Reality vs. Appearance according to Orwell and Machiavelli
These authors have different opinions on the way that ordinary people should be informed of what is going to happen in the everyday life of ordinary citizens. George Orwell's “Politics and the English Language” says that “English is in a bad way” (Orwell 28) because the ruling government wants their citizens to think that by writing and speaking in a deceptive way the ruling class can control what the ordinary people believe is happening to their lives. Niccolo Machiavelli's “The Prince” language says that not only does the ruling class need to control the subjects thinking they also need to mask or hide what is really going by making it hard for the people to understand what the ruling class is saying or doing. Have you ever tried to understand a new law that you are voting on? The language in the “new” law, that the government is trying to pass, is so complex and hard to understand that you have to read 4 or 5 pages of translation and rebuttals because they make the language sound complex so that you can't just read the “new” law and understand what it means to the public. This is done intentionally so that when voting, people will not understand what they are voting for or against. As citizens, the public has the right to know how the language of deception influences the government and media and how it effects today's society.
Orwell states that you need to come to the point quickly without writing words or phrases that imply one idea and mean something else. Using these words or phrases are meant to confuse or hide the true meanings of the statements. Machiavelli writes that confusing statements are what might be necessary to make a bad situation better and not to wo...
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...gainst. At the same time, hasn't that what has happened in the United States recently? There are so many laws being enacted that Americans don't have time to do things that they want to do. How far have we really come since Machiavelli's or Orwell's time? Living in this time, people still don't know what is going on in their own town or State and we still don't really know what the Government or the Media is saying.
Works Cited
(1) Machiavelli, Niccolo “The Prince” English 1A: Section 43199. N.P.:McGraw-Hill, 2013.(18-27). Print.
(2) Orwell, George “Politics and the English Language” English 1A: Section 43199. N.P.:McGraw-Hill, 2013.(28-37). Print.
(3) "Realism, Political." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 7. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 96-97. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
This essay is distinctly about how life experiences alter the way in which your writings travel. The ups and downs of life will determine the perspective you see of your life, in turn, determining how you feel or express yourself. Orwell states, “his subject matter will be determined by the age he lives in – at least this is true in tumultuous, revolutionary ages like our own” (265). This statement proves how writing develops with age and how through different time periods, has evolved. Orwell's essay focuses on the indirect wants.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. Orwell, George. A. A. 1984. The. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1977. Print.
Despite the warnings of Orwell through both his essay and dystopian novel, bad English is still used today, and could be argued to affect more English than it did during Orwell’s life. The consequences are also just as he predicted, those who control the language are able to wield control over the thoughts of others. The usage of poor quality English by media has he effect of making the recipients of news more detached from events and as a consequence, more self-focused. The clumsiness and foolishness imposed by bad English ultimately degrading thought, politics, culture, and society is what Orwell had foretold. This is the English tragedy that is disregarded, modern thoughts of “English” are not of language but of the English Queen.
Works Cited for: Orwell, George. 1984. The 'Standard' of the ' London: Penguin Books, 2008. Print. The.
When examining the totalitarian government of 1984 by George Orwell, a direct connection can be drawn to the motives and ideals associated with Niccoló Machiavelli’s The Prince. Machiavelli’s support of the political necessity as a means to remain in power resonate with the government whose aim is to “extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought” as a way to ensure complete political orthodoxy within the country (193). Specifically, Machiavellian thought plays an important part in 1984 as its ideas on reputation, revolution, avoiding hatred, and the use of fear to control a populace are used by INGSOC in order to maintain complete control throughout the story. In the following paragraphs, the connections between these two works above will be elaborated on in an attempt to show the Machiavellian influence of the government in 1984.
Magill, Frank N. Ed. “Nineteen Eighty-Four” Masterpieces of World Literature. New York NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1989. 582-585. Orwell, George.
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decades, what we call module verbs. These are verbs like can, must, will, shall, etc.…’”’ (Rosen & Arts 1). First, the language used by Orwell’s society recognized as Newspeak, which is just the English language but simpler by cutting out the complicated vocabulary and making up new words that sound childish, is just simply a rubbish or slang version of English. The way they cut out complicated words in English trying to make it simpler resembles how the government’s ruling is not complicated at the least and they try to avoid this factor by being simpler in their ways of carrying out orders or propagandas. By cutting out words from the English language instead of expanding, this resembles an imaginary barrier made of the toughest substances,
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