Gulliver's Travels
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Preface 1 Preface 2 Book 1, Chapter 1 Book 1, Chapter 2 Book 1, Chapter 3 Book 1, Chapter 4 Book 1, Chapter 5 Book 1, Chapter 6 Book 1, Chapter 7 Book 1, Chapter 8 Book 2, Chapter 1 Book 2, Chapter 2 Book 2, Chapter 3 Book 2, Chapter 4 Book 2, Chapter 5 Book 2, Chapter 6 Book 2, Chapter 7 Book 2, Chapter 8 Book 3, Chapter 1 Book 3, Chapter 2 Book 3, Chapter 3 Book 3, Chapter 4 Book 3, Chapter 5 Book 3, Chapter 6 Book 3, Chapter 7 Book 3, Chapter 8 Book 3, Chapter 9 Book 3, Chapter 10 Book 3, Chapter 11 Book 4, Chapter 1 Book 4, Chapter 2 Book 4, Chapter 3 Book 4, Chapter 4 Book 4, Chapter 5 Book 4, Chapter 6 Book 4, Chapter 7 Book 4, Chapter 8 Book 4, Chapter 9 Book 4, Chapter 10 Book 4, Chapter 11 Book 4, Chapter 12
Themes
All Themes Perspective Moral vs. Physical Power Society and the State Knowledge Truth and Deception
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Lemuel Gulliver The Laputian King The Houyhnhnms
Symbols
All Symbols Excrement Clothing
Literary Devices
All Literary Devices Allegory Allusions Anthropomorphism Ethos Foreshadowing Genre Imagery Irony Mood Motifs Parody Satire Setting Similes Situational Irony Style Tone Unreliable Narrator
Upgrade to LitCharts A+
Instant downloads of all 1819 LitChart PDFs (including Gulliver's Travels).
LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does.
Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts.
The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play.
From the creators of SparkNotes, something better.
Literature
Guides Poetry
Guides Literary
Terms Shakespeare
Translations Citation
Generator
Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare

Gulliver's Travels

by

Jonathan Swift
Download this LitChart! (PDF)
Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Gulliver's Travels makes teaching easy.

The Houyhnhnms Character Analysis

Rational, peaceful, generous, and civilized horses, the Houyhnhnms are ideal beings (at least from Gulliver’s perspective). They are so honest and virtuous that they don’t even have words for things like “evil” and “falsehood.” They live content in their egalitarian and placid society troubled only by the question of how to constrain the Yahoos that live among them.

The Houyhnhnms Quotes in Gulliver's Travels

The Gulliver's Travels quotes below are all either spoken by The Houyhnhnms or refer to The Houyhnhnms. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Perspective Theme Icon
).
Book 4, Chapter 4 Quotes

Power, government, war, law, punishment, and a thousand other things, had no terms wherein that language could express them…

Related Characters: Lemuel Gulliver (speaker), The Houyhnhnms
Perspective Theme Icon
Society and the State Theme Icon
Page Number: 225
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 4, Chapter 12 Quotes

I here take a final leave of all my courteous readers…to apply those excellent lessons of virtue which I learned among the Houyhnhmns; to instruct the Yahoos of my own family, is far as I shall find them docible animals; to behold my figure often in a glass, and thus, if possible, habituate myself by time to tolerate the sight of a human creatures…

Related Characters: Lemuel Gulliver (speaker), The Houyhnhnms, The Yahoos
Perspective Theme Icon
Knowledge Theme Icon
Page Number: 270
Explanation and Analysis:
Unlock with LitCharts A+
Get the entire Gulliver's Travels LitChart as a printable PDF.
Download
Gulliver's Travels PDF

The Houyhnhnms Quotes in Gulliver's Travels

The Gulliver's Travels quotes below are all either spoken by The Houyhnhnms or refer to The Houyhnhnms. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Perspective Theme Icon
).
Book 4, Chapter 4 Quotes

Power, government, war, law, punishment, and a thousand other things, had no terms wherein that language could express them…

Related Characters: Lemuel Gulliver (speaker), The Houyhnhnms
Perspective Theme Icon
Society and the State Theme Icon
Page Number: 225
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 4, Chapter 12 Quotes

I here take a final leave of all my courteous readers…to apply those excellent lessons of virtue which I learned among the Houyhnhmns; to instruct the Yahoos of my own family, is far as I shall find them docible animals; to behold my figure often in a glass, and thus, if possible, habituate myself by time to tolerate the sight of a human creatures…

Related Characters: Lemuel Gulliver (speaker), The Houyhnhnms, The Yahoos
Perspective Theme Icon
Knowledge Theme Icon
Page Number: 270
Explanation and Analysis:
Unlock with LitCharts A+
Home About Blog Contact Help
Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved
Terms Privacy GDPR
The LitCharts.com logo.
Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account
You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to request a guide
Already have an account? Sign in
The LitCharts.com logo.
Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account.
You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to access notes and highlights
Already have an account? Sign in
The LitCharts.com logo.
Saving guides requires a free LitCharts account
Easily access your saved guides anytime.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to save guides
Already have an account? Sign in