Hello readers!
I am Bhavna Sosa, a student of Maharaja Krishna Kumarsinghji Bhavnagar University. This blog is the part of classroom activity that is given by our prof. Vaidehi maam.
A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift :-
A Tale of a Tub written for the universal Improvement of Mankind. Was the first major work written by Jonathan Swift, arguably his most difficult satire and perhaps his most masterly. The Tale is a Prose parody divided into sections each delving into the moral and ethics of the English. Composed between 1694 and 1697. A satire on the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches and English Dissenters, it was famously attacked for its profanity and irreligion, starting with William Wotton, who wrote that the Tale had made a game of " God and Religion, Truth and Moral Honesty, Learning and industry" to show "at the bottom contemptible opinion of every thing which is called Christianity." The work continued to be as an attack on religion well into the nineteenth century.
" Power is no blessing in itself, except
when it is used to protect the innocent."
Here some discuss the symbols of A Tale of a Tub.
Symbols :-
The Three Coats :-
The Three brothers coats are the central symbol of A Tale of a Tub. Outwardly plain and simple, the coats are the brothers sole inheritance from their father, who promises that they will last for a lifetime if cared for properly. In his will, he warns them against altering the coats in any way. These coats represents the practices of Christianity as originally revealed and commanded by God and as stipulated in the Bible. Like the early Church written about in the New Testament the brothers initially do a good job of sticking to the rules laid down by the will. It isn't long, however, before they are finding ways to excuse themselves from following the will to scupubury when it conflicts with their immediate desires. This behavior is dramatized as a gradual altering of the coats in spite of the father's express with to the contrary.
The individual alternations represent the different ways in which Christianity, in Swift's view, deviated from the practices and beliefs given in the Bible. The" flame - colored satin" that makes up the coats lining, for instance represents the concept of purgatory, regarded in the Catholic tradition as a place of purification for souls not yet worthy of heaven but not condemned to hell. To Swift, an Anglican living in post-Reformation England, this was a false doctrine that lacked any demonstrable basis in scripture. The " indian figures" embroidered on the coats are the status and stained glass image present in many Catholic churches, which Swift saw as incompatible with the Bible's warnings against graven images. By the time the brothers finally realise the error of their ways, their coats have become barely recognisable.
" Readers maybe divided into three classes the superficial, the ignorant, and the learned and I have with much felicity fitted my pen to the genius and advenge of each."
Midway through the main narrative, however, Martin and Jack undergo a change of heart when a breach erapt between them and Peter. By showing how the brothers react to this disagreement, Swift praises or criticizes the three main chritian traditions represented in the England of his day. In the pre- Reformation era the brothers were all prone to the same extravagances, adorning their coats with lace, fringe, and many other ornaments. Peters, who represents Catholicism, sticks to those extravagances and even multiplies them; he deliberately avoids consulting the will to see whether he is going astray. Martin, named after Martin Luther, represents the moderate Protestant tradition. He carefully and diligently strips away the forbidden ornaments from his coat while taking care not be harm the undergoing fabric. Where something the original coat, he reluctantly lets it remain.
Jack, in contrast rips away every shred of embroidery and fringe, tearing up the original underlying fabric in the process. His brand of reform, which Swift identifies with the Dissenters, is aggressive, destructive and haphazard. Ultimately, Swift condemns Jack as motivated more by his hatred of Peter than by a concern to live a moral life. He is a reactionary anti-Catholic rather than a Christian in his own right. However and significantly, Jack's extremes end up closely resembling Peter's as the rage warn by the one man come to look like the fringed finery warn by the other. Thus,both are satirized.
The Father's will :-
The father's will represents the Bible, which Swift regards as Christianity's fundamental instruction manual. Swift's paramount claim in A Tale of a Tub is that the Bible should be consulted for basic, immutable guidance on all Church matters. Practices required by the Bible cannot simply be set aside. In their youth, the three brothers adhere to the prescriptions of the will, the happier they seem to be and the more peaceful their consciences are.
All three brothers start off faithfully following the will,but they are gradually corrupted by outside influences. They stray from its obvious intent and, increasingly, from its directly stated rules, becoming ridiculous and superficial in the process. This behavior is provoked by a desire to fit in with the rest of the world, as illustrated in the middle of chapter 2. There are brothers realise that they will have to get creative if they want to give the appearance of following there father's wishes while actually ignoring them. They use Latinate terms to add an aura of respectability to their dubious behavior failing to find permission to change their coats"totidem verbis" ,they start looking " totidem syllabus". Finally, they declare that their father's will allows them to add shoulder knots "totidem literis" because it contains the letters S,H, O, U, L, D, E and R.
Peter, the most scholarly of the brothers, undergoes great intellectual contortions to avoid the document's clear restrictions. In addition to the" totidem literis" episode above, he declares that certain premises must be added to the will or else " multa absurd sequerenture." All of Peter's interpretive practices along with the terms used to describe them, ultimately derive from a Catholic tradition that Swift views as legalistic, insincere, and self-serving.
" But as human happiness is of a very short
uration,so in those days were human fashion
upon which it entirely depends."
Clearly, Peter is not cast in a good light in A Tale of a Tub. That's not to say, however, that Swift viewed all reforms as equally salutary. Martin successfully obtain their own copy of the will, which gives them the all - important ability to read it for themselves and judge how well they are following it. In itself, Swift implies, vernacular access to the Bible is a good thing, but a person can still go overboard in relying on scripture. To this end, Swift ridicules Jack in chapter 11 for using his father's will as an umbrella,a nightcap, and a bandage the implication being that the Bible should not be viewed as a universal guide to mundane matters, such as diet and health care. Swift's stance seems to be that the Bible is the ultimate authority on Church doctrine and discipline but that it is foolish to see it as a substitute for all earthly wisdom.
Thank you...
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