This work combines several genres. In the novel we will see a fascinating travel narrative, a pamphlet, it also contains dystopia, fantasy and a little riot. This novel can be called prophetic, since those who read it at any time will clearly see in it the specificity of the addressee of Swift's satire. The author strikes with his imagination, which will surprise anyone.
The protagonist is an ordinary doctor who gets into an incredible adventure beyond his will. He only decided to go by ship from England, but soon he accidentally finds himself in the most unimaginable countries in which, as usual, a completely ordinary life takes place.
Lemuel was the middle son in his family. There were five of them in the family. He lived in Nottinghamshire, and having matured a little, he went to study at Cambridge College. After studying in college, he completed his studies with the surgeon Bats, and after that he independently studied medical practice. After studying, he went to work on the ship as a surgeon.
Three years later, having traveled enough, he decides to marry and marry Mary Burton, who is the daughter of a stocking merchant. For the next two years, he and his wife live in London, but after the unforeseen death of his teacher, he has to return to the post of surgeon on the ship.
Here he is again on the ship and does not portend trouble, but soon a strong storm rises, their ship crashes, the crew dies, and he miraculously swims to the shore and turns off for a long time.
When the hero regains consciousness, he realizes that he is tied with a huge number of ropes, and many small creatures make him bonded, which are exactly like people, only of a very miniature size.
All these small ropes turn out to be not so strong and Gulliver, tensing a little, frees one hand, but the little people shoot him with needle arrows. He calms down and decides to lie down a little more and, after waiting for darkness, to free himself.
Having erected a large staircase, apparently their ruler Gurgo climbs up to him. He speaks a lot, but it is not possible to understand him, since the language is unfamiliar to Gulliver. Lemuel explains to the little men that he is very hungry and is being fed.
The officials decide to transport Gulliver to the capital and try to explain it to him, but he asks them to release him. He is denied. Gulliver's wounds are treated with some incomprehensible herbs and they give him a drink, adding a lot of sleeping pills there. Gulliver falls asleep. The hero is taken to the capital.
The hero wakes up in an abandoned temple, chained to one of his legs.The hero rises and looks around the surroundings. He sees a beautiful city and well-groomed fields. He relieves himself, and soon he is visited by the king, who is no larger than a fingernail, and explains that he will try to take good care of him.
The hero has been on this island for two weeks already, a special mattress and bed linen are being made for him. The state has no idea what to do with this huge man, because he eats a lot and soon they will go hungry.
It takes about three weeks and he masters their language a little. Gulliver wants to ask the ruler for release. Officials arrange a search and take away his saber, pistol, and bullets with gunpowder. Gulliver manages to hide a few things.
The emperor and the little men begin to like the giant, and they dance especially for him, perform all sorts of tricks, and also return his hat, which he lost on the shore.
The only one who does not like Gulliver is Admiral Skyresh Bolgolam, who, by order of the king, writes a contract that discusses the conditions for Gulliver's freedom. Gulliver is given a tour of Lilliput, as well as its capital. They show him the palace. The secretary tells what the political situation is in their country, as well as the hostility of the parties and the possibility of an attack from another Blefuska empire, which is located on another island.
Gulliver helps in the fight against Blefuscu by tying the anchors of their ships and delivering them to the capital. The rulers of Lilliput really want to capture the enemy, but Gulliver is against this, and refuses to do the favor.
Once a fire broke out in Lilliput and Gulliver, to help the citizens, urinates on him. The Emperor is outraged.
The hero decides to write in his notebook everything he sees in this strange country. He describes short inhabitants, small animals and miniature plants, he also writes that people are buried here upside down and how they punish false informers. If in this country someone forgets to thank a resident, they can go to jail. Their children are not brought up by their parents, but women and men live separately. Gulliver spends almost a year in this place. By this time, he has a chair with a table and completely new clothes.
The emperor becomes jealous and explains to Gulliver that he is costing their treasury too much. Soon an indictment comes from Bolgolam, who accuses him of urinating on the palace and also refusing to conquer another state.Gulliver gets scared and runs away from the Lilliputians.
Soon he gets to the sea and finds a boat there and, with the permission of the emperor Blefuscu, he sails away on it. Soon he is picked up by English merchants and brought to the Downs. For a couple of months he is with his family, but then he has to go back to work.
In June, he leaves England on a ship, but in April he again gets into a storm, after which there is very little drinking water left on the ship. Together with those who landed, he finds himself on an island, on which he notices giants, who at that time were already running after their comrades. The hero realizes that he is in a field with barley planted, but this plant is very large. He is found by a peasant and given to the owner of the field. The hero meets the hosts and soon he has dinner with them.
The hero wakes up from the sight of overly large rats who want to eat them. The farmer's wife takes him out into the garden so that the hero can relieve himself. The master's daughter makes a bed for Gulliver, makes new clothes for him and calls him Grildrik. Soon, on the instructions of a neighbor, the hero begins to perform for the public, and after a few weeks they go on a tour with demonstration performances. It takes about ten weeks and they manage to visit many cities and villages.
Gulliver loses weight and becomes sickly in appearance and the owner sells him to the royal person. Gulliver and the queen talk about life on the farm, and after that the woman introduces him to her husband, who gives him to scientists.
They build a house for the hero and sew clothes. He often dine with the king and queen. The queen's servant, the dwarf, is very jealous of Gulliver.
Gulliver and the queen set off across the country, but the annoying dwarf is always trying to get rid of the hero. The queen wants to entertain Gulliver, so she asks to make him a boat and give him a basin of water so that he can swim. For the crest, Gulliver takes the king's hair. Gulliver talks about England and its customs, and the king strongly criticizes the government of the country.
Three years pass. One fine day, the queen and her retinue decide to take a walk along the beach, but the eagle kidnaps the hero and he ends up at sea, where he is again picked up by an English ship and brought to the Downs.
Somewhere in early August, Gulliver leaves England on a ship. Soon the villains attack. The hero asks for mercy from the villains and one of the Japanese shows it. The whole ship is captured and captured. Gulliver is loaded into a shuttle and thrown out in the middle of the ocean, but he again finds himself on the island.
The island turned out to be flying. The citizens of this island call themselves Laputians and they are very strange in appearance. They feed him, teach him the language and sew new clothes again. Soon the flying island flies to the central city of the kingdom of Logado. After some time, the hero realizes that the Laputians love mathematics and music, and their biggest fear is space disasters. Since male Laputians are very thoughtful, their wives love to cheat on them.
After some time, the hero learns that the island flies because there is a magnet located in the central part of Laputa. If subjects rebel, their king blocks the sun or lowers an island on that city. The king and his family never leave Laputa.
One day the hero decided to go down to Balnibarbi, a small continent. He stops at a dignitary who bears the name Munodi. In this state, people are poorly dressed, the fields are empty, but the peasants still try to cultivate them. The dignitary says that they were once taught a completely unique soil treatment, so something stopped growing on it. Munodi was not interested in this then, so his fields are bearing fruit.
Soon the hero enters the Searchlight Academy. There, scientists are engaged in strange studies: getting sunlight from cucumbers, food from waste, trying to extract gunpowder from ice, and starting to build a house from above. Many more things were told to him by scientists, but it seemed to him ridiculous. They also had proposals for new laws, such as changing the back of the brain or taking taxes on human vices or virtues.
The hero leaves for Maldonado to get away from Luggnagg. While the ship is waiting, he visits the island of Glubbdobdrib, which is inhabited by wizards. The main inhabitant of this island manages to summon spirits, among them were Hannibal, Caesar, Brutus, Alexander the Great and the inhabitants of Pompeii, he also talks with Aristotle, Descartes and Homer, with various kings, and ordinary, unremarkable people. But he soon returned to Maldonado and a couple of weeks later sailed to Luggnagg. Soon he was arrested there. In the city of Traldregdab, Gulliver has the opportunity to meet the king, where he gets acquainted with a strange custom, it is necessary to lick the throne room. It's been three months since he's been in Luggnagg. The inhabitants here are courteous and good-natured, he learns that some inhabitants are born immortal. Gulliver dreams of what he could do if he was immortal, but the people say that they only suffer from immortality. After Luggnagg, the hero comes to Japan, and then to Amsterdam. In April, he hits the Downs.
After such strange, long and difficult journeys, Gulliver is given the position of captain of the ship. He accidentally hires robbers, who will soon capture him and land him on the nearest island. There, monkeys attack Gulliver, and the horse, which is very strange in appearance, saves him. The horse comes to his horse and they discuss something, periodically feeling Gulliver.
Horses bring the hero to his home, where he meets monkeys that look like people, but they are pets. He is offered rotten meat, but he refuses and shows that milk is better for him. Horses are also taken to dinner. This lunch is oatmeal.
Gulliver slowly masters this language and soon tells one of the horses the story of his appearance.
Somehow he is caught naked by the servant of the horse with whom he lives, but he promises to keep a secret that the man is very similar to a monkey.
Gulliver talks about England, about English horses, medicine and alcohol. The horse decided that the inhabitants of England did not use the mind at all for its intended purpose, but only to increase vices.
In the Houyhnhnms, family marriages are concluded for the birth of children, always of two different sexes.
Since the great apes are difficult to train, they decide to exterminate them, but soon they come to the decision to sterilize all the Yahoos, and send Gulliver, since he looks like a Yahoo, from the country. Two months later, Gulliver sails away.
From the trip, he loses his mind a little, because he believes that they want to send him to live with Yahoo, although he has been on a Portuguese ship for a long time, but he soon recovers and is sent to England.
In December, he comes home and decides to write a story about his adventures.
A brief retelling of "Gulliver's Travels" in abbreviation was prepared by Oleg Nikov for the reader's diary.
Swift J., fairy tale "Gulliver's Travels. Journey to Lilliput"
Genre: fantasy novel
The main characters of the fairy tale "Journey to Lilliput" and their characteristics
- Lemuel Gulliver, surgeon. A brave and resourceful person, smart and kind, always ready to help the weak. Honest and free-spirited.
- Emperor Lilliput. Curious, important, fair, treacherous.
- Skyresh Bolgolam. Admiral Lilliputov. Evil, wicked, cruel.
- Reldresel. Privy Councillor. Cunning and cunning.
- Flimnap. Treasurer, Lord Chancellor. Cruel, envious, jealous.
- Emperor Blefuscu. Cunning and fair.
- After a shipwreck, Gulliver is tied up on the shore.
- He finds himself among the Lilliputians and for some time lives as a prisoner in the capital.
- The Lilliputians are convinced of the kindness of Gulliver and grant him freedom with a number of conditions.
- Gulliver takes away the fleet of the hostile country Blefuscu and puts out the fire in the palace.
- Gulliver has to flee from Lilliput and takes refuge in Blefuska.
- Gulliver finds a boat and sails away to England.
A resourceful person will not disappear under any circumstances.
What does the fairy tale "Journey to Lilliput" teach
The novel teaches to be honest, kind and fair. Protect the weak, help other people. Learn not to be petty. It teaches you to find a way out in any situation and are not afraid of difficulties. It teaches you never to lose hope and love your Motherland.
Review of the fairy tale "Journey to Lilliput"
I really enjoyed this fantasy novel. Its main character, Gulliver, showed himself to be a resourceful, skillful and very intelligent person. At the same time, he always tried to be fair and did no harm to anyone. The description of Lilliput and especially the laws that reign in this country turned out to be very funny. And the reason for the war between Lilliputia and Blefuscu seems to me just idiotic.
Proverbs to the fairy tale "Journey to Lilliput"
Don't look at appearances, judge by deeds.
Do not look that small, but with a head.
Who is longer, that is more visible.
Envious for someone else's happiness dries up.
All is well that ends well.
Chapter 1.
Gulliver was the son of a small landowner from Nottinghamshire, and from the age of fourteen he went to college. Then he studied with a famous surgeon, and studied medicine in the city of Leiden.
After graduation, Gulliver became a ship's surgeon, tried several times to settle on land, but still returned to the sea.
Once Gulliver's ship was wrecked and he escaped alone. He reached the shore and fell asleep from exhaustion.
When Gulliver woke up, he found that he was tied with very small ropes, entangled in them from head to toe. A very small man with a bow climbed up it. Gulliver screamed and the little man ran away. He was not alone. There were a lot of the same tiny people around and they were all shouting something.
Gulliver pulled out one hand and immediately arrows flew at him. He preferred to remain lying still and for a long time he heard some sort of knocking. It turned out that the Lilliputians built a platform nearby, on which several Lilliputians climbed. One of them made a long speech, but Gulliver did not understand anything. He showed signs that he wanted to drink and eat.
The Lilliputians fed Gulliver with very small dishes and tiny bread, and then gave him barrels, which Gulliver drank in one breath.
The Lilliputians explained to Gulliver that he was a prisoner and he was ordered to be taken to the palace to the emperor. Gulliver wanted to object, but changed his mind and fell asleep, as sleeping pills were added to the wine.
The Lilliputians made a huge cart and transported Gulliver to the capital. There he was placed in the largest building, the former temple, where Gulliver could climb through the doors. Gulliver was chained and the ropes were cut.
Huge crowds of Lilliputians went to look at the unprecedented giant.
Chapter 2
The next day, the emperor himself and his large retinue came to Gulliver. Gulliver lay down to see and hear better, but he did not understand the language of the Lilliputians, and they did not understand any of the languages \u200b\u200bknown to Gulliver.
When the emperor retired, onlookers began to climb on Gulliver, who were chased by soldiers. But still, Gulliver had to extract the curious from his clothes.
A day later, the emperor announced to Gulliver that he would remain a prisoner for the time being, but he would be kept very well. Gulliver promised to behave in an exemplary manner and the emperor promised to release him in due course.
The Lilliputians made an inventory of Gulliver's property and he had to give a saber, pistols and gunpowder. A shot from pistols made a strong impression on the Lilliputians.
Meanwhile, the midgets did not find a telescope and glasses in a secret pocket.
Chapter 3
Gulliver watched the fun of the rope dancers and learned that the one who jumps on the rope higher than the others gets a vacant public position. The ministers also jumped on the rope to show that they had not lost their dexterity.
Another entertainment of Lilliputians was jumping over a stick. The stick was held by the emperor and the minister, and then raised it, then lowered it. The one who jumped best of all received a blue thread, a red thread for second place, and a green thread for third. The Lilliputians wore these threads in the form of a belt.
Gulliver also decided to entertain the Lilliputians and pulled a handkerchief on special sticks. On it, the cavalrymen began to conduct maneuvers. Everyone liked this fun until one horse tore the handkerchief. Then Gulliver decided to stop this entertainment.
A couple of weeks later, a mysterious black object was delivered from the seashore, which turned out to be Gulliver's hat. Gulliver was very happy about this.
And the emperor several times staged parades between Gulliver's spread legs.
Gulliver himself asked for freedom many times, and finally it was granted to him, despite the resistance of the harmful admiral Skyresh Bolgolam. Gulliver had to sign the terms of release, but they undertook to feed him with food that 1728 Lilliputians could eat.
Chapter 4
Having received freedom, Gulliver decided to explore Mildendo, the capital of Lilliput. He easily stepped through the houses. The city had a quadrangular shape and lived in it about five hundred thousand people. The houses were three and four stories high.
The Imperial Palace was located in the center of the city and was surrounded by a low wall. But then there were three rows of inner houses, very high and Gulliver could not step over them.
To inspect the imperial chambers, Gulliver had to make himself two stools from huge trees and step over tall houses from stool to stool.
So Gulliver was able to inspect the chambers of the emperor and even kissed the hand of the empress.
Two weeks later, the Privy Councilor Reldresel arrived at the Gullivers, who said that Lilliput had two problems.
First internal. These are two warring factions, the Tremexens and the Slemexens, who differ in the height of the heels they wear. The emperor belongs to the Low Heels Party, but the heir has a craving for the High Heels Party. And both parties strongly hate each other.
But there is also an external enemy - Blefuscu. This is an island on which an empire hostile to the Lilliputians is located.
People live there who, in the old fashioned way, break boiled eggs from the blunt end, although even the grandfather of the current emperor ordered to break boiled eggs only from the sharp end. And between Blefuscu and Lilliputia there is a constant war.
And now Blefuscu has assembled a huge fleet and is preparing to invade Lilliput.
Gulliver replied to the adviser that he was ready to defend the country, but would not get into a showdown between parties.
Chapter 5
The island of Blefuscu was separated from Lilliput by a small strait, the greatest depth of which did not exceed 6 feet. Gulliver saw through a spyglass fifty ships and many transports that were waiting only for a fair wind to attack Lilliput.
He demanded ropes and steel hooks, which were too thin. But Gulliver tied them together and received fifty ropes with hooks.
Gulliver crossed the strait and, under a shower of arrows, tied up all the ships. He had to wear goggles to keep the arrows from gouging out his eyes. Then Gulliver cut the anchors and dragged the entire fleet to Lilliput.
The emperor was waiting for the end of the sortie on the shore. He saw the approaching fleet, but did not notice Gulliver in the water. Therefore, for a short time, panic set in. However, Gulliver shouted "Long live the Emperor of Liliput!", and the panic stopped.
For this operation, Gulliver received the title of Nardak, the highest in the country.
The emperor wanted Gulliver to drive the rest of Blefuscu's ships in the same way, but he refused, not wanting to be the reason for the enslavement of an entire people.
After that, the emperor began to treat Gulliver coolly.
Soon a favorable peace was concluded between Lilliputia and Blefuscu, and the ambassadors of Blefuscu praised Gulliver in every possible way and invited him to visit their country.
And soon Gulliver managed to put out the fire in the imperial palace in a very unusual way. The fire threatened to burn down the entire building and Gulliver urinated on it so profusely that the fire was extinguished.
However, after this incident, the empress harbored a grudge against Gulliver, who refused to return to the rooms saved from the fire in such an extravagant way.
Chapter 6
The inhabitants of Lilliput were just over six inches tall, and everything else in that country was just as small. They buried the dead head down, wrote the pages obliquely. Lilliputians did not like scammers, and if the denunciation was false, the scammer would face severe punishment. More than thieves, Lilliputians disliked swindlers and usually punished them with death.
But strict observance of the laws was rewarded, exemplary Lilliputians received a monetary reward.
When choosing a person for any position, preference was given to his moral qualities than mental ones. Ingratitude in Lilliput was considered a serious crime.
Children in the country were brought up in educational institutions and it was believed that children did not owe anything to their parents. Although parents were obliged to pay for the upbringing of children, who were given the right to visit their children twice a year. Boys and girls are brought up separately, with the exception of the children of workers and peasants, who received no education at all.
Gulliver was given a new suit, he was served by 300 chefs. And once the emperor came to dinner with Lord Chancellor Flimnap, who cast hostile glances at Gulliver. He was dissatisfied with the spending into which Gulliver introduced the treasury.
In addition, Flimnap was jealous of Gulliver for his wife, who often came to visit Gulliver. But his suspicions were, of course, unfounded.
Chapter 7
One day an important person came to Gulliver and told him about the accusations that Bolgolam and Flimnap had made against him. He was accused of extinguishing a fire in the palace, of refusing to bring the entire Blefuscu fleet and of communicating with the Blefuscu embassy, that is, treason.
The accusers demanded death for Gulliver, but the emperor graciously decided that it was enough just to deprive him of his eyes. After much debate, it was decided to blind Gulliver and gradually starve him to death.
To avoid this trouble, Gulliver decided to visit Blefuska, permission to visit which was somehow given to him by the emperor himself. He untied one ship, put his clothes on it and quickly reached Blefuscu.
There he was enthusiastically received and treated kindly by the Emperor Blefuscu himself. However, Gulliver did not tell the emperor about his disgrace.
Chapter 8
Three days later, Gulliver noticed an overturned boat in the sea. With the help of a whole fleet, he managed to bring the boat to the shore and inspect it. The boat was complete. Gulliver brought her by oars to the capital of Blefuscu and began to ask the emperor to help him equip the boat with sails and give him provisions so that he could go home.
Emperor Blefuscu agreed to help Gulliver.
Meanwhile, the emperor of Liliput demanded that Gulliver be returned to him, bound hand and foot, in order to subject him to execution. Emperor Blefuscu replied that he could not do this, but told about the boat and that Gulliver was going to sail home and then his problem would be solved by itself.
Emperor Blefuscu asked Gulliver if he would like to enter his service, but Gulliver refused. And I learned that the emperor was very pleased with this decision.
A month later, everything was ready to sail. Gulliver loaded a lot of provisions on the boat, and among other things took six live cows, two bulls, and sheep with rams to breed them in their homeland.
Finally, Gulliver sailed on a boat and a few days later got on an English ship. This ship took him to England.
The cows and sheep took to the English grass and bred.
Gulliver did not stay at home for long. The craving for travel did not leave him. And two months later he said goodbye to his wife, son and daughter and again went to sea.
Drawings and illustrations for the fairy tale "Journey to Lilliput"
Travels to some distant countries of the world by Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then the captain of several ships.
“Gulliver's Travels” is a work written at the intersection of genres: it is also a fascinating, purely novelistic narrative, a travel novel (by no means, however, “sentimental”, which Lawrence Sterne would describe in 1768); it is a pamphlet novel and at the same time a novel that bears distinct features of a dystopia - a genre that we used to believe belongs exclusively to the literature of the 20th century; this is a novel with equally pronounced elements of fantasy, and the rampage of Swift's imagination truly knows no limits.
Being a dystopian novel, it is a novel in the full sense of the word utopian too, especially its last part. And finally, undoubtedly, one should pay attention to the most important thing - this is a prophetic novel, because, reading and re-reading it today, perfectly aware of the undoubted specificity of the addressees of Swift's merciless, caustic, murderous satire, you think about this specificity last. Because everything that his hero encounters in the course of his wanderings, his kind of Odysseus, all the manifestations of human, let's say, oddities - those that grow into "oddities" that have both a national and supranational character, a global character - all this not only did not die along with those against whom Swift addressed his pamphlet, did not go into oblivion, but, alas, is striking in its relevance. And therefore - the amazing prophetic gift of the author, his ability to capture and recreate what belongs to human nature, and therefore has a character, so to speak, enduring.
There are four parts in Swift's book: his hero makes four journeys, the total duration of which in time is sixteen years and seven months. Leaving, or rather, sailing, each time from a very specific port city that really exists on any map, he suddenly finds himself in some outlandish countries, getting acquainted with those customs, lifestyle, way of life, laws and traditions that are in use there, and talking about his country, about England. And the first such “stop” is the land of Lilliput for Swift’s hero. But first, two words about the hero himself. In Gulliver, some of the features of his creator, his thoughts, his ideas, a kind of “self-portrait” merged together, but the wisdom of the Swift hero (or, more precisely, his sanity in that fantastically absurd world that he describes every time with an inimitably serious, imperturbable mine) combined with the "simplicity" of Voltaire's Huron. It is this innocence, this strange naivety that allows Gulliver to grasp so sharply (that is, so inquisitively, so accurately) every time he finds himself in a wild and foreign country, the most important thing. At the same time, a certain detachment is always felt in the very intonation of his narration, a calm, unhurried, unfussy irony. As if he is not talking about his own "going through the torment", but looks at everything that happens as if from a temporary distance, and quite a considerable one at that. In a word, sometimes there is a feeling that this is our contemporary, some genius writer unknown to us is leading his story. Laughing at us, at himself, at human nature and human mores, which he sees as invariable. Swift is also a modern writer because the novel he wrote seems to belong to literature, which in the 20th century, and in the second half of it, was called “absurd literature”, but in fact its true roots, its beginning are here, at Swift, and sometimes in this sense a writer who lived two and a half centuries ago, can give a hundred points ahead of modern classics - precisely as a writer who subtly owns all the techniques of absurd writing.
So, the first "stop" for Swift's hero is the country of Lilliput, where very small people live. Already in this first part of the novel, as well as in all subsequent ones, the author's ability to convey, from a psychological point of view, absolutely accurately and reliably, the feeling of a person who is among people (or creatures) who are not like him, to convey his feeling of loneliness, abandonment and inner lack of freedom, constraint precisely by what is around - all the others and everything else.
In that detailed, unhurried tone with which Gulliver tells about all the absurdities, absurdities that he encounters when he gets to the country of Lilliput, an amazing, exquisitely hidden humor is evident.
At first, these strange, incredibly small people (respectively, just as miniature and everything that surrounds them) meet the Mountain Man (as they call Gulliver) quite friendly: they provide him with housing, special laws are adopted that somehow streamline his communication with the locals. residents, in order for it to proceed equally harmoniously and safely for both sides, provide it with food, which is not easy, because the diet of an intruder is grandiose in comparison with their own (it is equal to the diet of 1728 Lilliputians!). The emperor himself talks affably with him, after Gulliver provided him and his entire state with help (he walks out into the strait separating Lilliputia from the neighboring and hostile state of Blefuscu, and drags the entire Blefuscan fleet on a rope), he is granted the title of backgammon, the highest title in state. Gulliver is introduced to the customs of the country: what, for example, are the exercises of rope dancers, which serve as a way to get a vacant position at court (is it not from here that the most inventive Tom Stoppard borrowed the idea of his play "Jumpers", or, in other words, "Acrobats"?). Description of the "ceremonial march" ... between Gulliver's legs (another "entertainment"), the rite of passage, which he takes an oath of allegiance to the state of Lilliput; its text, which draws special attention to the first part, which lists the titles of "the most powerful emperor, joy and horror of the universe" - all this is inimitable! Especially when you consider the disproportion of this midget - and all those epithets that accompany his name.
Further, Gulliver is initiated into the political system of the country: it turns out that in Lilliput there are two “warring parties known as Tremeksenov and Slemeksenov”, differing from each other only in that the supporters of one are adherents of ... low heels, and the other - high, and between them, on this, undoubtedly very significant, ground, “the most severe strife” takes place: “they say that high heels are most consistent with ... the ancient state structure” of Lilliput, but the emperor “decided that in government institutions ... only low heels..." Well, why not the reforms of Peter the Great, disputes regarding the impact of which on the further “Russian path” do not subside to this day! Even more significant circumstances brought to life a "fierce war" waged between "two great empires" - Lilliputia and Blefuscu: from which side to break eggs - from a blunt end or quite the opposite, from a sharp one. Well, of course, Swift is talking about contemporary England, divided into Tory and Whig supporters - but their opposition has sunk into oblivion, becoming part of history, but the wonderful allegory-allegory invented by Swift is alive. For it is not a matter of Whigs and Tories: no matter how specific parties are called in a specific country in a specific historical era, Swift's allegory turns out to be "for all time." And it's not about allusions - the writer guessed the principle on which everything has been built, is being built and will be built from time immemorial.
Although, by the way, Swift's allegories, of course, belonged to the country and the era in which he lived and the political underside of which he had the opportunity to learn first-hand from his own experience. And therefore, behind Liliputia and Blefuscu, which the emperor of Liliputia, after the withdrawal of the ships of the Blefuscans by Gulliver, “conceived ... to turn it into his own province and rule it through his governor”, the relations between England and Ireland, which also by no means departed into the realm of legends, are read without much difficulty, to this day, painful and disastrous for both countries.
It must be said that not only the situations described by Swift, human weaknesses and state foundations amaze with their today's sound, but even many purely textual passages. You can quote them endlessly. Well, for example: “The language of the Blefuskans is as different from the language of the Lilliputians as the languages of the two European peoples differ from each other. At the same time, each of the nations is proud of the antiquity, beauty and expressiveness of its language. And our emperor, taking advantage of his position, created by the capture of the enemy fleet, ordered the embassy [of the Blefuscans] to present credentials and negotiate in the Lilliputian language. Associations - clearly unplanned by Swift (however, who knows?) - arise by themselves ...
Although, where Gulliver proceeds to present the foundations of the legislation of Lilliput, we already hear the voice of Swift - a utopian and idealist; these Lilliputian laws that put morality above mental virtues; laws that consider denunciation and fraud as crimes much more serious than theft, and many others are clearly dear to the author of the novel. As well as the law, which makes ingratitude a criminal offence; this latter was especially affected by the utopian dreams of Swift, who knew well the price of ingratitude - both on a personal and state scale.
However, not all of the emperor's advisers share his enthusiasm for the Man of the Mountain, and many do not like the exaltation (both figuratively and literally). The indictment that these people organize turns all the good deeds granted by Gulliver into crimes. "Enemies" demand death, and methods are offered one more terrible than the other. And only the chief secretary for secret affairs, Reldresel, known as Gulliver's "true friend", turns out to be truly humane: his proposal boils down to the fact that it is enough for Gulliver to gouge out both eyes; “Such a measure, while satisfying to some extent justice, at the same time will delight the whole world, which will welcome as much the meekness of the monarch as the nobility and magnanimity of those who have the honor to be his advisers.” In reality, (state interests are, after all, above all!) "The loss of eyes will not cause any damage to [Gulliver's] physical strength, thanks to which [he] can still be useful to His Majesty." Swift's sarcasm is inimitable - but hyperbole, exaggeration, allegory are absolutely at the same time correlated with reality. Such "fantastic realism" of the beginning of the 18th century...
Or here’s another example of Swift’s providences: “Lilliputians have a custom established by the current emperor and his ministers (very different ... from what was practiced in former times): if, for the sake of the monarch’s vindictiveness or the malice of a favorite, the court sentences someone to cruel punishment, then the emperor delivers a speech in a meeting of the state council, depicting his great mercy and kindness as qualities known to all and recognized by all. The speech is immediately resounded throughout the empire; and nothing terrifies the people so much as these panegyrics to imperial mercy; for it has been established that the more extensive and eloquent they are, the more inhuman the punishment and the more innocent the victim. That's right, but what does Lilliput have to do with it? - any reader will ask. And in fact - what's the point?..
After fleeing to Blefuscu (where history repeats itself with depressing uniformity, that is, everyone is happy for the Man of Grief, but no less happy to get rid of him as soon as possible) Gulliver sets sail on the boat he built and ... accidentally meeting an English merchant ship, safely returns to his native land . 
He brings with him miniature lambs, which after a few years have bred so much that, as Gulliver says, “I hope that they will bring significant benefits to the cloth industry” (Swift’s undoubted “reference” to his own “Letters of the Clothmaker” - his pamphlet, published in light in 1724).
The second strange state, where the restless Gulliver finds himself, is Brobdingnag - the state of giants, where Gulliver already turns out to be a kind of midget. Every time Swift's hero seems to fall into a different reality, as if into a kind of "through the looking glass", and this transition takes place in a matter of days and hours: reality and unreality are located very close, you just need to want to...
Gulliver and the local population, in comparison with the previous plot, seem to change roles, and the treatment of local residents with Gulliver this time exactly corresponds to how Gulliver himself behaved with the Lilliputians, in all the details and details that are so masterful, one might say, lovingly describes, even subscribes to Swift. On the example of his hero, he demonstrates an amazing property of human nature: the ability to adapt (in the best, "Robinsonian" sense of the word) to any circumstances, to any life situation, the most fantastic, the most incredible - a property that all those mythological, fictional creatures, a guest, are deprived of. which turns out to be Gulliver.
And Gulliver comprehends one more thing, knowing his fantastic world: the relativity of all our ideas about it. Swift's hero is characterized by the ability to accept "proposed circumstances", the very "tolerance" that another great educator, Voltaire, stood up for several decades earlier.
In this country, where Gulliver turns out to be even more (or rather, less) than just a dwarf, he undergoes many adventures, eventually getting back to the royal court, becoming the king's favorite companion. In one of the conversations with His Majesty, Gulliver tells him about his country - these stories will be repeated more than once on the pages of the novel, and every time Gulliver's interlocutors will again and again be amazed at what he will tell them about, presenting the laws and customs of his own country as something quite familiar and normal. And for his inexperienced interlocutors (Swift brilliantly portrays this "naive naivety of misunderstanding"!) All Gulliver's stories will seem boundless absurdity, nonsense, sometimes - just fiction, lies. At the end of the conversation, Gulliver (or Swift) drew a line: “My brief historical outline of our country over the past century plunged the king into extreme amazement. He announced that, in his opinion, this story is nothing but a bunch of conspiracies, troubles, murders, beatings, revolutions and deportations, which are the worst result of greed, partisanship, hypocrisy, perfidy, cruelty, rabies, madness, hatred, envy voluptuousness, malice and ambition." Shine!
Even greater sarcasm sounds in the words of Gulliver himself: “... I had to calmly and patiently listen to this insulting treatment of my noble and dearly beloved fatherland ... But you can’t be too demanding of the king, who is completely cut off from the rest of the world and, as a result, is in complete ignorance of the mores and customs of other peoples. Such ignorance always gives rise to a certain narrowness of thought and a lot of prejudices, which we, like other enlightened Europeans, are completely alien to. And in fact - alien, completely alien! Swift's mockery is so obvious, the allegory is so transparent, and our naturally occurring thoughts on this matter today are so understandable that it is not even worth commenting on them.
Equally remarkable is the "naive" judgment of the king about politics: the poor king, it turns out, did not know its basic and fundamental principle: "everything is permitted" - due to his "excessive unnecessary scrupulousness." Bad politician!
And yet, Gulliver, being in the company of such an enlightened monarch, could not help but feel all the humiliation of his position - a midget among the giants - and his, ultimately, lack of freedom. And he again rushes home, to his relatives, to his country, so unfairly and imperfectly arranged. And when he gets home, he cannot adapt for a long time: his own seems ... too small. Used to!
In part of the third book, Gulliver first finds himself on the flying island of Laputa. And again, everything that he observes and describes is the height of absurdity, while the author's intonation of Gulliver-Swift is still imperturbably meaningful, full of undisguised irony and sarcasm. And again, everything is recognizable: both trifles of a purely everyday nature, such as the “addiction to news and politics” inherent in the Laputians, and the fear that always lives in their minds, as a result of which “the Laputians are constantly in such anxiety that they cannot sleep peacefully in their beds nor enjoy the ordinary pleasures and pleasures of life." The visible embodiment of absurdity as the basis of life on the island is flappers, whose purpose is to force listeners (interlocutors) to focus their attention on what they are currently being told about. But there are allegories of a larger nature in this part of Swift's book: concerning rulers and power, and how to influence "recalcitrant subjects", and much more. And when Gulliver descends from the island to the "continent" and enters its capital, the city of Lagado, he will be shocked by the combination of boundless ruin and poverty, which will catch the eye everywhere, and peculiar oases of order and prosperity: it turns out that these oases are all that is left of past, normal life. And then some “projectors” appeared who, having visited the island (that is, in our opinion, abroad) and “returning to earth ... were imbued with contempt for all ... institutions and began to draw up projects for the re-creation of science, art, laws , language and technology in a new way". First, the Academy of projectors appeared in the capital, and then in all cities of the country of any significance. The description of Gulliver's visit to the Academy, his conversations with pundits knows no equal in terms of the degree of sarcasm, combined with contempt - contempt, first of all, for those who allow themselves to be fooled and led by the nose like that ... And linguistic improvements! And the school of political projectors!
Tired of all these miracles, Gulliver decided to sail to England, but for some reason, on his way home, first the island of Glubbdobdrib, and then the kingdom of Luggnagg, turned out to be. I must say that as Gulliver moves from one outlandish country to another, Swift's fantasy becomes more and more violent, and his contemptuous poisonousness becomes more and more merciless. This is how he describes the manners at the court of King Luggnagg.
And in the fourth, final part of the novel, Gulliver finds himself in the country of the Houyhnhnms. Houigngnms are horses, but it is in them that Gulliver finally finds quite human features - that is, those features that Swift would probably like to observe in people. And in the service of the Houyhnhnms live evil and vile creatures - Yahoo, like two drops of water similar to a person, only deprived of the cover of civility (both figuratively and literally), and therefore appearing to be disgusting creatures, real savages next to well-bred, highly moral, respectable horses-Huyhnhnms, where both honor, and nobility, and dignity, and modesty, and the habit of abstinence are alive ...
Once again, Gulliver tells about his country, about its customs, mores, political structure, traditions - and once again, more precisely, more than ever, his story is met by his listener-interlocutor, first with distrust, then - bewilderment, then - indignation: how can one live so inconsistently with the laws of nature? So unnatural to human nature - this is the pathos of misunderstanding on the part of the horse-guyhnhnma. The structure of their community is the version of utopia that Swift allowed himself at the end of his pamphlet novel: an old writer who has lost faith in human nature with unexpected naivety almost sings of primitive joys, a return to nature - something very reminiscent of Voltaire's "Innocent" . But Swift was not "simple-hearted," and that is why his utopia looks utopian even to himself. And this is manifested primarily in the fact that it is these pretty and respectable Houyhnhnms who expel from their "herd" the "stranger" who has crept into it - Gulliver. For he is too similar to Yahoo, and they don’t care that Gulliver’s resemblance to these creatures is only in the structure of the body and nothing more. No, they decide, as soon as he is a Yahoo, then he should live next to the Yahoo, and not among "decent people", that is, horses. The utopia did not work out, and Gulliver dreamed in vain of spending the rest of his days among these kind animals he liked. The idea of tolerance turns out to be alien even to them. And therefore, the general assembly of the Houyhnhnms, in Swift's description reminiscent of his scholarship, well, almost the Platonic Academy, accepts the "admonition" - to expel Gulliver as belonging to the Yahoo breed. And our hero completes his wanderings, once again returning home, "retiring to his garden in Redrif to enjoy reflections, to put into practice the excellent lessons of virtue ...".
Jonathan Swift
Gulliver's Travels
Part one
Journey to Lilliput
The three-masted brig "Antelope" sailed to the Southern Ocean.
The ship's doctor Gulliver stood at the stern and looked through a telescope at the pier. His wife and two children remained there: son Johnny and daughter Betty.
Not the first time Gulliver went to sea. He loved to travel. Even at school, he spent almost all the money that his father sent him on nautical charts and on books about foreign countries. He diligently studied geography and mathematics, because these sciences are most needed by a sailor.
His father gave Gulliver an apprenticeship to a famous London doctor at that time. Gulliver studied with him for several years, but did not stop thinking about the sea.
The medical profession was useful to him: after finishing his studies, he entered the ship's doctor on the ship "Swallow" and sailed on it for three and a half years. And then, having lived for two years in London, he made several trips to East and West India.
During the voyage, Gulliver never got bored. In his cabin, he read books taken from home, and on the shore he looked at how other peoples live, studied their language and customs.
On the way back, he wrote down the road adventures in detail.
And this time, going to sea, Gulliver took with him a thick notebook.
On the first page of this book it was written: "May 4, 1699, we weighed anchor in Bristol."
For many weeks and months the Antelope sailed across the Southern Ocean. Tailwinds blew. The trip was successful.
But one day, when crossing to East India, the ship was overtaken by a terrible storm. Wind and waves drove him to no one knows where.
And the hold was already running out of food and fresh water.
Twelve sailors died of fatigue and hunger. The rest barely moved their feet. The ship tossed from side to side like a nutshell.
One dark, stormy night, the wind carried the Antelope right onto a sharp rock. The sailors noticed it too late. The ship hit a cliff and broke into pieces.
Only Gulliver and five sailors managed to escape in the boat.
For a long time they rushed along the sea and finally completely exhausted. And the waves got bigger and bigger, and then the highest wave tossed and capsized the boat.
Water covered Gulliver with his head.
When he surfaced, there was no one near him. All his companions drowned.
Gulliver swam alone wherever his eyes looked, driven by the wind and the tide. Every now and then he tried to find the bottom, but there was still no bottom. And he could no longer swim further: a wet caftan and heavy, swollen shoes pulled him down. He choked and gasped.
And suddenly his feet touched solid ground.
It was a shallow. Gulliver carefully stepped on the sandy bottom once or twice - and slowly walked forward, trying not to stumble.
The going got easier and easier. At first the water reached his shoulders, then to his waist, then only to his knees. He already thought that the shore was very close, but the bottom in this place was very shallow, and Gulliver had to wade knee-deep in water for a long time.
At last the water and sand were left behind.
Gulliver went out onto a lawn covered with very soft and very low grass. He sank to the ground, put his hand under his cheek and fell fast asleep.
When Gulliver woke up, it was already quite light. He lay on his back, and the sun shone directly in his face.
He wanted to rub his eyes, but he could not raise his hand; I wanted to sit up, but I couldn't move.
Thin ropes entangled his entire body from armpits to knees; arms and legs were tightly tied with a rope net; ropes wrapped around each finger. Even Gulliver's long thick hair was tightly wound around small pegs driven into the ground and entwined with ropes.
Gulliver was like a fish caught in a net.
"Yes, I'm still sleeping," he thought.
Suddenly, something living quickly climbed onto his leg, reached his chest and stopped at his chin.
Gulliver squinted one eye.
What a miracle! Almost under his nose is a little man - a tiny, but a real little man! In his hands is a bow and arrow, behind his back is a quiver. And he's only three fingers tall.
Following the first little man, another four dozen of the same small shooters climbed Gulliver.
In surprise, Gulliver cried out loudly.
The little men rushed about and rushed in all directions.
As they ran, they stumbled and fell, then jumped up and jumped to the ground one by one.
For two or three minutes no one else approached Gulliver. Only under his ear all the time there was a noise similar to the chirping of grasshoppers.
But soon the little men again took courage and again began to climb up his legs, arms and shoulders, and the bravest of them crept up to Gulliver's face, touched his chin with a spear and shouted in a thin but distinct voice:
- Gekina degul!
- Gekina degul! Gekina degul! - picked up thin voices from all sides.
But what these words meant, Gulliver did not understand, although he knew many foreign languages.
Gulliver lay on his back for a long time. His arms and legs were completely numb.
He mustered his strength and tried to lift his left arm off the ground.
Finally he succeeded. He pulled out the pegs, around which were wrapped hundreds of thin, strong ropes, and raised his hand.
At that very moment, someone below squeaked loudly:
- Just a flashlight!
Hundreds of arrows pierced Gulliver's hand, face, neck at once. The men's arrows were thin and sharp, like needles.
Gulliver closed his eyes and decided to lie still until nightfall.
It will be easier to break free in the dark, he thought.
But he did not have to wait for the night on the lawn.
Not far from his right ear he heard a frequent, fractional knock, as if someone nearby were hammering cloves into the board.
The hammers banged for an hour. Gulliver slightly turned his head - the ropes and pegs no longer allowed him to turn it - and near his very head he saw a newly built wooden platform. Several men were fitting a ladder to him.
Then they ran away, and a little man in a long cloak slowly climbed the steps to the platform.
Behind him walked another, almost half his height, and carried the edge of his cloak. It must have been a page boy. He was no bigger than Gulliver's little finger.
The last to ascend the platform were two archers with drawn bows in their hands.
- Langro degul san! shouted a man in a cloak three times and unrolled a scroll as long and as wide as a birch leaf.
Now fifty men ran up to Gulliver and cut the ropes tied to his hair.
Gulliver turned his head and began to listen to what the man in the raincoat was reading. The little man read and talked for a long, long time. Gulliver did not understand anything, but just in case he nodded his head and put his free hand to his heart.
Title of the work: Gulliver's Travels
Year of writing: 1727
Genre of work: novel
Main characters: Lemuel Gulliver- the son of a landowner, a surgeon on a ship, a traveler.
Plot
Lemuel Gulliver is a good surgeon. Works on a ship. But one day a tragedy happened - because of the fog, the ship crashed against the stones. The surviving hero finds himself on land in the country of Lilliput, where very small people live. There he begins to learn the local language, makes friends with the emperor. The hero learns about the enmity with the neighbors of Blefuscu. But in the end, on various charges, he faces death or torture, so he runs away. The next point of the trip is Brobdingnag. This land is inhabited by giants. The farmer shows the guest for money. Lumuel meets the royal family, but there are dangers too. Then he visits the flying island of Laputa, where the inhabitants are interested in mathematics and music. Immortal people live in Luggnagg, but they suffer from this, get sick and sad. The last trip was to the country of the Houyhnhnms, which is inhabited by horses. Gulliver traveled for over 16 years.
Conclusion (my opinion)
In the novel, Swift denounces pride and arrogance. He was worried about the decline of morality in society. He also condemns the illogical laws of England, the hard life. Having delved into deep images, you can see the surrounding people in the fantastic characters.
