A Tale of a Tub

A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift was first published in 1704. This was Swift's first major work, telling the story of three brothers - Peter, Martin, and Jack. The whole story is an allegory with each brother representing a branch of Christianity. Peter is the Roman Catholic, Jack is the Protestant, and Martin is the Church of England. A Tale of a Tub is essentially a biting satirical take on the morals and ethics of the English and their religions, but while a lot of satire offers an opposing position as a solution to the one being parodied - Swift does no such thing. As controversial as it was, it was very popular at a time when religion and politics were very much intertwined. One of the major things that Swift attacks in the book is the folly of misreading - of taking things too literally and not being able to recognise nonsense - something he gives the reader ample opportunity to do with the many digressions in the book.