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Examples Of Allusions In Brave New World

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Within Brave New World, Adolus Huxley uses allusions to outside works of literature to enhance the message of the novel. Shakespeare’s Othello, The Tempest, and Macbeth are referenced directly by John, who relates to the play’s characters throughout the novel while trying to find his place in the new society. John continually quotes the naive character Miranda from The Tempest who, like him, ends up being gravely disappointed by the New World. Through Othello, John expresses his shock towards the sexual norms of the New World society and the lack of love and commitment, highlighting him as an outcast. Lastly, through Macbeth, John references the pointlessness of life as he comes to the realization that the Brave New World is hostile and miserable. …show more content…

John and Othello are both rejected from their societies, Othello is a black man in a predominantly white society while John fits in neither in the Savage nor the New World. Similarly, John is in love with Lenina like Othello is with Desdemona, though their own expectations of love end up destroying their relationships. Othello is a military general in Italy who is held below the others in his society because of the color of his skin. He falls in love with the beautiful Desdemona but fears that he is undeserving of her love because of how society had portrayed him all of his life. Though Othello had defied all odds to marry Desdemona, he begins to feed into his insecurities and, out of jealousy, he suspects his wife of being unfaithful and says, “Was this fair paper, this most goodly book, made to write 'whore' upon?” (IV. ii. 82-83). This is similar to John who at first sees himself as unworthy to love Lenina but, having been accustomed to the tradition of love and marriage, is shocked by the fact that she seems to only be interested in sex. Following his confession and proposal toward Lenina, which she interprets as him being open to having sex with her, John has a violent outburst and says “Get out of my sight or I’ll kill you” (Huxley 194). Because John was truly in love with Lenina, he is filled with rage as he realizes that she mindlessly follows the sexual norms of the New World society, making her incapable of commitment. This is like Othello's outburst of anger towards Desdemona who he kills towards the end of the play because he believed she was disloyal and could never love a man like him. Throughout Brave New World, John takes after Othello’s rigid views of adultery and applies them to Lenina, who epitomizes the sexual traditions of the Brave New World Society that he views so heavily with

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