Literary Critique of A Modest Proposal

A Modest Proposal Jonathan Swift In very simple terms, A Modest Proposal is a satire of the social and economic events in Ireland. It was written in the early eighteenth century in an attempt to shame England and to shock Ireland. Jonathan Swift lived in an Ireland which was a colony, politically, militarily, and economically dependent on England. England was happy to keep things as they were to keep Ireland weak. The result was an …

…the expense. He uses shock value to try and open their eyes. Swift wrote this proposal with such a rational voice and logic that he makes it seem feasible. As Swift mentions the many different advantages of his proposal, it does make perfect sense that it would help the Irish help themselves out of their plight. He makes it even more persuasive when he urges others to describe a better way to solve the problem.