Summary: Chapter VI
He said, he knew no Reason, why those
who entertain Opinions prejudicial to the Publick, should be obliged to
change, or should not be obliged to conceal them.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Gulliver makes himself a comb from the stumps of hair
left after the king has been shaved. He also collects hairs from
the king and uses them to weave the backs of two small chairs, which
he gives to the queen as curiosities. Gulliver is brought to a musical
performance, but it is so loud that he can hardly make it out. Gulliver
decides to play the spinet for the royal family, but must contrive
a novel way to do it, since the instrument is so big. He uses large
sticks and runs over the keyboard with them, but he can still strike
only sixteen keys.
Thinking that the king has unjustly come to regard England
as insignificant and laughable, Gulliver tries to tell him more
about England, describing the government and culture there. The
king asks many questions and is particularly struck by the violence
of the history Gulliver describes. He then takes Gulliver into his
hand and, explaining that he finds the world that Gulliver describes
to be ridiculous, contemptuous, and strange, tells him that he concludes
that most Englishmen sound like “odious Vermin.”
I cannot but conclude the Bulk of your
Natives, to be the most pernicious Race of little odious Vermin
that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Summary: Chapter VII
Gulliver is disturbed by the king’s evaluation of England.
He tries to tell him about gunpowder, describing it as a great invention
and offering it to the king as a gesture of friendship. The king
is appalled by the proposal, and Gulliver is taken aback, thinking
that the king has refused a great opportunity. He thinks that the
king is unnecessarily scrupulous and narrow-minded for not being
more open to the inventions of Gulliver’s world.
Gulliver finds the people of Brobdingnag in general to
be ignorant and poorly educated. Their laws are not allowed to exceed
in words the number of letters in their alphabet, and no arguments may
be written about them. They know the art of printing but do not
have many books, and their writing is simple and straightforward.
One text describes the insignificance and weakness of Brobdingnagians
and even argues that at one point they must have been much larger.
Summary: Chapter VIII
Gulliver wants to recover his freedom. The king orders
any small ship to be brought to the city, hoping that they might
find a woman with whom Gulliver can propagate. Gulliver fears that
any offspring thus produced would be kept in cages or given to the
nobility as pets. He has been in Brobdingnag for two years and wants
to be among his own kind again.
Gulliver is taken to the south coast, and both Glumdalclitch
and Gulliver fall ill. Gulliver says that he wants fresh air, and
a page carries him out to the shore in his traveling-box. He asks
to be left to sleep in his hammock, and the boy wanders off. An
eagle grabs hold of Gulliver’s box and flies off with him, and then
suddenly Gulliver feels himself falling and lands in the water.
He worries that he will drown or starve to death, but then feels
the box being pulled. He hears a voice telling him that his box
is tied to a ship and that a carpenter will come to drill a hole
in the top. Gulliver says that they can simply use a finger to pry
it open, and he hears laughter. He realizes that he is speaking
to people of his own height and climbs a ladder out of his box and
onto their ship.
