The Presentation of Napoleon in Animal Farm by George Orwell
The novel Animal Farm, by the political writer George Orwell, is astory parallel to the events of the Russian Revolution. It featuresthe brutal rise to power of one history’s most notorious dictators –Josef Stalin, who is portrayed by the tyrannical pig Napoleon. Afterthe animals of Manor Farm expel their human master, Napoleoneventually manages to seize total control over every aspect of theanimals’ lives. It is Napoleon’s character that I am analysing in thisessay.
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Napoleon is portrayed right from the start of the novel as a rathersinister character. He is described as “a large, rather fierce-lookingBerkshire boar … with a reputation for getting his own way”. Thissuggests that he will try to achieve his ends by foul means if fairmeans do not work.
Napoleon is depicted as greedy even at the start of Animal Farm’sindependence from Jones. When the animals are discussing who shouldget to drink the buckets of milk, Napoleon “places himself in front ofthe buckets” and asks them to begin the harvest. When the animals cameback, “the milk had disappeared”. Napoleon used his physical presenceto distract the animals from the milk. We can assume that it wasNapoleon who had drunk the milk, henceforth breaking the seventhcommandment “All animals are equal” which had been put into place thatvery day. The fact that he is greedy for food also suggests that hemay be greedy for power.
During the Battle of the Cowshed, most of the main characters areshown to be fighting in the heat of the battle, including Snowball,Boxer, Clover, Benjamin and Muriel; even …
…inting of his profile.Furthermore, he has a pig called Pinkeye to taste all his food toensure it is not poisoned. Then, he names the windmill ‘Napoleon Mill’and finally, he orders all the animals to file past him as he lies ona heap of straw next to a pile of money. This shows that Napoleon isvain and egotistic. His powerful image as a dictator is used as apowerful means of controlling his subjects.
Napoleon is overall portrayed as having a cunning, vain and greedycharacter. Old Major’s words clearly encouraged Napoleon not to fightagainst tyranny, but to establish himself as a tyrant. His greatestcrime is his complete transformation into a ‘human’, although Napoleonis harsher than Jones ever was. By replacing the name ‘Animal Farm’with ‘Manor Farm’, he shows his total disregard for Old Major’sideals.
