What is Swift's attitude towards Mankind in Gulliver's Travels?

In
general, it is clear that Swift's depiction of the societies his , Gulliver, encounters during
his adventures suggests a cynical perspective. Swift's point of view is not positive or
encouraging. Many interpreters regard his character, Gulliver, as a symbolic representation of
the objective viewer--someone who does not make any judgments and who does not discriminate. It
is through Gulliver's eyes that we are made aware of humankind's iniquities, idiosyncrasies, and
foolishness. Each adventure depicts an experience that exposes one or more of these
shortcomings.

Gulliver's experiences in Lilliput, for example, seem to depict
our desire for material wealth, our arrogance, and our obsession with pride and self promotion.
We are, in our feebleness, intent on proving ourselves better than others by conducting
irrelevant excursions and undertakings to prove an insignificant point. In the end we are really
left with nothing.

Gulliver's experiences in Brobdingnag accentuate our
insignificance. We are small, feeble, and unimportant in the greater scheme of things.
Gulliver's encounters here show how we can be fooled by our own perspective when we believe that
we are superior and above everything. Gulliver is humbled by his encounters in Brobdingnag and
becomes a mere plaything. This depiction surely indicates that there are powers greater than
ours that dominate us. We should therefore not allow our egos to lay claim to a greater
importance.

Through his depictions of Gulliver's adventures on the flying
island, Laputa, Swift ridicules our foolish adherence to impractical and idealistic philosophies
and theories which serve no real purpose. He clearly expresses disdain for the fact that we
adopt these as ultimate proof of our intellectual superiority when, in fact, such ideologies do
not prove anything nor empower our advancement. It is all smoke and mirrors.

Swift's most damning criticism of humankind is revealed in Gulliver's journey to the
land of the Houyhnhnms. The onomatopoeic nature of the name sounds like a jeer and, to a certain
extent, copies the neighing of a horse. This, in itself, depicts Swift's view of humankind. It
is as if the superior horses are displaying their contempt for humans when they neigh. The
horses are depicted as wise, intelligent, compassionate, and caring, unlike the humans, the
Yahoos, who are shown to be savage idiots.

It should be evident that Swift,
through the persona he has created, is deeply disappointed by the folly of humankind. Being
human, it seems, means very little or nothing at all.