Queen of Brobdingnag
The Queen of Brobdingnag is the most significant female figure in Gulliver's second voyage, a monarch whose authority, wit, and genuine affection for the tiny visitor stand in stark contrast to the petty malice of the Lilliputian court. She rescues Gulliver from a life of exhausting public exhibition, installs him as her personal favorite, and grants him a degree of security and intimacy he experiences nowhere else in his travels. Yet her power, though absolute within her kingdom, cannot prevent the accidents and dangers that finally carry him away from her world.
Purchase and Protection
The queen first hears of Gulliver through ladies of her court who have seen him at the farmer's house and report "strange things of my beauty, behavior, and good sense." When the farmer brings him to court, she is "beyond measure delighted with my demeanor." Gulliver falls on his knees and begs the honor of kissing her imperial foot; she instead holds out her little finger, which he embraces in both arms and puts the tip to his lip with utmost respect. She asks whether he would be content to live at court, and he replies that he is his master's slave but would be proud to devote his life to her service. She then asks the farmer if he will sell Gulliver, and though the farmer fears Gulliver cannot live a month, he demands a thousand pieces of gold, which are ordered on the spot. Gulliver immediately begs that Glumdalclitch, the farmer's daughter who has cared for him, be admitted into her service as well, and the queen agrees, easily obtaining the farmer's consent. When the farmer departs, Gulliver gives him only a slight bow, and the queen, observing his coldness, asks the reason. He tells her plainly that he owes the farmer nothing beyond not having dashed out his brains, and that the life of exhibition has been "laborious enough to kill an animal of ten times my strength." The queen, "giving great allowance for my defectiveness in speaking," is surprised at "so much wit and good sense in so diminutive an animal."
Life at Court
The queen takes Gulliver in her own hand and carries him to the king, who at first mistakes him for a splacnuck. She sets him on the scrutoire and commands him to give an account of himself. After the king's scholars conclude that Gulliver is a lusus naturae, the queen orders that a particular care be taken of him. She commands her cabinet-maker to build a wooden chamber for him, sixteen feet square and twelve high, with sash-windows, a door, and two closets, like a London bed-chamber. The room is quilted on all sides, floor and ceiling, to prevent accidents. She orders the thinnest silks to be made into clothes for him, "not much thicker than an English blanket." The queen becomes so fond of his company that she cannot dine without him. He has a table placed at her left elbow, with a chair to sit on, and an entire set of silver dishes and plates, which Glumdalclitch keeps in a silver box. The queen's own eating is a nauseous sight to Gulliver: she "would craunch the wing of a lark, bones and all, between her teeth, although it were nine times as large as that of a full-grown turkey," and drink from a golden cup "above a hogshead at a draught." When the king dines with the royal family on Wednesdays, Gulliver's chair and table are placed at his left hand, and the queen's dwarf becomes a persistent tormentor. The dwarf drops Gulliver into a large silver bowl of cream; the queen is in such a fright that she lacks presence of mind to assist him, but Glumdalclitch pulls him out. The dwarf is soundly whipped, forced to drink the cream, and never restored to favor; the queen soon bestows him on a lady of high quality. The queen also frequently rallies Gulliver on his fearfulness, asking whether the people of his country are as great cowards as himself.
The Boat and the Monkey
The queen, hearing Gulliver talk of his sea-voyages, asks whether he understands how to handle a sail or an oar. When he says yes, she orders her joiner to build a pleasure-boat, finished in ten days, able to hold eight Europeans. She runs with it in her lap to the king, who orders it put in a cistern for trial. She then has a wooden trough built, three hundred feet long, fifty broad, and eight deep, placed in an outer room of the palace, where Gulliver rows for his own diversion and that of the queen and her ladies. The ladies give him a gale with their fans, and pages blow his sail forward with their breath. The greatest danger Gulliver ever undergoes in that kingdom comes from a monkey belonging to one of the clerks of the kitchen. Glumdalclitch has locked him in her closet; the monkey enters through the window, seizes Gulliver, and carries him to the roof. The queen and the whole court are in an uproar. The monkey is killed, and an order made that no such animal should be kept about the palace. The king, after Gulliver's recovery, rallies him on the adventure, and Gulliver boasts that in Europe he could deal with a dozen such monkeys. The queen's response is not recorded, but the incident underscores the limits of her protection.
Departure and Aftermath
When Gulliver escapes Brobdingnag by being carried off in his box by an eagle, the queen is not present. He later reflects on the grief Glumdalclitch will suffer for his loss, "the displeasure of the queen, and the ruin of her fortune." The queen's role in his story ends with his sudden, violent departure from her kingdom. She remains a figure of genuine kindness and power, yet her realm, for all its grandeur, cannot contain or safeguard the tiny visitor who has become her cherished companion.
