Galbet

Galbet is the Lilliputian title for the high admiral of the realm, a position of immense military and political authority that in the narrative is held by Skyrris Bolgolam, who becomes Gulliver's most implacable enemy at court and the driving force behind the conspiracy to have him executed.

Definition and Office

The word galbet is the Lilliputian term for the high admiral, the supreme naval commander of the empire. Skyrris Bolgolam, who holds this office, is described as a person very much in his master's confidence and well versed in affairs, but of a morose and sour complexion. His authority is such that he is able to single-handedly oppose Gulliver's liberation in the full council, and though the board votes against him, he is later persuaded to comply only on the condition that he himself draws up the articles and conditions for Gulliver's release. The title carries with it the power to shape state policy and to act as a principal advisor to the Emperor of Lilliput.

Role in the Conspiracy Against Gulliver

Bolgolam's enmity toward Gulliver is established early and deepens over time. His original reasons for hating Gulliver are unknown, but his hatred is increased after Gulliver's great success against Blefuscu, by which his own glory as admiral is much obscured. This personal resentment transforms into political action when Bolgolam, in conjunction with Flimnap the high treasurer, Limtoc the general, Lalcon the chamberlain, and Balmuff the grand justiciary, prepares articles of impeachment against Gulliver for treason and other capital crimes. During the debates on the impeachment, Bolgolam insists that Gulliver should be put to the most painful and ignominious death, proposing that fire be set to Gulliver's house at night and that the general attend with twenty thousand men armed with poisoned arrows to shoot him in the face and hands. He also suggests that some of Gulliver's servants be given private orders to strew a poisonous juice on his shirts and sheets, which would make him tear his own flesh and die in the utmost torture.

Opposition to Mercy and Final Judgment

When Reldresal, the principal secretary for private affairs and Gulliver's friend, proposes that Gulliver's life be spared and that he only lose his eyes, Bolgolam cannot preserve his temper. Rising up in fury, he declares that the services Gulliver performed are, by all true reasons of state, the great aggravation of his crimes. He argues that Gulliver, who extinguished the fire in the empress's apartment in such an unprincipled manner, might at another time inundate and drown the whole palace, and that the same strength which enabled him to bring over the enemy's fleet might serve, upon the first discontent, to carry it back. Bolgolam further accuses Gulliver of being a Big-endian in his heart, insisting that since treason begins in the heart before it appears in overt acts, Gulliver should be condemned as a traitor on that account and put to death. The admiral is a creature of the empress, perpetually instigated by her majesty to insist upon Gulliver's death, she having borne perpetual malice against him on account of the illegal method he took to remove her and her children the night of the fire. Ultimately, the council compromises on the sentence of blinding, but Bolgolam is the sole dissenter, refusing to agree to anything less than execution.