During the early 18th century, an explosion of satire engulfed British literature. This period, often called the "age of reason", was greatly influenced by a group of society's elite, who called themselves Augustans and were determined to live their lives according to "truth" and "reason". Likewise, they often found themselves the subject of much satire. Among the satirists of this era were such illustrious authors as Daniel Defoe, Alexander Pope, and Jonathan Swift. Of the three, the most biting, biting and bitter writing came from Swift. Swift, unafraid to attack almost any institution, often found himself surrounded by controversy. His most controversial and greatest work, however, was a series of documented travels known as Gulliver's Travels. Through the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver, Swift ridiculed everything from English politics to human nature. Indeed, Swift said that the purpose of his travels was to "beautifully mend the world" (qtd. in Rowe 143). All four books of Gulliver's Travels are completely filled with satire, which, simply put, is a type of writing that mocks the frailties and vices of a person, an institution, or society in general. “The satirist claims that his readers see a distorted image, and the reader must be shocked into realizing that the image is his own” (Dyson 673). The fourth book of Gulliver's Travels, "A Journey to the Houyhnhnms," is especially full of satire, as Gulliver discovers a utopian society of horses (Houyhnhnms) who mock humans (Yahoos) as savages. Throughout the selection, Swift also includes irony in his work to aid in his satire. Verbal irony (the kind Swift uses) occurs when an author says one thing, but means something completely different. Although Swift's main goal in writing the Fourth Voyage of Gulliver's Travels was to emphasize the ferocity of human nature, a closer reading reveals a more subtle and ironic caricature of the Augustans. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There is no doubt that the main purpose of the Fourth Journey is to reveal the barbarism of humanity. The theme is found almost everywhere. The reader cannot help but feel somewhat ashamed of himself after finishing the book. When Gulliver first lands on the island, he encounters a disgusting group of human-like animals known as Yahoos. Furthermore, when he first sees them, he says, “On the whole, I never in all my travels saw so disagreeable an animal, nor one against which I naturally conceived so strong an antipathy” (Swift 2). Towards the end of the story it becomes obvious that the Yahoos are an exaggeration of humanity itself. More precisely, they represent the wild side of humanity. “As disgusting as the picture is, it nevertheless conveys an important moral lesson: it is a likely delineation of what humanity might become if exposed to the brutalizing influences of unregulated passions” (Kallich 70). Furthermore, the amoral characteristics of human society appear to be as bad, if not worse, than those of the Yahoos. Indeed, the horses of the utopian society are shocked when they hear Gulliver's descriptions of all the vices of people and society. Indeed, Gulliver's description of the causes of wars is particularly striking. It is a very justifiable cause of war to invade a country after the people have been ravaged by famine, destroyed by a plague, or entangled with each other by factions. It is justified to go to war against our closest ally, when one of its cities isconvenient for us, or a territory of land, which would make our dominions round and complete. If a prince sends forces into a nation where the people are poor and ignorant, he can legitimately put to death half of them and enslave the rest, for the purpose of civilizing them and reducing them from their barbarous way of life. (Veloce13)Shortly after this selection, the horse to which Gulliver explains the reasons for the war draws quite a few connections between humans and the Yahoos, describing some of the latter's very aggressive activities which are suspiciously reminiscent of the wars of mankind. Certainly this passage indicates how the rulers of many countries can hide their selfish pursuit of power behind honorable motives. "The justifiable" is stripped of the rationalizing euphemism of diplomacy and seen for what it really is: Reason of State and Realpolitik are merely abstract shields for inhuman opportunism and overt crimes" (Knowles 124). Likewise, this is a fairly obvious use of irony: Swift calls these actions "very justifiable" when the way he describes them indicates that he doesn't really mean it This example is simply one of many examples throughout the journey where Swift satirizes greed and primitive nature of humanity. Although Gulliver becomes a misanthrope at the end of the book, this point of view is not what Swift intends for the reader. At the end of the journey, Gulliver is forced to return home, by decree of the Houyhnhnms arrives home, he cannot tolerate the sight of another human being (including his family) because he believes that, at heart, they are real Yahoos. Many have argued that this is the view Swift wants his readers to adopt. After all, at one point he said, "I have always hated all nations, professions, and communities, and all my love is toward individuals" (qtd. in Rowse 143). However, Swift made Gulliver far more misanthropic than he could realistically expect anyone to be. After the journey, Gulliver forces his wife and son to dine at the other end of a very long table. Swift intended the reader to perceive him as silly and perhaps think of him as a little crazy. "Swift, in constructing the story of Gulliver's transformation from a lover of mankind into a perfect misanthrope, did everything to introduce various signs into the story whose natural effect would have been to discredit, for attentive readers, the extreme conclusions drawn from Gulliver himself from his sojourn in Houyhnhnmland" (Crane 334-335). Likewise, Gulliver is rescued and brought back to Europe by a Portuguese captain named Don Pedro. The Captain is extraordinarily kind to Gulliver, who still despises him for being a Yahoo. "The Captain had often begged me to strip off my wild dress, and had offered to lend me the best dress he had. This I would not be persuaded to accept, abhorring to cover myself with anything that had been on the back of a Yahoo" ( Swift 35). Of course, Gulliver's refusal to wear anything that simply touched a Yahoo is a bit extreme. The last character discussed in the novel (besides Gulliver) appears to be a man with numerous virtues. Swift obviously wants his readers to see that, due to his experiences, Gulliver's views on human nature are not exactly right and rational. If Swift had wanted us to take Gulliver's dislike of mankind seriously, wouldn't he have made his savior an unmistakable character? Yahoo? And isn't his emphasis on Don Pedro's virtues therefore a clear indication that he wanted us to think of Gulliver, in this final stage, as a person so infatuated with a false or one-sided theory of human nature that he was blind? to some fact that contradicts it? (Crane 335)Gulliverhe obviously shares the point of view of his equine friends. If this view is wrong, it means that the Houyhnhnm are not the infallible beings originally depicted. Clearly, if their primary purpose is not to create a perfect race to compare man to, they must have another function in history. The Houyhnhnm, despite being seemingly perfect beings, are actually just cunning imitations of the Augustans. As mentioned before, the Augustans dedicated their lives to reason and truth. Just like the Augustans, everything the Houyhnhnm do is based on a scientific process. In their weddings they are very careful to choose colors that do not create any unpleasant mixture in the breed. In the male, strength is appreciated above all, in the female, beauty; not for love, but to preserve the race from degeneration; in fact, where a woman excels in strength, her husband is chosen based on beauty. (Swift 25) This is a great example of Swift's use of irony to help him in his satire. Throughout the story, he often mentions how good the Houyhnhnm's society is when, through his description of their lifestyle, he actually shows the opposite. The life of horses is devoid of passions, pleasures and ideas. Even if they have no evils in their society, they also have no real benefits. If eliminating all of life's risks is what it takes to eliminate vice, shouldn't humanity accept the need for a little evil? The world the Houyhnhnm live in is far from perfect. also, by its very nature, absence of life and vitality? If they are incapable of human bestiality they are still less capable of human glory or sublimity" (Dyson 681). Swift brilliantly mocks the Augustan goal. After all, the "Houyhnhnm" scenario is how the Augustans strove to live their lives. Later, in the Romantic period, they would be criticized for their scientific approach to everything and their strict adherence to reason. In this way, Swift was ahead of his time and, although his book did not glorify the emotions or something, certainly ridiculed the Augustans and their ideals "Book IV is still valid, in fact, as a satire on Augustanism itself. The Augustans, at their most characteristic, disapproved of strong emotions as necessarily disruptive, subordinated even those emotions they could not banish to the stern control of "Right Reason," ' and found no room for 'feeling' in their search for ' truth' (Dyson 682). The Augustans were a product of the Enlightenment, and with the help of social commentary like Swift's, they began to die out as people began to die. to see how senseless a life dedicated to reason truly was. Thus, the ironic ridicule of the Augustans was just as integral to Book IV as the portrayal of humans as Yahoos. The entire system of Houyhnhnmland is, in fact, an allegory to the pure reason and emotion of the Yahoos. Both of these factors, taken to the extreme, are dangerous. If people allow themselves to be completely dominated by emotion, they end up with a society without order, like the Yahoos. On the other hand, if people dedicate themselves completely according to logic, they produce a society with a lot of order, but without vitality. A healthy community has a good combination of the two. Swift ultimately leaves subtle clues such as Gulliver's illogical misanthropy to indicate that one must see the value in both. Unfortunately, it's easy for a reader to walk away thinking that Swift thinks humanity is evil. This piece in particular requires multiple readings to grasp its true meaning. Indeed, there are many interpretations of the piece that criticize Swift for indicating that a flawless society could exist without it