Abstract

As one of the most influential writers of British literature, Jonathan Swift made valuable contributions to the satirical literature with his unique writing style. “A Modest Proposal” was just an evidence of his mastery of his satirical writing.
This paper intends to discuss how Jonathan Swift managed to us satire as a weapon against the corrupt government. This paper begins with an introduction to some basic ideas so as to clarify some literary concepts such as satire and irony. By discussing the use of, such as irony and understatement, the paper attempts to reveal the satirical effects in this essay, hence helping readers better appreciats Swift’s literary mastery.

Key Word:satirical literature    satire  figure of speech  satirical effects

摘要

乔纳森.斯威夫特,作为英国文学史中最具影响力的作家之一，用他独特的写作手法为讽刺文学作出了巨大贡献。他的散文《一个小小的建议》，便是对讽刺手法最好的诠释。
该论文讨论了乔纳森.斯威夫特如何把讽刺手法作为武器去抨击了当时的腐败政府。同时在论文一开头，就阐清了一些诸如讽刺与反讽，在文学上的概念。同时通过讨论反讽与低调陈述的使用，论文尝试着去发现文中的讽刺效果，从而更好地帮助读者欣赏学习斯威夫特纯熟的写作技巧。

关键词：讽刺文学     讽刺  修辞格  讽刺效果

1 Introduction to some basic ideas
  1.1 Basic of Research
A general survey of the world literature, it shows that many literary works are filled with humor and wit. Some works are made mainly for entertainment and enjoyment, and some works are made for some specific aims, such as Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. As a satirical political essay, Jonathan Swift never directly used any offensive word in this essay, and he just cleverly adopted some special writing skills to discover the social phenomenon in the eighteenth century and expressed his dissatisfication with corruption of the England ruling class. To satirical works, “satire”is always the powful weapon to light the theme of works and bring shocking effect on all the society and even the world. For example, Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is just famous for its strong satirical implication, and it is also the representive among satirical works. Not only in eighteenth ceentury but also today, it still is valuable to satirical literature. As mentioned above, “satire” is the powerful weapon to encourage people struggle against the inequality and eliminate corruption in society, and also is a form of entertainment to enjoy others. But in this paper, it should be considered a means of literary expression.