Emmanuel Goldstein
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Emmanuel Goldstein is a key character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
In the novel, Goldstein is rumored to be a former top member of the ruling (and sole) Party who had broken away early in the movement and started an organization known as "The Brotherhood", dedicated to the fall of The Party. The novel raises but leaves unanswered the question of whether Goldstein, the "Brotherhood," or even "Big Brother" really exist. It could be said his fabrication by the Party (for use as a scapegoat) is slightly implied by the act of Winston Smith rewriting (he works in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth) Big Brother's Order of the Day so that it praised the actions of completely made-up Comrade Ogilvy, thus making Winston realize how easy it is to pull a person out of thin air in Oceania.[1]
Each member of "The Brotherhood" is required to read the book supposedly written by Goldstein, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. Each person is said to have three or four contacts at one time which are replaced as people disappear, so that if a member is captured, he can only give up three or four others. Goldstein is always the subject of the "Two Minutes Hate," a daily, 2-minute period beginning at 11:00 AM at which some image of Goldstein is shown on the telescreen (a one-channel television with surveillance devices in it that can not be turned off except {possibly} by members of the inner party). It is thought that the opposition to Big Brother—namely, Goldstein—was simply a construction, which ensured that support and devotion towards Big Brother was continuous. It is never revealed whether this is true. In fact, O'Brien adamantly refuses to reveal whether or not The Brotherhood truly exists when asked by Winston in the torture room:
- (Winston) "Does the Brotherhood exist?"
- (O'Brien) "That, Winston, you will never know. If we choose to set you free when we have finished with you, and if you live to be ninety years old, still you will never learn whether the answer to that question is Yes or No. As long as you live it will be an unsolved riddle in your mind."
O'Brien also claims to have collaborated in writing the book himself, which supports the idea that Goldstein was fabricated by the Party.
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[edit] Suggested real-life origins of the character
[edit] Leon Trotsky
Christopher Hitchens writes that the character is based on Leon Trotsky, and that Goldstein's book is likewise based on Trotsky's The Revolution Betrayed. [1].
Orwell wrote of Trotskyism that "the fact that Trotskyists are everywhere a persecuted minority, and that the accusation usually made against them, i. e. of collaborating with the Fascists, is obviously false, creates an impression that Trotskyism is intellectually and morally superior to Communism [ie supporters of Stalin]; but it is doubtful whether there is much difference." [2]
In the "initiation ceremony" into the Brotherhood, as depicted in the book, Winston and Julia are required to swear to complete and unconditional obedience, including taking the obligation to obey such orders as killing hundreds of innocents or pouring acid on a child's face. This suggests that in fact the Brotherhood is as tyrannical and authoritarian as the Party, and that if it ever gained power there would be real little change. This fits with the assumption that the Brotherhood stands for the Trotskyists, whom as shown above Orwell saw as little different fundamentally from the Communists. (Though, to be sure, the "initiation" was administered by O'Brien who is afterwards shown to be a Thought Police agent, and the true Brotherhood - if if exists - might employ a completely different initiation ceremony).
[edit] Religion
The character's name could be a reference to religion (which is banned in the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four), "Emmanuel" (meaning "God with us" in Hebrew), and "Goldstein" being a typically Jewish surname (Trotsky was of Jewish descent).
[edit] Emma Goldman
The website Newspeak Dictionary speculates that the name is a masculinized version of that of the female anarchist Emma Goldman.
[edit] Emanuel Goldstein
Another possible source of inspiration for Orwell's Goldstein was the poet Emanuel Goldstein. A radical, Goldstein was friends with Norwegian painter Edvard Munch among others, and little else is known of him or his work.
[edit] Satan
In a religious context, Emmanuel can be used as a representation of Satan, making of course, Big Brother a representation of God. He shares many characteristics with Beelzebub, the most obvious being the original rebel, the one who questioned authority. Goldstein is often compared to a goat in appearance, while Satan is often said to have the lower body of a goat. Also, he has a small, possibly mythical, following who can be accused of various crime or heresies and "burned at the stake."
Far more significantly, however, Goldstein represents the bogeyman used by all regimes to represent the "them" who are against "us".
[edit] In popular culture
In recent years, the name Emmanuel Goldstein, in reference to this character, has been taken as a pseudonym by Eric Gordon Corley, editor of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.
The name was also used in the 1995 film Hackers as the given name of a character known as "Cereal Killer."
[edit] Notes
- ^ Orwell, G: "1984.", pages 41-43. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1949
| Characters | Winston Smith | Julia | O'Brien | Big Brother | Emmanuel Goldstein |
|---|---|
| Places | Oceania | Eastasia | Eurasia | Airstrip One | Room 101 |
| Classes | Inner Party | Outer Party | Proles |
| Ministries | Ministry of Love | Ministry of Peace | Ministry of Plenty | Ministry of Truth |
| Concepts | Ingsoc | Newspeak (wordlist) | Doublethink | Goodthink | Crimestop Two plus two make five | Thoughtcrime | Prolefeed | Prolesec |
| Miscellaneous | Thought Police | Telescreen | Memory hole | Goldstein's book Two Minutes Hate | Hate week |
| Adaptations | 1956 film | 1984 film | 1953 US TV | 1954 BBC programme | Opera |
| Influence | Nineteen Eighty-Four in popular media Parody: Me and the Big Guy |
