Expository Essay: 1984 and Dover Beach - Literary Comparison

This expository essay compares and contrasts George Orwell's novel '1984' and Matthew Arnold's poem 'Dover Beach,' both set in England but in different time periods. The essay explores the themes of society, religion, science, and technology. '1984' depicts a dystopian society controlled by a totalitarian government and the surveillance of its citizens, drawing parallels to religious extremism and the abuse of technology. 'Dover Beach' reflects on the loss of religious faith due to scientific advances. The essay analyzes the authors' differing perspectives on religion and science, highlighting the impact of scientific and economic developments on society. The comparison focuses on how both literary works reflect the context of their time, with Orwell's work highlighting the peak of scientific discoveries and inventions, and Arnold's work reflecting on the advent of modern scientific discoveries.

Running head: EXPOSITORY ESSAY
EXPOSITORY ESSAY
Name of the Student
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Author Note

1EXPOSITORY ESSAY
The novel ‘1984’ written by George Orwell is set in the year 1984 in the city of London,
which is known as ‘Airstrip One’ in the literary piece. The poem ‘Dover Beach’ written by
Matthew Arnold is set in England as well, centring on the cliffs of Dover, located in the
southeastern part of the country. Both of them speak of society, one in the real world and the
other in the fictional alternate reality in the two pieces. This essay analyses society and economy
referred to in the poem and the dystopian world that Orwell describes, attempting to establish a
connection between the two in terms of religion, and scientific advances and technology.
The novel ‘1984’ describes a repressive society where an individual’s personal freedom
of thought, action and expression or otherwise are controlled by a totalitarian government. This
government is headed by a omnipresent figure called ‘Big Brother’ and the image of a
moustachioed picture of this Big Brother keeps appearing everywhere, with the line ‘Big Brother
is watching you’ written below. The public is surveilled through telescreens and language is
controlled from its very inception where thinking of individualistic ideas are also considered as
crimes against the state, the worst kind. The conditions stated here could be viewed from a
religious perspective. The authoritarian government could be seen as a metaphor for religion, the
constant discouragement of free thinking, the encouragement towards complete surrender – both
physically and mentally, to the higher power. The ever-present Big Brother could be seen as an
imagery of God, whose actual existence is questioned in the novel. This power of controlling the
masses is perpetuated through the development in science and scientific gadgets like the
telescreens. The character of Emmanuel Goldstein, the primary enemy of the Party in the novel,
can be viewed as the Devil or the fallen angel.
The poem ‘Dover Beach’ talks about the effect that science had had on religion. The
poem opens with a scene of the poet standing on the cliffs of Dover when he is reminded of the

2EXPOSITORY ESSAY
change in perspective that human beings have gone through due to the scientific advances that
have taken place in the recent past. The theme of religious uncertainty can be seen as the
overriding theme in the poem. The poet laments the loss of faith in the Christian religion and
God that is seen in people, which had previously been universal in the nation. The poem states
that the people who are ignorant towards their faith have no real direction left in life anymore.
the poem presents the conflict that exists between the heart and the head. The poet, Matthew
Arnold believes that Christianity is dead. The author arrived at this conclusion in the midst of the
intellectual trends such as criticism of the Bible and the historical concerns about God, especially
Jesus Christ, which began in the mid-Victorian age, due to the new advances that were seen in
the fields of science and biology.
Both the literary works mentioned here are situated in the same country but in different
periods of time, ‘Dover Beach’ in 1867 and ‘1984’ in 1949. They denote different centuries in
the time frame of human history but are concerned with similar ideologies. The former speaks of
the loss of faith of people as the world shifted into a more scientifically aware time and
questioned the Christian religion and thereby, according to the poet, lost the connection humans
once had with nature. The latter on the other hand spoke of the authoritarian rule of religion and
the fear imposed upon people of being continually surveilled and being under the watchful eye of
a supposedly real God-like figure. Arnold is disappointed at seeing humankind lose faith in their
religion and God and believes that a godless society is doomed to be directionless. He believes
that science and its discoveries and inventions are the real causes behind such a predicament. The
poet speaks of the real world and the then current situation of the country of England. George
Orwell in ‘1984’ describes the fictional dystopian society, which is under control of the Party
headed by the moustachioed man known as Big Brother. This figure is seen in posters and

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telescreens all across the city of London, with the belief that he can see everything that a person
is doing or thinking. This could pose as a metaphor of religious extremism where complete
surrender of the mind and body of an individual is mandatory. This authority goes as far as
condemning a person to severe torture if he or she even conceives an idea that barely resembles
rebellion in any way by the authorities. The use of technology is looked down upon in this text,
as it is used to monitor and spy on people throughout the day. Therefore, on comparing these two
texts, the context that could be taken into account is religious ideology. Yet the authors of these
two literary works share very different views on the topic. One believes that religion is necessary
in order to keep human beings from straying away from their morals and servitude, whereas the
other comes to despise the complete control it yields over society. Economic development brings
forth scientific developments. Again, in this case, Arnold blames science for pushing humans
off-track from their religious minds and Orwell speaks of a world where science and technology
is used against human beings in order to rob them of their fundamental rights.
Therefore, to conclude this essay, the comparison that is drawn from the two literary texts
is based on the depiction of religion seen in different contexts. The use of technology and science
has also been brought into context and both authors share a similar outlook towards science, only
that one piece was written at the advent of modern scientific discoveries and the other was
written in a time where such discoveries and inventions were reaching its peak, namely, the
World Wars. These outlooks speak of the time in which they were written in many ways, and
therefore are justified in their depiction.