Tracing the Journey of Madness in Jonathon Swift's Gulliver's Travels
Jonathon Swift is notorious for his satire and nothing illustrates his ability to prove appoint than his novel, Gulliver's Travels. In this novel, Gulliver experiences many things on his journeys and is driven to madness in the final segment of his adventure. Gulliver's madness stems from the fact that he cannot accept himself for who he is - Gulliver wants to be like the Houyhnhnms, a species that he considers to be perfect. Their rejection of him causes Gulliver to break down because he cannot and will not ever see himself as a Yahoo. The first step into madness begins with an inability to control events. Over the course of his stay with the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver is filled with pride and when he is exiled from Houyhnhnm-land, he is distraught. He descends further into madness because he cannot (and does not want to) think clearly. Finally, Gulliver's madness is a result of pride. Gulliver refuses to accept the truth about his race because it means accepting the truth about himself. He would rather live a lie. Madness begins in small doses and unless it is tempered with rationality, it will reign. Gulliver's final adventures illustrate this clearly.Gulliver's madness occurs from a series of events of which he cannot
He cannot control what happens to him, he cannot accept it, and is too proud to admit it. Gulliver's madness becomes evident when he begins to think of his own "kind" as less than acceptable. Gulliver knows what he is but believes that he can change because of the Yahoos repulsive nature. It should come as no surprise then, when Gulliver's master tells him that he is considered to be a Yahoo, that his mind snaps. Gulliver thinks too much of himself to consider life as a Yahoo. In a sense, his madness is the result of his inability to accept and discern what he has encountered. This point touches on the pivotal notion that breaks Gulliver's sanity. Through this interpretation, we see Swift's motivation. From Gulliver, we can see how not to act in regard to judging others. Gulliver does not want to return home to those that he considered Yahoos. His madness is the only way that he can escape the awful truth. Raymond Bentman agrees with this notion, adding that the final part of the novel "shows how abominable man appears when viewed from a distance, how beastly man appears when viewed from perfection" (Bentman).
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