Sunday, January 22, 2012

Who is Gulliver's worst enemy at the Lilliputian court in Gulliver's Travels?

After his initial negative reception in Lilliput, Gulliver soon became a friend to most of the Lilliputians, and the Emperor especially enjoys his company and respects him. However, Gulliver has two enemies who in the end force him to escape from Lilliput to avoid severe bodily injury and death. The Empress became his enemy when he put out a raging fire in her apartments by urinating on that section of the palace. The Empress was so mortified that she moved out of that part of the palace and refused to have it restored. After that, she vowed revenge against him.
Another "mortal enemy" was Skyresh Bolgolam, the admiral. After the military confrontation with the neighboring nation of Blefuscu, the admiral hated Gulliver. It was mostly a matter of jealousy because Gulliver's actions had been so decisive that the admiral had had no role to play. This led Bolgolam to begin a secret two-month-long intrigue to destroy Gulliver. He petitioned for Gulliver's death on the grounds that he had violated laws (by urinating in the palace) and was a traitor and a Big-Endian at heart.
The Emperor and some friends on the council stood up for Gulliver, but the best they could do was change the sentence to spare Gulliver's life but put out his eyes. Even then, at the urging of the Empress, the admiral insisted that Gulliver must die. Finally, it was determined that after having his eyes put out, Gulliver would be gradually starved to death. A friend warned Gulliver of the upcoming sentence, so he decided to flee to Blefuscu to escape the torture the Lilliputians planned for him.

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