Gulliver (eng. Gulliver) - the hero of the novel by J. Swift "Journey to some distant countries of the world by Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then the captain of several ships" (1726). Swift's novel is written in the menippea tradition, in which the absolute freedom of plot fiction is motivated by the “ideological and philosophical goal - to create exceptional situations for provoking and testing philosophical idea - words, truth, embodied in the image of a sage, a seeker of this truth "(MM Bakhtin). The content of the menippea is not the adventures of a particular hero, but the vicissitudes of the idea itself. This formulation of the question allows one to see the deep inner integrity of both the image of G. himself and the work as a whole.

At first glance, Swift's novel contains four different G.

The first is in Lilliput. In this country, he is great and powerful, like a true hero, and personifies all the best that is in a person: intelligence, beauty, power, mercy.

The second is in Brobdingnag. In the land of giants, G. is a constant hero of comic situations. He acts as a royal jester, a funny scientist midget. After hearing the story of G. about the political and socio-economic structure of England, King Brob-dingnega concludes that "most of your compatriots are a brood of small disgusting reptiles, the most pernicious of all that have ever crawled on the earth's surface."

The third is an indifferent and calm observer, carefully capturing the follies, ugliness, perversions that he sees in the flying kingdom of Laputa, the country of Balni-Barbie and in the Great Academy of its capital Laga-do, on the island of necromancers Glabbdobdrib, in the kingdom of Luggnagt, where he meets the eternally immortals struldbrugs.

The fourth is G. from the country of the Guingngnms (intelligent horses) and the Yehu (the feral descendants of a pair of Englishmen who ended up on the island as a result of a shipwreck). Here G. is a tragically lonely and hated person. And to be human means to belong to the disgusting yehu family, famous for their gluttony, lust, laziness, anger, deceit and stupidity.

These different Gullivers represent the hypostases of a single image. The hero of a work written in the menippean tradition - a man of ideas, a sage - is placed by the author in a situation of collision with world evil in its most extreme expressions. Everything that G. sees in his travels serves Swift to test ideas, not character. G. is a normal, reasonable, morally healthy person who is sent by the author on a journey through the world of madness, absurdity, lies and violence. It is in relation to G. that human nature is revealed: it is unsightly and disgusting for any rational being. G. was looking in a crazy world for a place in which a worthy person could find peace. And Swift brings his hero to the utopian country of the Guingngs, but he himself brings him back to England, for in a crazy world a society based on reasonable principles cannot exist. And this means that G. must return home: intelligent horses drive out the hero.

The history of G. is the story of a man who tried to change people and their world with the word of truth. As a result, G. is forced to admit that “the Yehu are a breed of animals that are not at all capable of correcting themselves through instructions and examples. Six months have passed since the publication of my book, and I not only do not see the end of all kinds of abuses and vices, but I have not heard that my book has produced even one action that corresponds to my intentions. " G. refuses "the ridiculous idea of \u200b\u200breforming the Yehu breed" and finds solace only in the stable, in long conversations with his stallions.

G. served as the prototype of the pioneer hero in the film by AL Ptushko "New Gulliver" (1935), in which Swift's character became an active participant in the struggle between the worlds, socialism and capitalism.

The protagonist of this story is Gulliver. He was born into a family of a poor nobleman, had an estate in Nottinghamshire. In the fourteenth year he was sent to college in Cambridge. But my father did not have the means to keep him there for more than three years.

Then Gulliver studied for four years in the outstanding London surgeon Mr. Betts and became a doctor. The money that his father sent him, he spent on books from navigation and related branches of mathematics, because he dreamed of becoming a traveler. Subsequently, Lemuel studied natural science for two years and seven months at Leiden University in Holland.

After the voyage, on the advice of friends, he married Mary Bergen, the daughter of a hosiery shop owner, Ermund Burton. To improve the financial situation of the family, Gulliver sets off on a voyage on the Antelope ship to the East Indies. Then he was about 30-33 years old.

In my opinion, Gulliver had a pleasant appearance. He is of medium height, with a slender figure, brown hair, sharp features.

From the essay it is clear that Gulliver had positive character traits. The author notes his humanity: "... (Gulliver) resolutely refused to be an instrument of enslavement of a free and courageous people ...", emphasizes courage: "While I was busy with this, the enemies shot thousands of arrows, and many of them revel in my hands and face, causing burning pain and interfering with my work ... "

Gulliver's curiosity can be traced throughout the entire work: ". But when on the shore, he looked closely at the life and customs of people and at the same time studied foreign languages... "This hero has such qualities as endurance (" The first sentence that I learned was a request to return my freedom. ... the emperor replied that it was a matter of time, that he could solve it only in agreement with the advice ... ") and generosity (" ... The Colonel ordered to seize six factories ... and hand them over to me .... I cut the threads with which he was tied with a knife and carefully lowered him to the ground ... ").

Intelligence and ingenuity helped Gulliver many times during this journey: "... in three weeks I made great strides in learning their language ..."; "... I deliberately did not approach the shore so that I would not be noticed from some enemy ship ..."; "... I weaved the rope in half to make it stronger, and for the same purpose I twisted the iron bars three times ..."

Gulliver treated others with kindness and respect. He behaved politely when he was in captivity, thus earning the favor of the emperor of Lilliput and the sympathy of most of his subjects, although he could free himself and destroy this country and its little people.

In addition, he agreed to all the terms of dismissal, despite the fact that some of them were not what he thought were honorable. Gulliver prevented attacks on Liliputia hostile state Blefuscu.

Some of the nobles and ministers of Lilliputia favored Gulliver, and when the act of accusation was discussed, they did not oppose Gulliver. Meanwhile, Flimnap and Bolgolam, Gulliver's enemies who sought to destroy him, in alliance with some officials, were accused of high treason.

J. Swift showed Gulliver as a worthy person. Comparing him with the Lilliputians, the author ridiculed the claims to world domination of the English monarchs, their ministers and courtiers, injustice public life throughout Europe.

The book "Gulliver's Travel" was published in the 17th century. In fantastic form, Jonathan Swift depicted the hateful manners and customs in England at that time. The people and events against which the writer fought in his book have long disappeared. But the work lives on and still resonates in the hearts of readers. The novel is about the journey of an English doctor, whom fate has brought to hitherto unknown lands - the land of the Lilliputians. Lilliput is home to very small people, compared to whom Lemuel Gulliver is a real giant. And this applies, in my opinion, not only to growth, but also to internal qualities, desires and aspirations. Thus, the empire is plagued by feuds, because the two leading political parties cannot agree on what height of heels to wear. No less ridiculous is the reason for the wars with the neighboring state of Blefuscu: each side is trying to prove from which edge it is more correct to break eggs - from a blunt or a sharp one. Gulliver presents a striking contrast to the midgets. With his nobility, kindness, education, intelligence and mercy, he evokes respect and admiration. It seems to me that the opposition of Gulliver and the Lilliputians is used by J. Swift in order to emphasize the merits and demerits of his heroes, to show what really are real values, to which each person should strive.

Option 2

The English writer Jonathan Swift became world famous with his satirical novel Gulliver's Journey. In this remarkable work, on which he worked for almost five years, the author set himself the goal of depicting and ridiculing the hated order of England of that time.

One of the techniques that helped him draw a picture of English society in an allegorical form and create separate satirical images that fully reflected his intention was the technique of opposing the main character of Gulliver to the Lilliputians.

The novel is divided into four parts, in each of which the hero of the work of Lemuel Gulliver finds himself in strange unfamiliar lands, experiencing new and exciting adventures on his travels. In the first part, the hero is shipwrecked, escapes by swimming and safely reaches the coast of Lilliput - the country of tiny people, twelve times smaller than ordinary people. Gulliver gets acquainted with the life and state structure of the country of the Lilliputians, gives characteristics to individual characters and an assessment of what he saw. The narration is conducted on behalf of Gulliver, but it is clear that the thoughts and assessments of Swift himself are behind this. In the form of Lilliputians, he portrayed his fellow citizens, while ordinary residents cannot but arouse sympathy in him with their industriousness, economy, fearlessness, resourcefulness and ingenuity; and they were skilled craftsmen.

In the political life of the country of Lilliput, many things caused misunderstanding and bewilderment. For example, Gulliver admires the fortified capital, the beauty and splendor of the imperial palace, and the emperor himself, at first glance, gives the impression of a prudent and generous person. But then he learns with amazement that "two terrible disasters" are hanging over Lilliput. At a time when the incessant "fierce feuds" between the parties of the Tremexens and the Slemexens - supporters of high and low heels - "torment the state", the empire of Blefuscu, "almost as huge and powerful", threatens Lilliput with an invasion.

He is amazed at the senselessness of the "fierce" war of two parties and two "powerful powers", which is "already thirty-six moons" waged over the debate over whether to break boiled eggs from the dull end or the spicy one. Gulliver is a peace-loving person, he is against war in general, because war always brings misfortune and destruction, and especially if this war is so senseless. Therefore, he tries to end the war.

Much in Lilliput seemed strange, surprising and incomprehensible to Gulliver. Through the lips of the hero, Swift denies a political system in which all power belongs to one person. And the little people look especially funny, trying to seem like "great" ministers, strong rulers and wise people, but small stature only emphasizes their cruelty, greed and cunning.

In some characters, it is easy to guess a hint of people who really existed at that time. For example, in the emperor of Lilliput, Molly Ollie Gue (a little man who considered himself an ornament and a thunderstorm of the Universe, "the monarch of all monarchs" and the greatest of people), Swift's contemporaries recognized the arrogant King George I.

And the courageous Gulliver, surrounded by ungrateful midgets, is Swift himself at the court of the English king.

Thus, contrasting the views and actions of Gulliver and the Lilliputians, using the techniques of satire, Jonathan Swift ridiculed bourgeois society and its rulers in his work, social order contemporary England.