to the Roman and Greek classics for their ideals in writing and in common life. These classical writings called for self-control and a peaceful life surrounded by selected friends. However, Swift saw his country as a sad contrast to this classic ideal. He saw moral emptiness, political corruption, and gross abuse of power by the wealthy landowners. In this essay, he points out these abuses, but he knows that his readers would quickly reject any overt finger-pointing, so he gradually pulls them into his essay - until they are caught in his trap.
             Swift's satirical piece makes reference to the attempts of the English to resolve Irish slums, yet with the force of English prejudice against the Irish holding them back.. While maintaining a serious and sincere tone throughout the text, Swift's outlandish proposal makes for dark humor. The reader must ask himself how anyone could propose such a solution.
             Writing during a time when objectivity and self-control were revered, Swift writes his essay using the rhetoric of the formal proposal. This classical form is a forerunner to today's format for effective essay or editorial; and, in fact, his form is often modeled for modern "not-so-modest" proposals
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