Brave New World, Post 3 by Moshe Henderson

Moshe Henderson. April 7, 2012. Shakespeare and People's Character. (Chapter 8-13, pages 123-197.)

It excited me to hear the reference “brave new world” from Shakespeare’s The Tempest in this book. It explains the title. John thinks of the modern society his mother talks about to be wondrous just like Miranda felt about the new world of men. John also compares Lenina to Juliet. He is greatly stressed though to find that she is nothing but a whore. This shows the power literature has on our lives. It shapes our views. John thought the society in the Outside World was as romantic as Shakespeare and his mother had told him; he comes to realize that much of romanticism no longer exists and shuts down socially.

Bernard changes dramatically in these last few chapters. He hated society when it mistreated him, but when he gained power in it, he began to enjoy it. He still wanted to change society but only because he liked how it felt to be powerful, not because he wanted to help others like the old him. He is completely selfish like the rest of his society is. It is interesting that although the society claims to work for the greater good of all mankind how it encourages selfishness in its people at a young age. Everyone feels the need to be important in order to fulfill themselves.

I honestly thought there was a sense of true love between Lenina and Bernard in the first few chapters. I had compared there love to the type of “Indiana Jones” love in my previous post. In Indiana Jones though, the girl is always different in the next movie; so it does not surprise me that Bernard and Lenina never built a true emotional relationship. I feel that no one can build a strong relationship in this society. I thought Lenina actually had true feelings for John, but when she just throws herself on him despite his protest, it seems to all just be lust.