The Snare in the Constitution: Defoe and Swift on Liberty

This comparative study of Defoe's and Swift's treatments of liberty embraces what seemed the most significant parts of their vast, multifaceted works, both non-fictional and fictional. Defoe's and Swift's positions with regard to the English constitution and liberties have been assessed through a close examination of their views on contemporary religious and political issues. Moreover, their involvement in the debates on the liberties and constitutions of Scotland and Ireland, respectively, could not be left out of this comparative approach to their treatments of liberty in the broader sense. Also of primary concern is the liberty of expression and of the press underlined (though ambiguously) by both authors as an essential precondition for all debate, political or otherwise. The paradoxical relationship between 'snare' and 'liberty' is examined in the context of the analogy between the political constitution (the body politic) and the human constitution (the natural body) commonly drawn in early 18th century political writings, including Defoe's and Swift's. This analogy appeared to be the appropriate means of identifying important links within as well as between, the two authors' works, since both have focused on 'snares' in the political and human constitutions. The part of the study devoted to the 'snare' in human nature mainly concerns the fictional works. Much attention has been given in this regard to the contrasting ways in which both authors have dealt with those 'snares' and the interaction between the human and the political constitutions.