Houynhnmland In Gulliver’s Travels Essay, Research Paper

Gulliver in Houynhnmland

One of the most interesting questions about Gullivers Travels is

whether the Houyhnhnms represent an ideal of rationality or whether

on the other hand they are the butt of Swift’s satire. In other

words, in Book IV, is Swift poking fun at the talking horses or does

he intend for us to take them seriously as the proper way to act? If

we look closely at the way that the Houyhnhnms act, we can see that

in fact Swift does not take them seriously: he uses them to show the

dangers of pride.

First we have to see that Swift does not even take Gullver seriously.

For instance, his name sounds much like gullible, which suggests that

he will believe anything. Also, when he first sees the Yahoos and

they throw excrement on him, he responds by doing the same in return

until they run away. He says, “I must needs discover some more

rational being,” (203) even though as a human he is already the most

rational being there is. This is why Swift refers to Erasmus Darwins

discovery of the origin of the species and the voyage of the Beagle–

to show how Gulliver knows that people are at the top of the food

chain.

But if Lemule Gulliver is satirized, so are the Houyhnhnms, whose

voices sound like the call of castrati. They walk on two legs instead

of four, and seem to be much like people. As Gulliver says, “It was

with the utmost astonishment that I witnessed these creatures playing

the flute and dancing a Vienese waltz. To my mind, they seemed like

the greatest humans ever seen in court, even more dextrous than the

Lord Edmund Burke” (162). As this quote demonstrates, Gulliver is

terribly impressed, but his admiration for the Houyhnhnms is short-

lived because they are so prideful. For instance, the leader of the

Houyhnhnms claims that he has read all the works of Charles Dickens,

and that he can singlehandedly recite the names of all the Kings and

Queens of England up to George II. Swift subtly shows that this

Houyhnhnms pride is misplaced when, in the middle of the intellectual

competition, he forgets the name of Queen Elizabeths husband.

Swifts satire of the Houyhnhnms comes out in other ways as well. One

of the most memorable scenes is when the dapple grey mare attempts to

woo the horse that Guenivre has brought with him to the island. First

she acts flirtatiously, parading around the bewildered horse. But

when this does not have the desired effect, she gets another

idea: “As I watched in amazement from my perch in the top of a tree,

the sorrel nag dashed off and returned with a yahoo on her back who

was yet more monstrous than Mr. Pope being fitted by a clothier. She

dropped this creature before my nag as if offering up a sacrifice. My

horse sniffed the creature and turned away.” (145) It might seem that

we should take this scene seriously as a failed attempt at courtship,

and that consequently we should see the grey mare as an unrequited

lover. But it makes more sense if we see that Swift is being satiric

here: it is the female Houyhnhnm who makes the move, which would not

have happened in eighteenth-century England. The Houyhnhm is being

prideful, and it is that pride that makes him unable to impress

Gullivers horse. Gulliver imagines the horse saying, Sblood, the

notion of creating the bare backed beast with an animal who had held

Mr. Pope on her back makes me queezy (198).

A final indication that the Houyhnmns are not meant to be taken

seriously occurs when the leader of the Houynhms visits Lilliput,

where he visits the French Royal Society. He goes into a room in

which a scientist is trying to turn wine into water (itself a

prideful act that refers to the marriage at Gallilee). The scientist

has been working hard at the experiment for many years without

success, when the Houyhnmn arrives and immediately knows that to

do: “The creature no sooner stepped through the doorway than he

struck upon a plan. Slurping up all the wine in sight, he quickly

made water in a bucket that sat near the door” (156). He has

accomplished the scientists goal, but the scientist is not happy, for

his livelihood has now been destroyed. Swifts clear implication is

that even though the Houyhnhmns are smart, they do not know how to

use that knowledge for the benefit of society, only for their own

prideful agrandizement.

Throughout Gullivers Travels, the Houyhnhms are shown to be an ideal

gone wrong. Though their intent might have been good, they dont know

how to do what they want to do because they are filled with pride.

They mislead Gulliver and they even mislead themselves. The satire on

them is particularly well explained by the new born Houyhnhm who,

having just been born, exclaims, “With this sort of entrance, what

must I expect from the rest of my life!” (178).