The Personality of the speaker in A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
...d applies words such as, eminent, prolific, and glutted in place of more straightforward words such as, famous, large, and slow. He also amplifies the illusion of importance by having the facts come from an upstanding person, whose name he never gives. The speaker also enriches the essay with facts and numerals to appear scientific. He insists, “I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of one hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed”(859). The use of numbers in this sentence expands the image that the speaker is mathematical. The speaker sounded so smart, that when the actual essay was printed, the citizens believed that it was serious, when in reality, the speaker was only a fictitious character he had created. Throughout the essay the speaker indicates underlying prejudices of beggars, Catholics, and Americans. He refers to poverty-stricken people as though they are farm animals. He states, “ always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table”(859). He refers to human infants as if they were piglets. The speaker also expresses a criticism of Roman Catholics. He says, “There are more children born in Roman Catholic countries about nine months after lent then any other season[....] and therefore [killing infants] will have collateral advantage, by lessening the number of Papists among us”(859). Firstly, the word Papist is designated as an offensive term for Roman Catholics. Secondly, the speaker implies the want to lessen the number of Roman Catholics in the country. The speaker also criticizes Americans when he says, “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food”(859). This statement suggests that Americans are cannibals and savages. The patronizing statements presented in this essay suggest that the speaker has an intolerance for certain types of people. Undoubtedly, killing and eating babies is not a logical approach to fix the past poverty problem in Ireland. Jonathan Swift created the outrageous character of the speaker, in A Modest Proposal, to shock the Irish people into taking sen...