Social commentary is sometimes found at the heart of good art, whether that art form is literature or popular music. The novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, and the rock album, Animals written and performed by Pink Floyd share the same characteristic of scathing social commentary. The artworks also share an animal metaphor that serves to cast a dark light on human social interactions and stratification functions. Conversely, the artworks individually attack the diametrically opposed, socio-economic systems of communism (by Orwell) and capitalism (by Roger Waters). The artworks are individually astounding, but when viewed in tandem, alludes to the idea that socio-economic systems are still evolving and in time the terms capitalism and communism will be thought as ineffective as feudalism.
The shared characteristics of social commentary and animal metaphor literally, are what make these particular artworks the amazing examples of their respective genres that they are. The animal metaphor tends to depict humans as being motivated by our animalistic desires, as well as the tendency among ourselves to be highly competitive and often, ruthless. In Animal Farm, Orwell puts the pigs as being the leaders, or the exploiters of the masses, depending on your point of view. Waters does the same in Animals, depicting the pigs as uncaring, self-involved, and overbearing masters of the masses. In both works, dogs are an enforcer-type, driven either by a sense of patriotism, honor, and pride, but also those misanthropes who relish in the power they have been given and enjoy abusing those weaker than themselves. The sheep are a shared characteristic of both works, depicting them as easily manipulated and led to the slaughter.
The works diverge from one another in which philosophy they individually espouse. Orwell’s novel is an obvious attack against communism. The pig characters of the novel represent the political figures of the early days of the Soviet Union. Orwell goes on to depict the system of the so-called “class-less” society as an incredible failure, while time would ultimately prove his early analysis as being correct. Any large-scale, highly organized society in all of human history has required social stratification, and Russia of the early twentieth century would prove to be no different. As with any society, those with power have been and still are tempted to abuse that power for their own individual ends, often at the expense of those that have granted them their power. Capitalism is not immune from this inherent flaw in social stratification either.
...l, the pigs abuse of their power, and this could be established by the following quote from the novel: “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” The previous statement was initially: “All animals are equal”, but the pigs, abusing their power and authority, give themselves special privileges and, as demonstrated in the quote, become more equal, or privileged, than other animals of the farm. These themes, as in The Chrysalids, target the general audience since they are also comprehensible and applicable by everybody; they address common issues of our modern society. In both novels, the themes and the messages conveyed and expressed by the authors target the general audience since they address issues concerning everybody and society as a whole, and because they could be grasped and applied by all readers, whatever their age, or schooling.
live on Earth but used for slavery in space. They have a life span of
Because Iago had the public perception of being an honest man, Othello couldn’t ignore his
As early as the first scene of the play Iago shows us strong motives for his actions. In this first scene we see Othello, a general of Venice, has made Cassio his new lieutant. Iago feels he truly deserves his promotion as he says "I know my price, I am worth more no worse a place."(l.i.12) Iago over here is confused why Othello has made such a stupid decision. Iago is a man with a tremendous ego who knows, sometimes overestimates, his worth. Roderigo, a Venetian gentleman, understands Iago when Iago said that he is "affined to love the Moor."(l.i.41-42) What Iago really means is "I follow him to serve my term upon him."(l.i.45) Iago wants to use Othello for his personal goals. We also must put ourselves into Iago's shoes. He is a man whose self-esteem and professional carrier have just been torn apart. Iago makes his actions of revenge toward Othello almost immediately by informing Brabantio, a Venetian senator and father of Desdemona, that "an old black ram (Othello) is tupping (his) white ewe (Desdemona)."(l.i.97)
Author Unknown. “Animal Farm Compared to the French Revolution” Example Essays. 2013. http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/40335.html (accessed 10/05/14)
Animal Farm and Lord of The Flies, despite the different themes and story lines, show the same meanings. Orwell's story talks about a farmyard dictator and the harsh conditions for the animals living in the farm. It is similar to a life or death situation for a group of boys, who must govern themselves, presented in Lord of the Flies.
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than other.” is one of the most famous quotes from George Orwell’s Animal Farm. From afar, Animal Farm is a fictitious novel with no real substance, but when carefully read, it is a chilling allegory of the horrors of the Russian Revolution. Orwell stresses in the novel, the dangers that go along with a bureaucratic or totalitarian regime. The novel supports the idea that Communism is an unethical and unjust system of government and damages society. While Orwell hides the fact that the novel has information, identical to events pertaining to Russia during the 1940’s, he utilizes it in an innocent way by using simple farm animals to directly compare different events and characters of the revolution.
did not get along well at all during the first half of the movie. But
Iago is very determined and emotionless. He brings negative outcomes to every character he comes in contact with. Although Iago characterizes himself as noble, the reader can see him for the villain he is. Throughout the play Iago’s every decision is on how
A Comparison of Tukerys Observed by Seamus Heaney and View of a Pig by Ted Hughes
Like with many evil personalities in history and literature the question is always asked did he really plan to make this happen or was it just luck and convenient circumstances, was it intentional or just circumstantial. To determine how good Iago really is at plotting and whether it is really his own influence or just lucky circumstances that cause events I will examine his asides, soliloquies and interaction with key characters because they give an extra insight into his character.
ANIMAL FARM About 80 per-cent of all the animals on Animal Farm completely followed the seven commandments. The other 20 per-cent of the animals would rarely follow all the rules and they were often treated like a piece of dirt. All the animals on Animal Farm were treated differently according to their social status, where in today’s society everyone should treat everyone equally. The characters in Animal Farm had many diverse characteristics, some of the animals were powerful, stupid, and sneaky First of all, Napoleon is a huge Berkshire boar and he clearly is the most powerful of all the animals. He was able to take complete leadership of the farm because he secretly trained the dogs to attack Snowball. George Orwell writes, “ ‘Never mind the milk, comrades!’ cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. ‘That will be attended to, the harvest is more important’ (817).&nb describe Napoleon as a leader, “ ‘long live Comrade Napoleon’ ” (846). All the animals on the farm (no matter what Napoleon did to them) would treat him as a powerful leader and whatever he said they would do. Often Orwell stirs up controversy about the rebellion, “ ‘forward in the name of the rebellion. ‘Long live Animal Farm!’ ‘Long live Comrade Napoleon!’ ‘Napoleon is always right.’
Iago understands how to use people. He knows what to say and how to act to influence people’s actions. This is way he is such a terrifying villain. The character of Iago is the perfect mould to start with when crafting the perfect villain.
Iago has been excellent at saying the what is needed to get to people, he misleads them to get a reaction he wants out of them. He is clever with his words to avoid confrontation that can easily happen. “Othello 's confusion is the human experience of language. In other words, language itself, not the outside world, determines meaning” (Christofides 2). Iago uses his words against Othello to get him to do Iago’s doings. Iago has an eloquence with
George Orwell's, Animal Farm, depicts how power can corrupt society. If one person receives too much power, one will most likely lead up to dictatorship. To exemplify this idea, Orwell uses a farm to represent a society and the animals inside to portray the people. Orwell's use of the pigs and animals are also an analogy that people sometimes act as 'mindless pigs';. Orwell makes the reader realize just how bad a society of dictatorship can really be.