Gulliver in Houynhnmland

One of the most interesting questions about Gullivers Travels is 
whether the Houyhnhnms represent an ideal of rationality or whether 
on the other hand they are the butt of Swift's satire. In other 
words, in Book IV, is Swift poking fun at the talking horses or does 
he intend for us to take them seriously as the proper way to act? If 
we look closely at the way that the Houyhnhnms act, we can see that 
in fact Swift does not take them seriously: he uses them to show the 
dangers of pride.

First we have to see that Swift does not even take Gullver seriously. 
For instance, his name sounds much like gullible, which suggests that 
he will believe anything. Also, when he first sees the Yahoos and 
they throw excrement on him, he responds by doing the same in return 
until they run away. He says, "I must needs discover some more 
rational being," (203) even though as a human he is already the most 
rational being there is. This is why Swift refers to Erasmus Darwins 
discovery of the origin of the species and the voyage of the Beagle--
to show how Gulliver knows that people are at the top of the food 
chain.

But if Lemule Gulliver is satirized, so are the Houyhnhnms, whose 
voices sound like the call of castrati. They walk on two legs instead 
of four, and seem to be much like people. As Gulliver says, "It was 
with the utmost astonishment that I witnessed these creatures playing 
the flute and dancing a Vienese waltz. To my mind, they seemed like 
the greatest humans ever seen in court, even more dextrous than the 
Lord Edmund Burke" (162). As this quote demonstrates, Gulliver is 
terribly impressed, but his admiration for the Houyhnhnms is short-
lived because they are so prideful. For instance, the leader of the 
Houyhnhnms claims that he has read all the works of Charles Dickens, 
and that he can singlehandedly recite the names of all the Kings and 
Queens of England up to George II. Swift subtly shows that this 
Houyhnhnms pride is misplaced when, in the middle of the intellectual 
competition, he forgets the name of Queen Elizabeths husband.

Swifts satire of the Houyhnhnms comes out in other ways as well. One 
of the most memorable scenes is when the dapple grey mare attempts to 
woo the horse that Guenivre has brought with him to the island. First 
she acts flirtatiously, parading around the bewildered horse. But 
when this does not have the desired effect, she gets another 
idea: "As I watched in amazement from my perch in the top of a tree, 
the sorrel nag dashed off and returned with a yahoo on her back who 
was yet more monstrous than Mr. Pope being fitted by a clothier. She 
dropped this creature before my nag as if offering up a sacrifice. My 
horse sniffed the creature and turned away." (145) It might seem that 
we should take this scene seriously as a failed attempt at courtship, 
and that consequently we should see the grey mare as an unrequited 
lover. But it makes more sense if we see that Swift is being satiric 
here: it is the female Houyhnhnm who makes the move, which would not 
have happened in eighteenth-century England. The Houyhnhm is being 
prideful, and it is that pride that makes him unable to impress 
Gullivers horse. Gulliver imagines the horse saying, Sblood, the 
notion of creating the bare backed beast with an animal who had held 
Mr. Pope on her back makes me queezy (198).

A final indication that the Houyhnmns are not meant to be taken 
seriously occurs when the leader of the Houynhms visits Lilliput, 
where he visits the French Royal Society. He goes into a room in 
which a scientist is trying to turn wine into water (itself a 
prideful act that refers to the marriage at Gallilee). The scientist 
has been working hard at the experiment for many years without 
success, when the Houyhnmn arrives and immediately knows that to 
do: "The creature no sooner stepped through the doorway than he 
struck upon a plan. Slurping up all the wine in sight, he quickly 
made water in a bucket that sat near the door" (156). He has 
accomplished the scientists goal, but the scientist is not happy, for 
his livelihood has now been destroyed. Swifts clear implication is 
that even though the Houyhnhmns are smart, they do not know how to 
use that knowledge for the benefit of society, only for their own 
prideful agrandizement.

Throughout Gullivers Travels, the Houyhnhms are shown to be an ideal 
gone wrong. Though their intent might have been good, they dont know 
how to do what they want to do because they are filled with pride. 
They mislead Gulliver and they even mislead themselves. The satire on 
them is particularly well explained by the new born Houyhnhm who, 
having just been born, exclaims, "With this sort of entrance, what 
must I expect from the rest of my life!" (178).