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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 1 Chapter 7

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 1 Chapter 7

The narrator, being informed of a plan to accuse him of high-treason, makes his escape to Blefuscu.

For two months an intrigue had been forming against Gulliver. One day, when Gulliver was preparing to visit the emperor of Blefuscu, Gulliver received a ‘secret visit’ from a government official whom he had helped when the emperor was displeased with him. He told Gulliver that Flimnap, Skyresh, Bolgolam and others had approved articles of treason against him. The emperor and the council were preparing a list of articles for Gulliver’s impeachment. He showed Gulliver the document calling for his execution. The charges included: 1. urinating in a public place; 2. having refused to destroy all the Blefuscudians who wouldn’t forsake the ‘Big-Endian heresy’; 3. having helped the Blefuscudians with the terms of the peace treaty; 4. preparing to go to Blefuscu. for which the emperor had given only verbal permission.

In spite of this, the emperor showed many signs of his great leniency; he urged others to consider the services Gulliver had done him and endeavoured to lessen the magnitude or seriousness of his crimes. Some in the council, including the treasurer and the admiral, insisted that Gulliver immediately be put to a painful death. Their plan was to set Gulliver’s house afire and then shoot him with poisonous arrows as he tried to escape. His sheets and clothes would already have been treated with a poison that would have him tearing his flesh and die in the utmost torture. The general came into the same opinion; so that for a long time there was a majority against Gulliver.

However, the emperor was resolved, if possible, to spare Gulliver’s life. Gulliver was told that Reldresal, principal.secretary for private affairs, who had always been Gulliver’s friend, had asked for his sentence to be reduced, calling, not for execution but for putting his eyes out. This punishment had been agreed upon, along with a plan to starve him to death slowly. The official told Gulliver that the operation to blind him would take place in three days. Fearing this resolution, Gulliver crossed the channel and arrived in Blefuscu where the people had long expected him.

Two guides guided him to the capital city, also called Blefuscu. At the gates the Blefuscudian emperor and his retinue came to greet him. Gulliver told His Majesty that he had come to Blefuscu as promised and with the permission of the emperor of Lilliput. He offered the Blefuscudian emperor any service in his power, consistent with his duty to the emperor of Lilliput. The Blefuscudian emperor was generous but Gulliver faced a number of difficulties as he had no house or bed there.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 1 Chapter 6

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 1 Chapter 6

The narrator describes the inhabitants of Lilliput; their learning, laws, and customs; the manner of educating their children. He describes his way of living in that country and his vindication of a great lady.

This chapter provides the reader with information regarding Lilliputian culture, their customs and beliefs and the personal treatment that he receives from the Lilliputians.

According to Gulliver everything in Lilliput—their animals, trees, and plants—was sized in proportion to the Lilliputians. Their eyesight was also adapted to their scale: Gulliver could not see as clearly close-up as they could, while they could not see as far as he could.

The Lilliputians were well educated, but their writing system was odd to Gulliver, who joked that they wrote not left to right like the Europeans or top to bottom like the Chinese, but from one comer of the page to the other, ‘like the ladies in England’.

The dead were buried with their heads pointing directly downward, because the Lilliputians believed that eventually the dead would rise again and that the earth, which they thought was flat, would turn upside down. The better-educated Lilliputians no longer believed in this custom.

In Lilliput a person who wrongly accused another of a crime of which the latter was found to be innocent, was immediately put to a cruel death, and the one who was unjustly accused was rewarded materially. Not only that, he received a title of distinction from the emperor. Deceit was considered worse than theft, because honest people were more vulnerable to liars than to thieves, since commerce required people to trust one another. The Lilliputians found it odd that in Gulliver’s country the judiciary system was based mainly on punishment. In Lilliput, those who obeyed the laws were rewarded—anyone who obeyed the laws for ‘seventy-three moons’ was rewarded with a title of honour and a goodly sum of money.

As for the hiring practices of the Lilliputians, we have read about the importance of rope jumping and other such skills in the attainment of public office. The Lilliputians believed morals counted more than abilities, since those with high intelligence were usually lacking in moral virtues. Mistakes made in ignorance, reasoned the Lilliputians, usually had less serious consequences than those made by corrupt cunning.

The Lilliputians considered ingratitude a heinous crime because ‘whoever made ill returns to his benefactor, must needs be a common enemy to the rest of mankind… and therefore… not fit to live.’

Children were raised not by individual parents but by the kingdom as a whole. They were sent to live in schools at a very young age. The schools were chosen according to the status of their parents, whom they saw only twice a year. The schools for young nobles were simple, and students were trained in honour, justice, courage, modesty, kindness, religion, and patriotism. The schools for tradesmen and ordinary gentlemen were like those of the nobles, but the duration of schooling was shorter. The Lilliputians educated women to be reasonable, agreeable, and literate. Workers and farmers had no schools. There were no beggars at all, since the poor were well looked after.

After giving details of the customs and beliefs of the Lilliputians, Gulliver resumes his tale. He describes the visit of the emperor and his family. They came to dine with Gulliver and brought Flimnap with them. The dinner proved to be a disaster because Flimnap, the royal treasurer, was appalled when he understood the cost of feeding and housing Gulliver. What was more, Flimnap charged that his wife was attracted to Gulliver and had visited him secretly.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 1 Chapter 5

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 1 Chapter 5

The narrator, by an extraordinary stratagem, prevents an invasion. A high title of honour is conferred upon him. Ambassadors arrive from the emperor of Blefuscu and sue for peace. The empress ’ apartment catches fire by accident and the narrator is instrumental in saving the rest of the palace.

The empire of Blefuscu was an island situated to the north-east of Lilliput, separated from it by a channel, eight hundred yards wide. Gulliver kept himself hidden from the Blefuscans, who had no information about him. He spied on the empire of Blefuscu and devised a plan for seizing the entire Blefiiscudian fleet. He asked for cables and bars of iron, out of which he made hooks with cables attached. He then waded across the channel to Blefuscu and reached their ships at port. The Blefuscudians were so frightened when they saw him that they leapt out of their ships and swam to the shore. Gulliver attached a hook to each ship and tied them together. The Blefiiscudian soldiers fired arrows at him, but he kept working, protecting his eyes by putting on the spectacles he kept in his coat pocket. He tried to pull the ships away, but they were anchored too tightly, so he cut them away with his pocket-knife and pulled the ships back to Lilliput.

In Lilliput, Gulliver was greeted as a hero and the emperor conferred upon him the highest title of honour, ‘Nardac’. Emboldened by this victory, the emperor asked him to go back to retrieve the other ships, intending to destroy Blefuscu’s military strength and make it a province of his empire, and forcing the people to break the smaller end of their eggs. Gulliver dissuaded him from this action, which he believed to be unjust and the equivalent to enslaving the Blefuscudians. Embittered and angry, the emperor and several of his ministers turned staunchly against Gulliver and called for his destruction. In the words of Gulliver: ‘And from this time began an intrigue between his majesty and a junta of ministers, maliciously bent against me, which broke out in less than two months, and had like to have ended in my utter destruction. Of so little weight are the greatest services to princes, when put into the balance with a refusal to gratify their passions.’

Three weeks later, ambassadors arrived from Blefescu and offered a peace agreement, which the emperor agreed to with conditions favourable to himself. Gulliver used his influence at court to help the Blefescudians with regard to the treaty, and the war ended with Blefuscu’s surrender. The Blefuscu delegates were privately told of Gulliver’s kindness toward the Lilliputians, and they asked him to visit their kingdom. He wished to do so, and the emperor reluctantly allowed it. Gulliver learned that Flimnap, the Lord High Treasurer, and Bolgolam had represented to the emperor, Gulliver’s dealings with the Blefescudian ambassadors, as disloyalty. For the first time, Gulliver realized that the Lilliputian courts and ministers may not be perfect.

As a Nardac, or ‘person of high rank’, Gulliver no longer had to perform all the duties laid down in his contract. He did, however, have the opportunity to help the Lilliputians when the empress’ room caught fire. One night, Gulliver was awakened by people milling around his door. Courtiers arrived and begged Gulliver to come immediately to the palace, where a fire had broken out in the empress’s apartment due to negligence of one of her maids. He forgot his coat and, being unable to put the flames out with his clothing, he thought of a new plan: he urinated on the palace, putting out the fire entirely. He worried afterward that since the act of public urination was a crime in Lilliput he would be prosecuted. The emperor promised Gulliver a pardon, which, however, did not arrive. Also, Gulliver heard that the empress was so offended by his action that she moved into another part of the palace, ordering that the apartments on which Gulliver urinated must never be repaired.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 1 Chapter 4

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 1 Chapter 4

Milendo, the metropolis of Lilliput, is described, together with the emperor’s palace. A conversation between the narrator and a principal secretary, concerning the affairs of that empire is narrated here. The narrator offers to serve the emperor in his wars. After regaining his freedom, Gulliver went to Milendo, the capital city of the Lilliputians. The residents were told to stay indoors, and they all sat on their roofs and in their garret windows to see him. The metropolis was 500 square feet with a wall surrounding it. The wall was two and a half feet high, and at least eleven inches broad, so that a coach and horses may be driven very safely round it; and it was flanked with strong towers at ten feet distance. The city was an exact square, each side of the wall being five hundred feet long. The two great streets, which ran across and divided it into four quarters, were five feet wide. The lanes and alleys were from twelve to eighteen inches. The town could hold 500,000 people: the houses were three to five stories: the shops and markets were well provided.

The emperor wanted Gulliver to see the magnificence of his palace, which was at the centre of the city where the two great streets met. It was enclosed by a two feet high wall, and was twenty feet away from the buildings. The outward court was a square of forty feet, and included two other courts: in the inmost were the royal apartments, which Gulliver could not see for the great gates, from one square into another, were only eighteen inches high, and seven inches wide. As the buildings of the outer court were at least five feet high, it was impossible for Gulliver to stride over them without causing damage. So, Gulliver cut down trees to make himself a stool, which he carried around with him so that he could sit down and see things from a shorter distance than a standing position allowed.

About two weeks after Gulliver obtained his liberty, Reldresal came to see him. He told Gulliver that two forces, one rebel group and one foreign empire, threatened the kingdom. The rebel group existed because, for about seventy moons, the kingdom had been divided into two factions called Tramecksan and Slamecksan. The people in the two factions were distinguished by the height of their heels. The animosity between the two parties was so intense, that they would neither eat, nor drink, nor talk with each other. Reldresal told Gulliver that though high heels were most agreeable to their ancient constitution, the current emperor had chosen to employ primarily the low-heeled Slamecksan in his administration. He added that the emperor himself had lower heels than all of his officials but that his heir had one heel higher than the other, which gave him a hobble in his gait.

At the same time, the Lilliputians feared an invasion from the Island of Blefuscu, which Reldresal called the ‘Other Great Empire of the Universe.’ He added that the philosophers of Lilliput did not believe Gulliver’s claim that there were other countries in the world inhabited by other people of his size, preferring to think that Gulliver had dropped from the moon or a star.

Reldresal described the history of the two nations. The conflict between them, he told Gulliver, began years ago, when the emperor’s grandfather happened to cut one of his fingers while trying to break an egg in the old way, large end first. His father, who was then, the emperor, commanded all Lilliputians to break their eggs the small end first. The people resented the law, and six rebellions were started in protest. The monarchs of Blefuscu fueled these rebellions and when they were over, the rebels fled to that country to seek refuge. Eleven thousand people chose death rather than submit to the law. Many books were written on the controversy, but books written by the ‘Big-Endians’ were banned in Lilliput. The government of Blefuscu accused the Lilliputians of disobeying their religious doctrine, the Brundrecral, by breaking their eggs at the small end. The Lilliputians argued that the doctrine read, “That all true believers shall break their eggs at the convenient end,” which could be interpreted as the small end.

Reldresal continued that the exiles gained support in Blefuscu to launch a war against Lilliput and were aided by rebel forces inside Lilliput. A war had been raging between the two nations ever since. Reldresal requested Gulliver’s aid in the perpetual battle. Gulliver complied with these words: ‘I desired the Secretary to present my humble duty to the Emperor, and to let him know, that I thought it would not become me, who was a foreigner, to interfere with parties; but I was ready, with the hazard of my life, to defend his person and state against all invaders.’

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 1 Chapter 3

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 1 Chapter 3

The narrator diverts the emperor, and his nobility of both sexes, in a very uncommon manner. The diversions of the court of Lilliput are described. The narrator has his liberty granted him upon certain conditions.

Gulliver’s gentleness and good behaviour impressed the emperor and his court, and also the army and the people in general. As he earned their trust he began to hope that he would be set free, as he was getting along well with the Lilliputians.

He made good progress in understanding and speaking their language. The emperor decided to entertain him with shows, including a performance by rope-dancers, who were Lilliputians seeking employment in the government. For the performance, which doubled as a sort of competitive entrance examination, the candidates danced on ‘ropes’—slender threads suspended two feet above the ground. Whenever a vacancy occurred, either by death or disgrace, candidates petitioned the emperor to entertain him with a dance and whoever jumped the highest earned the office. How long and how skillfully a candidate could dance upon a rope determined his tenure in office. The current ministers continued this practice as well, in order to show that they had not lost their skill.

Of the ministers, two were particularly adept: Flimnap, the treasurer and Gulliver’s friend, Reldresal, principal secretary for private affairs. Gulliver was amazed to learn that these diversions were often attended with fatal accidents. He, himself, saw two or three candidates break a limb. This danger was especially true of the ministers, for, in trying to excel themselves and their fellows, they strained so far that they at times received a fall. In fact, a year or two ago, Flimnap was only saved from breaking his neck because one of the king’s cushions, that accidentally lay on the ground, weakened the force of his fall.

As another diversion, the emperor laid three silken threads of different colours on a table. He then held out a stick, and candidates were asked to leap over it or creep under it, a feat for which they were then rewarded with one of the ribbons.

The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables, were daily led before Gulliver, and they gradually lost their fear of him. The riders would make the horses leap over his hand, as he held it on the ground; and one of the emperor’s huntsmen, riding a large horse, jumped over Gulliver’s foot, shoe and all; which was indeed an extraordinary leap. Gulliver built a platform from sticks and his handkerchief and invited horsemen to exercise upon it. The emperor greatly enjoyed watching this new entertainment. The emperor was so delighted, that he ordered this entertainment to be repeated several days, and once he desired to be lifted up and give the word of command.

The empress also wanted to climb up and it was with great difficulty that Gulliver persuaded her to let him hold her in her close chair within two yards of the stage, from whence she was able to take a full view of the whole performance. This entertainment had to be abandoned when a horse stepped through the handkerchief. Though Gulliver could save both horse and rider, he decided that it was too dangerous for them to keep riding on the cloth.

About two or three days before Gulliver was set free, some Lilliputians discovered Gulliver’s hat, which had been washed ashore. He asked them to bring it back. Soon after, the emperor asked Gulliver to pose like a colossus, or a giant statue, so that his troops might march under Gulliver. Three thousand foot soldiers and a thousand horse-riders did so, the foot soldiers marching twenty-four abreast and the horse-riders sixteen, with drums beating, colours flying, and pikes advanced.

Gulliver’s petitions for freedom were finally answered. Gulliver had to swear to obey the orders of the Lilliputians, which included that he must assist them in times of war, survey the land around them, help with construction, and deliver urgent messages. Gulliver agreed and his chains were removed.