Brave New WorldShakespeare

Repeats sleep-teaching. She is very ‘numatic’ as all the men remark. This might also refer to her being very much a typical girl of the New World

Lenina

“The more stitches the less riches; the more stitches the less…” “Ending is better than mending; ending is better…” pg 44“Everyone works for everyone else. We cant do without anyone. We couldn’t do without Epsilons. Everyone works for everyone else.” Pg 64“When the individual fees, the community reels,” pg 81“Never put off till tomorrow the fun you can have today,” pg 81

Orgy – porgy, Ford and fun,Kiss the girls and make them One.Boys at one with girls at peace;Orgy – porgy gives release.

The Orgy Scene

Georgie Porgie, Puddin' and Pie,Kissed the girls and made them cry,When the boys came out to playGeorgie Porgie ran away

****In Groups Research this Poem and find the History behind it.

The poem comes from a nursery rhyme for children. How is that significant here? What does that tell us about the government and their use of these types of phrases?

‘Yesterday’s committee,Sticks, but a broken drum,Midnight in the City,Flutes in a vacuum,Shut lips, sleeping faces,Every stopped machine,The dumb and littered placesWhere crowds have been – All silence rejoice.Weep (loudly or low),Speak – but not with the voiceOf whom, I do not know.

Helmholtz pg. 157 - 158

Absence, say, of Susan’s,Absence of Egeria’sArms and respective bosoms, Lips and, ah, posteriors,Slowly form a presence; Whose? And I ask, of whatSo absurd an essence,That something, which is not,Nevertheless should populateEmpty night more solidlyThan that with which we copulate,Why should it seem so squalidly?

Helmholtz uses poetry when talking to John to discuss the idea of solitude and how it does not exist in the New World. He shows this work to his students and is reprimanded for going against the state and their policies.

Helmholtz 2

‘Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,That sees into the bottom of my grief?O, sweet mother, cast me not away!Delay this marriage for a month, a week;Or, if you do not, make the bridal bedIn that dim monument where Tybalt lies…’

Shakespeare and John

Helmholtz laughs at this passage because of the use of ‘mother’. He is still too conditioned by the world state to be that free thinking. This upsets John as this passage from Romeo and Juliet is clearly representing his loss of his mother and the casting away of him for Soma.

‘Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice;Handlest in they discourse, O! that her hand, In whose comparison all whites are inkWriting their own reproach; to whose soft seizureThe cygnet’s down is harsh

‘On the white wonder of dear Juliet’s hand, may seizeAnd steal immortal blessing from her lips,Who, even in pur and vestal modesty, Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin.’

John uses Shakespeare to communicate his feelings about Lenina (Juliet to him) and to romanticize her. In Romeo and Juliet both lovers die and their love is one that is impossible in the world they live in. It is forbidden. This mirrors that of the New World. The love between John and Lenina cannot occur because of their circumstances and conditioning; much like that of Romeo and Juliet.

‘O brave new world’ he repeated. ‘O brave new world that has such people in it. Let’s start at once. Pg 121 ‘O brave new world, O brave new world…’ ‘O BRAVE NEW WORLD!! Miranda was proclaiming the possibility of loveliness, the possibility of transforming even the nightmare into something fine and noble. ‘ O brave new world!’ pg 185

Strumpet! Strumpet! Pg 223

Sleep. Perchance to dream. For in that sleep of death, what dreams…? Pg 224

In your groups dissect these quotes from Shakespeare as said by John. What is their context? Why do you think he is saying them? What message is he trying to convey?

Shakespeare in Brave New World is a symbol of intelligence over that of the mindless control of the government. The Controller says, “Expecting Deltas to know what liberty is? And now expecting them to understand Othello! My good boy!” pg 194 and then, “And that’s what you will never write, said the Controller. Because, if it were really like Othello nobody could understand it, however new it may be. And if it were new, it couldn’t possibly be Othello.” pg 193

Mindlessness vs. Intelligence

The Controller does not want people to know Shakespeare because it is subversive to the goal of the New World State. Shakespeare encourages love, emotions, family and discourages control. It allows people to feel aesthetic pleasure; something the New World does not want people to experience. To them pleasure is external not internal.