Key to understanding this masterful diatribe against
English indifference to the Irish famine is irony. In this essay Swift uses verbal irony
to get his point across. Verbal irony is a disparity between what is said or written and
what is really meant - we use verbal irony all the time in our lives when we comment
upon things, for example, "I can't wait to get back home so I can start on my homework",
whereas, obviously that is anything but the truth.
To
convey verbal irony when we speak we can rely on our tone of voice to alert our
listeners to the verbal irony in our speech. Writers cannot depend on tone of voice, so
include so many examples of verbal irony that the reader cannot miss the
point.
This essay is a classic example of verbal irony
stretched to its very limit, from the title, "A Modest Proposal", which is anything but
modest, to its ridiculous suggestion of eating Irish babes and comments on the
relationships between the Irish and their English overlords. This excerpt is one of my
particular favourites:
I grant that this food will be somewhat dear,
and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the
parents, seem to have the best title for the
children.
Here, the humour is
based on the multiple meanings of "devoured", which in one sense refers to how the Irish
adults have been made poor by rents, but another sense refers to a metaphorical
devouring that clearly establishes Swift's opinion of how the English are acting in
Ireland. Eating infants, therefore, is the only logical conclusion to such a
policy.
In addition, the irony is increased by a constant
reasonable tone of modesty, combined with the assumption of a voice of a practical
economic planner. The speaker pretends to be full of common sense and completely
objective, and at times, even sensitive and kind. This disparity between tone and
content gives the essay a real bite (no pun intended).
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