Gullivers Travels - Disparities in Legal Systems - Essay Example

English: Literature in a Global Context Fall October 21, Gulliver’s Travels: Disparities in Legal Systems The effect of a fine travel narrative depends on the quality of observations and creative imagination of the author. Travel literature of most people describes the geography, culture, politics and socio-economic specifications of various islands, continents and countries. The reading of travelogues becomes interesting because of the attractive exploitation of imaginations and exaggerations done by the authors for telling thematically relevant matters. A number of books like The Little Price, Lucy, and Gulliver’s Travels etc. exhibit the socio-political dynamics of different communities across the world. This paper evaluates ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ by Jonathan Swift as a satirical work. Satire in politics and mankind in generalandgeneral and describing the disparities in legal systems among different countries in the olden somedays. Some of the islands like in Houyhnms have no knowledge about lawyers representing people in courts while in Lilliput they have courts and even lawyers who represent them. It may not necessitate a reader to investigate whether Jonathan Swift had actually voyaged all the way to the four different lands in order to accept the credibility of the information and facts about people and their behavior in the text. Swift’s eighteenth century travel narrative creates ‘Gulliver’, a curious navigator, to tell the readers how typical a journey to new places will be. ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ is essentially a story consisting of the four voyages made by the protagonist. The irresistibility to the urge for explorations and adventures turns Gulliver a constant enthusiast of navigation. He is a technically equipped and well-educated English man with high tolerance towards displeasing situations and physical struggles. He is in fact, a representative of the English society that promoted colonialist expeditions. As the book goes further with the travel, it narrates the experiences of the protagonists in the new island called the Lilliput. Gulliver reaches there unconscious and on waking up, he realizes that he has reached a strange land of unusually small people. Gulliver speaks about the influence of legislation on societies and the strict policies of the administrators of the island societies involved in the story. The power of law and the differences in the application of it against the foreigners is critically explained in the text. Even though Swift depicts plot against Gulliver for his alleged treachery against Lilliput as he plans a visit to Blefuscu, the first direct encounter with the strange laws of the new land takes place when Gulliver uses his urine as a fire-extinguisher (Ch.5). The act was too disgusting for the queen who takes the matter to the court. This shows that laws/morals vary in different areas, what is perceived as right in a place may be wrong in another place. Thus Gulliver is used by swift to make/criticize moral judgments about situations. Swift uses  to criticive or make moral judgement about situations.Sswift he satirizes the laws of England by using the island Lilliput when gulliverGulliver compares the stringent laws of Lilliput with those of his own country, and feels glad for the relative liberty in law enforcement in England. The law of the island provided that the informers’ claims could warrant the accusation of any person; and if the accused proved their innocence, the accuser was to be punished mercilessly besides being charged with a huge penalty to compensate the defamation of the accused (ch.6). Swift examines the relative differences in the laws of England and Lilliput and the readers can understand that the court proceedings are time-taking and complicated in England; while the process was easy and quick-finishing in Lilliput. However, the disparity in treatments of the accused makes the difference. In the absence of a lawyer to interpret the versions of Gulliver, it becomes difficult for him to argue for his innocence. The logical argument is, there should be domestic legal assistance provisions in the law for treating the cases in which a foreigner is accused. The novel explores a lot about laws,cultureslaws, cultures ,morals to uphold the conceptual support for strict laws and their proper execution. The author seems to believe in moral laws of the society than the state laws for the civilized and sophisticated communities back home. The strongest argument to prove the disparities of legal systems among different countries appears when Gulliver explains his experience of speaking in defense of an accused in a hearing of a financial breach case (ch.6). The result shows is an embarrassing accusation from the king for Gulliver’s behavior, for in Lilliput, a lawyer means a supporter of the crime. Swift supports the argument that law of the land should be rational towards all the people. This argument can be identified as Gulliver tells that the Lilliputian law not only punished the culprit, but also rewarded the law-abiding people. From the strange provision of probations and incentives of the island’s law, it can be ascertained that the punishment-reward maxim is a necessary thing to enforce law. The aspect of relative changes in treatment of foreign citizens and travelers with regards to legal formalities is highlighted in ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ with strong figurative theexamples. The first time when he finds himself in Lilliput where hewhere he finds that the laws of that land are not rational to the people.therepeople. There is presentation of courtroom sessions and also provisions for punishments for crimes. The second journey he makes exposes Gulliver to stranger situations in Brobdingnag, where his attempts to civilize the government on par with the British parliament system becomes futile. The new island having great values for humanity does not consider the concept of wars. In the third case of his voyages, Gulliver covers Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan. All these places gave him different legal experiences as a foreign traveler. In these provinces, Gulliver finds the difference in the treatments at various places on the basis of the way judiciary is handled. In his last voyage, he reaches the country of the Houyhnhnms. The new island instills a heavenly feeling in Gulliver’s mind, because the law of the land knows nothing about crimes and cruelty against animals. At court of the Houyhnhnms, he describes the manner in which the courts manage the cases with the chances for the interventions of the lawyers. However, the islanders have no idea of lawyers and courts. Gulliver gains the knowledge about the legal disparities of different constitutionsas he travels to different countries and observes the conflicts experienced at different courts. This is vital so that he is able to avoid committing mistakes/crime as he becomes well conversant with what is right or wrong in a country as a foreigner.. The focus of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ on legal systems of different countries create a mixed response as some of them highlight the evil practices of the law that accounted for grievous corporal punishments. However, the author states the good sides of the law from the social perspective in majority of the thiscases. This aids in identifying the the moral judgments in situations. As a traveler, Gulliver reaches different countries and witnesses the legal systems in their process. In some of the cases, he became a victim due to innocence and unfamiliarity with the legal systems in practice there. Overall, Swift makes it sensible through ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ to think that practicing a law that aims at building a morally correct society equipped with high educational and intellectual capacities is desirable of any community. This is depicted when Gulliver speaks in defense of a hearing in financial breach in Lilliput. citationsWorks citations Swift, Jonathan. Gullivers Travels. Plain Label Books, 2011. www.tmv.edu.in/pdf/EnglishFiction.pd Gulliver Travels,Sparknotes, Sparknotes. Read More