ass would treat this as a comedy. Actually, the lower class could have revolted fearing that their children were in danger if they knew of the story. In effect, it is a combination of both propaganda and humor aimed for the educated audience. Secondly, if Swift did want to help the lower-class, he wouldnt have created an exemption for himself in the last paragraph. If he wanted to initiate this plan to help the lower-class, then he should have been the one to start it all. Also, why would he propose such a heinous plan that involves both the sacrifice of another human as well as cannibalism and expect to be taken seriously?Very few authors have had their works analyzed and critiqued as thoroughly as Swift has. Many of these essays have dealt with the question of the true purpose of A Modest Proposal. One reason that this is so difficult to understand is because in actuality there is a dual irony in this story. Referring back to the example of the first paragraph, a melancholy object can work two ways. Again the question arises; who is it sad for? Even in todays world, there are some people that give money to the homeless, because the homeless are in a sad situation, and there are people that vehemently refuse to give money to panhandlers and they get sad because they have to be bothered by the homeless every time that they walk by. It is difficult to distinguish which one of these dissenting views of irony is correct, that is assuming that one of them is valid. This is a difficult task because we do not fully understand the environment in which it was written, we can only analyze the voice in which it is written. A personal opinion would be that he wrote this story purely for the amusement of the upper class. This is qualified because, as stated before, during the time that this was written the beggars could not read and could not afford one of Swifts works. Also, demonstrating his well executed use of irony and sarcasm could have gaine...
