Speaker and Satiric Vision in Swift's Tale of a Tub

Abstract

RECENT CRITICISM OF A Tale of a Tub has generally held that the speaker, particularly in the digressions, is usually a persona distinct from Swift. I believe, however, that Swift, as the Tale's satiric author, is the speaker throughout, and that unless we listen to the work as spoken by him, our understanding of his Tale may be impaired, in two principal ways. First, our response to its complex, shifting ironies may be needlessly hindered. And second, we may overlook what I believe to be a major aspect of the work's purpose and significance: Swift's self-mocking and yet sympathetic probing of the satirist's character, aims, and achievements, especially of his own character and performance as author of the Tale. By discerning that Swift tells his Tale in propria persona we can share with him the perspective from which he discovers his own face, as well as everybody else's, in the satiric glass of A Tale of a Tub.