Teh Fable of the Bitches

Teh Fable of the Bitches

  • Submitted By: legado
  • Date Submitted: 01/25/2010 12:02 AM
  • Category: Miscellaneous
  • Words: 1100
  • Page: 5
  • Views: 1

In this term paper I am going to analyze the Fable of the bitches, written in 1715 by Jonathan Swift, which main theme is to satirize and criticize the Test Act, a series of penal laws that were imposed by the English government during the end of the 17th Century. The most relevant Act of the period would be “An act for preventing dangers which may happen from popish recusants, James II, 1672”, not only for the political and social impact that it created among Britain, but also because it summarizes the content of the fable which is going to be evaluated in this essay.

Jonathan Swift is one of the most satiric writers of the period, he constantly kept using the different satiric techniques to emphasize his reactions against society, politics and religion, but in this poem we do not only have a satire but also a fable, which is a laconic story that features animals, plants and other inanimate objects to show a moral through personification. In this case the bitch, a female dog rudely treated and raped “By all the dogs and curs in town” (line 2), has taken the role of Catholic Christians who desire “To find an easy place to lay her.” (line 6). This image perfectly resembles the historical events of the 18th century where popish Christians were not so violently prosecute and persecuted like in the Stuart and Tudor era, but they were severely curtailed in terms of rights and even totally removed from the court, public life, the military and professions. “The trembling dog” is at the lowest level of society but at least it could live supported by the government, “That Music gave her leave to litter;” (line 17) I found this image very well connected to the government and the Church of England, for the reason that only a well structured pattern with different levels of influence could be related to music.

The English government as well as the Church of England of the 17th and 18th was very strictly organized, it was a compound of different political and non...

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