Jonathan Swift

A Tale of a Tub Jonathan Swift

Swift's allegorical satire about religion and politics follows the lives of three brothers, Martin, Peter and Jack, who each represent a faction of the Christian faith--Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, and the Dissenting faiths respectively. Each brother inherits a coat (representing religious practice) from their father (God) on the condition that they do not change it. But instead, the three quarrelsome youths disobey their father and change their coats beyond recognition.

A Tale of a Tub was Swift's first major work and was considered a personal favorite by the author.