Swift uses Gulliver’s report of the Lilliputian laws and customs to illustrate a semi-Utopian society. He drew from such political theorists as Plato, in the Republic, and from More, in his Utopia, and he also used many of the suggestions of the political reformers and pamphleteers of his own day. His proposals were aimed at creating and enforcing moral virtue in the citizens.
Flimnap’s charges against Gulliver parallel those made against Bishop Atterbury, a Jacobite, who was tried for treason in 1723. It is thought that the suspicions concerning Gulliver and Flimnap’s wife refer to Walpole. Rumors about Walpole’s first wife, Catherine Shorter, had accused her of misconduct, but Walpole displayed no concern. Flimnap is dishonored by his jealousy and Walpole by his complacency. If critics are correct about this parallel, Swift is unfair; he damns Walpole if he does, or if he doesn’t, object. Also, of course, Swift is pointing out the absurdity of rash accusations made by politicians. Here, Gulliver is so much larger than the lady that she could not possibly have been unfaithful.
