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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
An 8 page essay that contrasts and compares Voltaire and Jonathan Swift as social critics. The writer argues that Jean Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire in his text Zadig (1747) and Jonathan Swift in his text Gulliver's Travels (1726) created scathing satirical comments on their respective societies of France and England. In both cases, these great satirists used an imaginative setting as a thinly disguised framework on which to pin their insightful parodies of eighteenth century culture. Both Voltaire and Swift employ considerable humor, but nevertheless present situations that comment on the foibles and hypocrisies of their particular era. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
8 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khvolswi.rtf
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their respective societies of France and England. In both cases, these great satirists used an imaginative setting as a thinly disguised framework on which to pin their insightful parodies
of eighteenth century culture. Both Voltaire and Swift employ considerable humor, but nevertheless present situations that comment on the foibles and hypocrisies of their particular era. They both lampoon
the way courtiers compete for the favor of the monarch, the superficial nature of the aristocracy, as well as innumerable social conventions that both Voltaire and Swift viewed as hypocritical.
Voltaire sets his satire in mysterious and romantic Arabia, specifically in the city of Babylon. His hero is Zadig, an amiable, honest young man, who stumbles from one difficulty
to the next. He is stripped of every contentment almost as soon as he achieves it. This narrative device gives Voltaire the opportunity to lampoon almost every aspect of
French eighteenth century society. For example, Voltaire begins by satirizing the flowery endearments that exaggerate the feelings of lovers. Zadig is engaged to a woman he adores and who
professes the utmost devotion to him. When Zadig is wounded preserving his loves honor, he is shot near his left eye, which abscesses. His fianc?s eyes are "bathed in tears
night and day" (Voltaire 102). A great physician, Hermes, is called in. The famous doctor comments that if it had been Zadigs right eye, he could have cured it, but
"injuries to the left eye are incurable" (Voltaire 103). While all Babylon bemoans Zadigs fate, they also admired the "profound scientific research" of Hermes (Voltaire 103). Two days
later, rather than losing his eye, as predicted by Hermes, the abscess breaks of its own accord and the eye heals. Hermes writes a book subsequently writes a book to
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