Gulliver’s travels

1. Gulliver’stravels Written by Jonathan Swift in 1728 Adpated by Paul Stebbings in 2013 for a theatre performance

2. Four British actors from the TNT company in London performed Gulliver’s travels on January 29th in Lyon. Nick Whitely played Gulliver, while Joffre Alsina, Kathryn Duffy and Paula Jones created a series of vivid characters of all shapes and sizes.

3. Biography of Jonathan Swift Jonathan SWIFT Jonathan SWIFT was born in November 30th 1667 and he passed away in October 19th 1745. He was an Anglo – Irish. His best work is Gulliver’s Travels, this story was a real sucess ! In the four books, Jonathan SWIFT used satire to try to improve the British society. • Calibri 24

4. SUMMARY

5. Summary book 1 Gulliver is travelling and hisshipisdestroyed in the storm. He arrives on the island of Lilliput . He iscaptured by Lilliputianswho are verysmall people : approximately six inches in height ( sothey are about fifteencentimetrestall !) . Gulliver becomes a national ressource, heisintegrated in the army to help them in theirwaragainst the people of Blefuscuwho are hated for doctrinal differencesconcerning the properway to crack eggs. But Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu, and sets sail for England.

6. Summary Book 2 Gulliver arrives in Brobdingnag, a land of giantsand is captured. The farmer takes Gulliver on a tour across the countryside, displaying him to onlookers. The king knows nothing about politics.

7. SUMMARYBOOK 3 The main characterwhoiscalled Gulliver discovers the Flying Island whichiscalledLaputa. The inhabitantswho live on this Island arescientists. They have a veryspecialview of science and theirownlogics. The Flying Island moves in relation to the Island belowwhichiscalledBalnibarbi, and the inhabitants of this Island wereimmortals.

8. Summary Book 4 • On hisfourthday, Gulliver comes to a country, where the inhabitants are the Houyhnhnms, they are rational-thinkinghorseswhorule, and the Yahoos serve the Houyhnhnms. • He wants to staywith the Houyhnhnms but hisbared body reveals to the horsesthathe’sverymuchlike a Yahoo, and he’sbanished. • The Assembly of the Houyhnhnms’ kingdomdeterminesthat Gulliver is a Yahoo and askshim to choose : eitherhe must live with the uncivilizedYahoos or return to hisown world. • He chooses to leave. Once back in England, hebuystwohorses to be as far awayfromhisfamilly as possible.

9. SATIRE

10. Satire Book 1 In this book, Jonathan Swift criticized English rulers. Indeed, helaughedatthem, whenhewrotethat Gulliver came to the island to savethem. Actually, he came to dominatethem, « as Englishmenused to do. »

11. Satire Book 2 Guliverpretended to bevery important because of a message for the kingwhichwouldinformhim of a terrible threat. The king and Gulliver spoke about Gulliver’s country, behaviors or customers and the kingwasshocked and chagrined by the selfishness and pettiness of Gulliver’s country so for the king, Gulliver doesn’tmatter a lot. The writerwanted to make us understandthat the English men are actuallyverytinyand ratherpretentious.

12. Satire book 3 On the flyingislandnamedLaputathere are many « scientists ». Jonathan Swift tried to make us understandthatthese people pretended to know manythings (not everything) but actuallytheywereselfishbecausetheydidn’twant to share and explaintheirknowledge. In fact, scientistsfromLaputawereafraid to tell themwhattheyknew , becausemaybe the people wouldn’t trust them to rule the world !

13. Satire Book 4 Jonathan SWIFT criticized the idea of perfectionism. Even if the Houyhnhnmspretended to have created a perfect society without violence, actuallytheydidn’ttoleratedifferences and theywanted to kill the Yahoos.

14. SPECTATORS’ REACTIONS

15. The spectatorswerethrilled and wereentertained for one hour and a half . • The theaterpeformancewassofunnythat the spectatorslaughed a lot . • At the end , the spectatorsclappedtheir hands for the comedians and some gave them a standing ovation . • Most spectatorsreallyenjoyedthissatirical performance excepttwo or treewhowere not discreteenoughbecausetheysnored a littletooloud . What a nuisance for the comedians and for other spectators !

16. PUPILS’ PERSONAL REACTIONS

17. Personalreactions « How greatitwas to see the theatre performance of Gulliver’stravelsbecause the comediansplayedverywell. Even if theyhad to play a lot of rolesat the same time. I didn’tunderstandeverything but I couldunderstandmost of the performance because the comediansdidn’tspeaktoofast and theydidn’t use a difficultvocabulary. I reallylikedwhen the spectatorsrewarded the comedians and applaudedthem. »   Mathilde 

18. My personal reactions • « I likedthe theatre performance a littlebecauseitwastoo long, but I reallyliked the performance of the actorwhoplayed the role of Gulliver. I didn’tunderstandsome parts of the play. » Simon

19. Personal reactions « The actorswerefantastic and humorous. I disliked the gangnam style dance. I didn’tmindthatthreecomediansplayedsomanydifferentroles. I reallylikedlistening to themspeaking English. How wonderful ! What an outstanding show ! How greatitwas to go to Lyon to seesuch an awesometheatre performance ! » Philippe

20. « I thinkitwasvery instructive if we are speaking about a political system or if we are speaking about ethnology. I appreciated the theatre performance because the actorsperformedwell and theywereveryprofessional. Theydidn’tgiggle. » Nolan

21. « To mymind, the director of the play has cleverlydenounced the scientistswhowanted to dominate people. He has respected the story of Jonathan Swift and has managedhis stage direction verywell. It was original and wellplayed. » Laurène

22. « How greatitwas to see the theater performance of Gulliver’sTravelsbecause the comediansplayeddifferentroles, theywereprofessionalactors ! But I didn’tunderstandeverythingbecause English isdifficult for me and I haven’tgot a richvocabulary… » Coline

23. « The theatre performance was funny, I really liked listening to them. I didn’t mind that three comedians played so many different roles, it was original. At the end of the play I gave them a standing ovation. » Théodorine

24. « I likedthistheatre performance. The stories wereinteresting, funny, and itwaswellplayed by good actors. It wasn’tdisturbingthat the performance lasted an hour and a half. They made a very good adaptation of the book. » Jonas

25. «  I liked the theatre performance of "Gulliver’s Travels" because there was a lot of humour, and even if I did not understand everything I understood most of it. • The actors played very well their roles, they had good ideas as when they walked on stilts to play the role of the giants or, when they walked on their knees to play the role of the dwarves. • The only thing which I didn’t like was that the theatre performance was a little bit too long » • Antoine

26. Personal reaction «  I reallyliked the theater performance because the comediansplayedverywell and theyhad a very good accent. How greatitwaswhen the comedians came on the stage walking on stilts, or on theirknees, itwassofunny ! It wassooutstanding to go to seesuch an awesometheatreperfomance . What a nuisance itwaswhensomepupilssnored a little tooloud ! » Manon

27. « I didn’tmindseeing a theatre performance in English because I like English and I understoodwhat the comedianssaid . • I liked the performance , becauseitwasfunnyeven if some times itwas a little bit strange . • Some passages were a littleboring , but itwasinteresting. » Amaurie

28. EXTRACTS FROM THE PLAY READ BY PUPILS

29. Gulliver : I am not tiny… I am very big. Actually I am huge… hugely important. I have news for the King ! Stop pushing me ! Give me the respect you would like to receive ! (…) I am an Englishman and I have come to save your country. Antoine

30. Minister of Defence from Lilliput : Ladies and gentlemen of Lilliput, as Minister of Defence, it is my duty to protect you. I have consulted the experts and I can assure you that giants do not exist. (…) Er well… when I said to you that giants did not exist, I was actually correct. GiantS do not exist, but this giant does exist. Tie him up…er… Tie him down… Nail him to the ground ! Now you see I have protected you from it. That is surely why I was appointed Minister of Defence. Mathilde

31. Horse Judge: No Yahoo, however reasonable, can become a Houyhnhnm. This is biological, racial truth. (…) we don’t know how to lie and we have created a perfect society without violence, argument or disagreement among us. We cannot tolerate that our society be disturbed by Yahoos, that is why we will destroy and kill them. Exterminate the Yahoos ! We will be pure, we will not tolerate differences. You are the best of Englishmen, that is why we must expel you. Jonas

32. Coline Horse Judge : We will be pure, we will not tolerate differences. Go back to your England Gulliver. You are the best of Englishmen, that is why we must expel you.

33. Gulliver : Ah ! Humans they stink ! Stinking humans ! Pull back the curtains ! Hide these monsters from my sight ! I hate you, disgusting beasts ! (…) You are a mirror – and when I look at you I sink into a deep hatred not only of you – but an even deeper hatred and horror of myself. (…) There they are ! Yahoos ! Am I doomed, doomed forever to live with you ? Where are the noble horses ? I am as noble as a horse ! I am a Houyhnhnm ! Nolan

34. Gulliver : I am Captain Gulliver, commander of the good ship Antelope – sailors, stand before the flag and salute the majesty of Great Britain ! (…) Sailors, we make this voyage for profit, for ourselves and our dear country. But let us remember that at all times we also represent Great Britain, our noble homeland, the mistress of arts and arms, the scourge [skM:dF] (fléau) of France and arbiter of Europe, the seat of virtue, religion and truth. Britain the pride of the world ! Imagine how terrible it is to be born a foreigner ! Manon D

35. Simon Gulliver : I could destroy you with one swipe of my hand, but I will not because I am an English gentleman and despite your stupidity and foolishness I respect you, whatever your size, however different you are from me. Can you understand that in your tiny brains ?

36. Marouanne Minister of defence from Lilliput : I will launch Gulliver on our enemies. Gulliver, I know you said that you would not enslave the Brobdingnag for us, but I’m sure that if I, as the Minister of Defence, asked you to take this sack of gold, then you would think again about these principles of yours, liberty and all that… Liberty is not something to share with our enemies, the Brobdingnag bottom egg eating bastards ! We must destroy evil dictatorship, it is a matter of morality !

37. Philippe Scientist from Laputa: See these clouds… and this comet. Well, do you see this mushroom ? Come closer Gulliver. When we manage to combine that mushroom with that cloud and tie it onto that comet, we shall create a bomb to destroy the world.

38. Theodorine Gulliver : What is wealth ? what is desire ? why do we die ? why does power corrupt ? why is liberty not the natural condition of man ?

39. Gulliver : If I’m not mad, then the world is mad. You are a talking horse, so be it. Since (puisque) men have abused the power of speech and reason, I see no objection to an animal so noble and strong as a horse having the opportunity of perfecting themselves and society. (…) Amaurie

40. Gulliver : I come from England. England is a Christian country where people care for each other, where there are houses for the poor, were beggars (mendiants) are regularly given bread or at least on Christmas Eve, where dogs are treated with kindness and no man is kept a slave, except in the colonies which are far away. England is a kind and just society where no man is kept in chains. Laurène

41. Onur Scientist from Laputa: Where would science be if we looked at everything with perspective ? Take the theory of gravity, it is clear that what is up is up and must fall down. And yet (cependant) the planet rotate around the sun. Here is a brilliant theory that defies common logic. Now stand on your head and drink this water. How did the water arrive in your stomach ? You don’t know, neither do I. It defies logic. That is why science is illogical, intuitive, mysterious. We must keep science from the people or they will not trust us to rule the world.

42. THE END !