"I was chiefly disgusted with modern History. For having strictly examined all the Persons of greatest Name in the Courts of Princes for an Hundred Years past, I found how the World had been misled by prostitute Writers, to ascribe the greatest Exploits in War to Cowards, the wisest Counsel to Fools, Sincerity to Flatterers, Roman Virtue to Betrayers of their Country, Piety to Atheists, Chastity to Sodomites, Truth to Informers." (And the rest of the paragraph, but you get the idea...) Part III Chapter 8 Paragraph 5 [p187 in Fox]
"As every Person called up made exactly the same Appearance he had done in the World, it gave me melancholy Reflections to observe how much the Race of human Kind was degenerate among us, within these Hundred Years past." Part III Chapter 8 Penultimate Paragraph [190 in Fox, paragraph before Peter's quote]
I was very interested when I read what I consider Gulliver's most concrete shift towards the hatred for people, or Yahoos, he displayed in Part IV. My question is, is this a shift at all? By that I mean, was Gulliver's hatred for humanity harbored all along, explaining his incessant traveling? Did the visit with the ghosts simply draw those feelings out? Or were they only there in part or even not there at all before these meetings? I also wondered to what extent were these feelings shared by Swift, and whether we are supposed to agree or if we are merely being presented with one view of humanity?
Also, what is up with all the darn capitalization and italicization?
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