Gulliver's Travels Part 1, Chapters 5-8
Chapters 5-8
The Blefuscu nation lies north-north-east of the Lilliputian empire, the two are separated from one another by an 800-yard wide channel, whose deepest point is only about 6 feet. Gulliver concocts a plan to steal away the newly built Blefuscan fleet that lay at their port, ready to attack Lilliput with the next favorable tide. Gulliver spies the fleet and discovers that it consists primarily of some 50 men of war. He returns to his home, and with the permission of the emperor, orders the people to bring him the strongest cables and iron ingots. He twists the ingots into hooks and ties to them some 50 cables. He swims across the channel and rises at the Blefuscan port, where the sailors are terrified to perceive him, for the intelligence of his presence had been closely guarded. The shrieking sailors abandon their ships and swim to shore. There they begin to shoot arrows at Gulliver who is now occupied with hooking the men of war with hooks on their prows. Gulliver is mostly unaffected by the attack but remembers to guard his eyes with his reading spectacles. After putting the hooks to all ships he tries to pull them away but their anchors hold them fast. Gulliver cuts the cables off in short order while continuously being shot at, and manages to pull the ships away.
Gulliver deposits all the ships at the Royal Lilliputian port where the Emperor and his whole royal court stand in wait. Gulliver hails the Emperor as he enters port, and is received with the greatest honor. The Emperor bestows him with the highest title, that of Nardac. However, the Emperor's ambition drives to him ask Gulliver to find an opportunity to steal away any of the remaining ships. His goal is the annexation of the Blefuscu nation, but Gulliver refuses to participate in the enslavement of a brave people. This creates a rift between the emperor and Gulliver as some ministers in the court conspire against Gulliver. An embassy arrives from the Blefuscu nation to sue for peace, and a treaty with Lilliputian advantage is established. The embassy learns of Gulliver's role in preventing a further attack on the Blefuscu people and seeks an audience with him. They are very grateful and warmly extend an invitation to him from their emperor. Gulliver obliges them and informs them to convey his humblest regards to their monarch. He tells them that he would be certain to wait on his royal personage before he departs for his own country.
Gulliver seeks the Lilliputian Emperor's permission to visit Blefuscu and receives a cold assent. He discovers that some courtiers have been filling the emperor's ear with poison about him. Gulliver had recently in the past performed a singular service to the Emperor. He had been awoken one night to learn about a fire in the Empress's apartments that had been caused by a careless maid. The way to the palace had been cleared for Gulliver's passage, and he arrived to discover a fire that threatened to soon consume the whole of that side of the palace. He was unable to smother the fire with the tiny buckets the people supplied to him. Gulliver had recently consumed some wine and had a particularly full bladder, so he urinated on the empress's apartments to put out the fire. He returned home without receiving the Emperor's congratulations for he was worried that he may have been disrespectful, and learned later that the Empress had refused to enter her apartments since the incident. She had also commanded that the section of the apartment should be left without repair.
Gulliver describes the society and the customs of the Lilliputian empire, he explains that the Lilliputians have a height of about 6 inches, and their animals grow in relation to their size. The Lilliputians have a very robust justice system, in which crimes against the state are punished with the utmost severity, and those that follow the law for an extended period are rewarded with a monetary sum and a title. The statue of their justice holds not only a sheathed sword but also an open bag of Gold.
Fraud is thought of as a graver crime than even theft, and public employments are given based on moral values rather than just ability. They reason that a man armed with good values, experience, and intention can exercise more good than a man of genius. Those that disbelieve in divine providence are automatically ineligible for public office as the kings of that land see themselves as the deputies of providence. The custom of bestowing public office on those that could perform circus acts on the ropes only began with the grandfather of the reigning emperor and has since then grown to its present condition.
Gulliver then details his lifestyle in the lands of Lilliput where he stayed for some nine months. He had crafted for himself a table and a chair, he was supplied with clothes that were sewn by three hundred tailors after they had taken his measurements with some rather ingenious methods. Gulliver is also given some 300 cooks and several other waiters that supply him with regular food and drink. The emperor hears of the extravagance of Gulliver's meals and chooses to dine with him along with his sons and Flimnap, the Lord High Treasurer. Gulliver happened to notice that the treasurer directed the sourest looks towards him during the meal. During the time of his residence, Gulliver is forced to vindicate the honor of the wife of the lord treasurer as he grows jealous of his wife's apparent secretive meetings with Gulliver. Gulliver assures the reader that nothing of the sort had occurred and that lady was indeed fond of him but only ever visited him in the presence of her servants. The treasurer caused Gulliver to fall into disfavor with the Emperor, as he informed him of the low position of the treasury and urged him to dismiss Gulliver at the earliest.
Gulliver receives a secret visitor that hopes to shield him from the conspiracy at court. He arrives in secret and begs to meet Gulliver in private. He informs Gulliver that the emperor had in the past few days called several private meetings of the council. The meetings had been called due to the intrigue at the court which had been led by the treasurer and the high admiral who were both bent against Gulliver for reasons of their own. In the meetings, it had been determined that Gulliver was guilty of high treason. The charges that were laid out against him involved the base methods that he had employed in extinguishing the fire in the Empress's apartment. Furthermore, Gulliver had refused to subdue the Blefuscu nation in accordance with his majesty's wishes and had also conducted a meeting with the ambassadors from the said nation. Now, Gulliver had sought the permission of his majesty to attend the Emperor of Blefuscu, who had recently been an enemy of the Lilliputian Emperor.
Gulliver's enemies in the council had determined that the best means of recourse lay in sentencing Gulliver to death, by either putting his home on fire or having him attacked with poisoned arrows or through poisoned food and clothing. The secretary of Private affairs who had always been a friend to Gulliver had defended him and asked the Emperor to exercise clemency given Gulliver's service to their realm. He had argued that Gulliver's eyes should be blinded instead of capital punishment. The treasurer and the high admiral had interceded with the claim that a man determined to be guilty of high treason could be not be shown mercy and that the expense of the treasury would only grow in feeding the blind Gulliver. It was then resolved that Gulliver should be caused to starve after the blinding, and as he wasted away, pieces of his flesh were to be cut away and buried to prevent the spread of plague or disease. The visitor had then left in secret and trusted Gulliver to proceed as he supposed with that private information that had been shared.
Gulliver considers the possibility of bearing the trial and understands that the whole nation could not subdue him now that he had been forewarned of their designs. He is certain that he can reduce the whole metropolis to rubble on his own, but feels horrified at the prospect of such an action. He determines therefore that the best course of action lay in taking himself out of the power of the nation of Lilliput and resolves to leave early for Blefuscu. He arrives at Blefuscu and is quickly directed to the capital where he is received fairly by the royal household.
Gulliver spies an object floating in the ocean close to shore, he wades into the water and discovers an overturned boat. He returns to the city and seeks the emperor's help in securing the boat that might help him return to his land. The emperor orders his ships and sailors to assist Gulliver in retrieving the boat, and together they haul out a boat marked with little damage. Gulliver begins to fix the boat and prepares it for use. The emperor of Lilliput had as yet remained silent on Gulliver's absence believing that he remained unwise about the fate that awaited him in Lilliput. However, after Gulliver's absence has lengthened, he sends a missive to the emperor of Blefuscu informing him of the articles that had been raised against Gulliver for High treason. He urged the Emperor to send Gulliver back to Lilliput with hands and legs bound so that he may receive the justice of his kingdom. The Blefuscan emperor replied with the information that Gulliver was soon to leave their lands, and he couldn't in good conscience hand him over to Lilliput for the service he had provided in keeping the peace between the two kingdoms.
Gulliver receives a royal farewell when he is ready to depart and is supplied with a lot of gold, animals to keep him fed, and food for the animals. He is expressly forbidden to carry any of the people of the nation. Gulliver sets sail, and in three days discovers an English merchant ship. One of the crew members on board happens to be familiar with Gulliver and so convinces the captain to keep him on until they return to England. Gulliver's account is put down to the ravings of a man stranded at sea until he shows them all the cattle he had carried from the nation of tiny people. Gulliver returns home to his family and manages to create a sufficient profit from the sale of tiny sheep and cows. He stays with his family for a while but soon decides to return to the sea.
Analysis
In this section of the book, we are introduced to the ridiculous conflict between the kingdoms of Blefuscu and Lilliput. Swift uses Lilliput's internal and external conflicts as an allegory for the political situation of England. For instance, the conflict between the whigs and tories is reflected in that of the low-heeled and high-heeled parties of England. The conflict about the right way to break the egg is meant to mirror the warfare between the Catholics and the protestants. Abuse of power is a significant and recurring theme in Gulliver's travels, in this section of the book we see the emperor of Lilliput exercise his incompetence. He continues a seemingly illogical decree that leads to rebellion and civil war, and he then involves his country in a war that it would have been certain to lose had it not been for the intervention of Gulliver. The Emperor further fails as a monarch when he commands Gulliver to attack Blefuscu until it is reduced to a province of his kingdom. Lilliput and Blefuscu represent England and France, while the conflict between the two is an allegory of the Spanish war of Succession.
There are some instances in this section that are alluded to have references to his own life. The incident with the fire of the empress's apartments and Gulliver's urination refers to Queen Anne's dislike for Jhonathan Swift's A tale of tub. The Lilliputians take great offense at how Gulliver saves them, for not only is it lewd but it also represents how insignificant they truly are in comparison to Gulliver.
