The Loss of the Ideal in A Tale of a Tub Essay -- Tale of a Tub Essays

A Tale of a Tub is a mass of text plain thrown together with the purpose of deliberately confusing the reader, tho its digressions upon digressions flocknot pretend the inevitable theme of loss, which is ultimately found in all of Swifts works. The raillery holds the present against an ideal of past perfection, and the comparison always shows the modern to be lacking. The church adulterates religion moderns, the ancients critics, the author. The fabricator of Swifts text seems to call back that the moment a great work or idea is site forth, it can be pure, but will always degrade with time. Because it is hopeless to return to this former state, there is a heavy sense of disappointment that weighs down the more transparent wit and humor. The entire tale could be nothing more than a joke, which is aimed at not only the moderns and the church, but the audience as good.1 But no matter how many quips or crude attacks Swift makes, the purpose of the story is not just to laugh at the expense of others, but to mourn the fall of an ideal that can never exist again. It is impossible to return to an original source in the Tale because it seems as if the narrator holds a model of a analog time-line in his head. As time passes, the distance between each momentary moment and the originating point must increase, and any attempt to return to the stolon must fail. Just as it is impossible for someone living in the eighteenth century to return to the first, a man who is taught to be a modern can never think exactly like an ancient. Because of this view, the narrator can almost be seen as a modern-day phenomenologist. This philosophy asserts the impossibility of observing any object as it actually is, since the stunner is separated from the obje... ...m must fall short of the original. And if his talent cannot be utilise to add to the glory of the classics, then it might as well be used to condemn the moderns. If all writing is ultimately a putridness of that which preceded it, as the narrator seems to believe, then it is better to write of something that is despised or else than revered. At times the Tale appears to be nothing more than a prank, due to all of the digressions and unintelligible passages that are inserted. Swift states that he is big(p) his readers exactly what they want, because mankind receives much greater Advantage by organism Diverted than Instructed, and happiness is a perpetual Possession of being well Deceived (327, 351). Swift views this as the exact problem that is ruining current learning, and puts it beneath the readers nose to frustrate them with the same method they are promoting