The main purpose of satire is to highlight the vices and follies of society and other important social institutions. Satire is often used by authors when they do not want the meaning of their work to be blatantly obvious in order to avoid social condemnation or censorship. Both of these goals were likely to be important to Swift. By writing a satirical work, Swift was able to expose the problems of English and Irish society and mock the people and institutions that were acting wrongly, all while escaping persecution or condemnation.
