Self Representation and the Self-Defeating Speaker in...

Because Swift constructs a speaker who is meant to be seen as himself in â€Å"Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift, D.S.P.D.†, his approach to the satire changes, taking on a more playful approach. The poem is more personal than political, and is more comedic in the sense that he satirizing himself as well as other people groups. The self-defeating rhetorical approach is embodied in this poem in the way that he puts himself down and exposes his own follies throughout the poem. While this is no doubt somewhat tongue-in-cheek, this in some ways frees Swift from criticism from outside sources. It is difficult to wager criticism at someone who has already wagered it against himself. While this could also be seen as poking fun at other writers who are†¦show more content†¦The way in which Swift presents his speaker’s ridiculous ideas in â€Å"A Modest Proposal† not only projects negatively onto his political opinions, but also depicts his own opinions by positio ning himself as opposite to his speaker. Swift presents his own opinions by endowing his speaker’s with a shocking lack of empathy for human beings, implying that Swift himself is at the other end of the spectrum. In Erin Mackie’s article Swift And Mimetic Sickness, she postulates that â€Å"In ‘A Modest Proposal’ Swift mimics the modern policy man to exhibit his incapacity, at once cognitive and visceral, to register a categorical, that is epistemological, failure and its accompanying moral horrors. With his plan for factory farming Irish infants, the Modern Projector makes us sick precisely because he is not sickened† (364). In doing so, Swift not only establishes himself in the opposite camp, but also positions anyone who disagrees with his political stance to become identified with the cannibalistic speaker in â€Å"A Modest Proposal†. In spite of the fact that his speaker’s unfeelingness is perhaps exaggerated, it is hard to win a n argument in which you are embodying the role of an upper-class cannibal. Thus, Swift’s self-defeating representation of the upper-class causes any upper class persons opinion against Swift to be preemptively invalid in an epistemological sense. The mimesis that Mackie alludesShow MoreRelatedFigurative Language and the Canterbury Tales13472 Words   |  54 PagesBrightness falls from the air/ Queens have died young and fair/Dust hath closed Helen’s eye. -from Thomas Nashe’s â€Å"Litany in Time of Plague;† refers to Helen of Troy. 4. alter ego: A literary character or narrator who is a thinly disguised representation of the author, poet, or playwright creating a work. 5. anaphora: repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginnings of successive clauses. †¢ The Lord sits above the water floods. The Lord remains a King forever. The Lord shallRead MoreHbr When Your Core Business Is Dying74686 Words   |  299 Pagese-mail to hbr_editorial@hbsp.harvard.edu. Unsolicited manuscripts will be returned only if accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. EDITORIAL OFFICES 60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163 617-783-7410; fax: 617-783-7493 www.hbr.org Volume 85, Number 4 April 2007 Printed in the U.S.A. Change Lives. Change Organizations. Change the World. Louis le Brocquy, artist. Study of Self. The Irish mind. The unique resource you’ll need to bring your knowledge-based business to peak performance