Moral Criticism and Political Satire in “A Voyage to Laputa” Anonymous College

Through his work Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift conveys his ideas and social criticism towards his civilization and its various faults. The narrative “A Voyage to Laputa” focuses on the floating island of Laputa that rules the kingdom of Balnibarbi, which has devoted itself to scientific explorations and mathematics. As the protagonist Gulliver tours through the floating island he watches the damage caused by the impractical use of science and the tyrannical system of government. In the Grand Academy of Lagado, he witnesses wealth and labor put into researching outlandish and useless scientific abstractions rather than practical ventures. Swift aimed to criticize the absence of reason in the pursuit of science during the Age of Enlightenment, particularly certain scientific experimentations of the Royal Society. Furthermore, he provides a political satire on the British bureaucracy through the flying island which has detached itself from the practical concerns of his people and only subjugates. Therefore, while Swift’s criticism is focused on his own time it similarly relates to contemporary times through the satire on extreme speculative reasoning and political supremacy.

Swift’s criticism on the perils of unwarranted...