Brave New World

Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World was written to portray an imminent vision of society. It reflects a time when the world is governed by the elite few who use domination and tyranny to control the masses. Many would argue that the novel was based upon mere science fiction and others would contest that there was a more profound meaning on the level of a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy. I would propose that Brave New World was a combination of both science fiction and a tragedy.

On the surface the book is palpably full of science fiction. The story is set in a London six hundred years in the future. People all around the world are part of a totalitarian state, free from poverty, war, hate, disease, and pain. A website on the novel states that "ridding of religion and morals, and allowing sex and drugs without remorse makes this happiness." ("Brave New World Summary" 100.) In order to maintain such an efficiently managed society, the ten people in charge of the world, the "Controllers", eradicate most forms of independence and manipulate many conventionally held human ideals. Consistency and advancement are valued above anything else. The Controllers produce human beings in factories, using technology to make ninety-six people from the same fertilized egg and to condition them for their imminent lives. Children are brought up together in the same space and subjected to mind control by teaching them in their sleep so they can be further conditioned. From a scientific view, the conditioning process is excellent; it allows for a race of specific humans to carry out individual responsibilities. The detailed manipulation of the genes allows for almost any mixture of strengths, or weaknesses; whichever is needed. It gets rid of the process of natural evolution, and allows for the customization of the human race. The book Contemporary Literary Criticism backs up the argument that the novel is a complete fantasy. "Second, Brave New World is wholly a fantasy (that is unverifiable time and devices are integral to the novel) but not wholly satiric" (Schmeil 256).

Although science fiction was undoubtedly an important aspect of the novel, I think that tragedy was an essential part as well. In the novel, Huxley venerates the stupidity of the average citizen of the world state by exposing their ignorance to Shakespeare.

Our world is not the same as Othello's world... You can't make tragedies