Nineteen Eighty-Four

Shirley Stelfox

John Hurt

Richard Burton

Suzanna Hamilton

Cyril Cusack

Gregor Fisher

James Walker

Andrew Wilde

David Trevena

David Cann

Anthony Benson

Peter Frye

Roger Lloyd Pack

Rupert Baderman

Corinna Seddon

Martha Parsey

Merelina Kendall

P.J. Nicholas

Lynne Radford

Pip Donaghy

Janet Key

Hugh Walters

John Hughes

Robert Putt

Christine Hargreaves

Garry Cooper

Matthew Scurfield

John Golightly

Rolf Saxon

Ole Oldendorp

Eddie Stacey

Norman Bacon

John Foss

Carey Wilson

Mitzi McKenzie

Phyllis Logan

Pam Gems

Joscik Barbarossa

John Boswall

Bob Flag

Annie Lennox

Lucien Morgan

Michael Munn

Fred Wood

What is the significance of NewSpeak?

NewSpeak is a language being developed by the Party during the events of 1984. It is based on English, but is heavily simplified, removing both synonyms and antonyms: brilliant, amazing, wonderful, fantastic, awful, terrible, horrible and many others are condensed into good, plusgood, doubleplusgood, ungood, plusungood, and doubleplusungood. NewSpeak is discussed more in the book than the film, and its role is the narrow the range of thought. As thought can only happen with words, fewer words with simpler meanings and less of a range produce more concise thoughts, allowing the Party to have more control over its members.

What is a Proletariat?

Latin: proletarius, is the lowest of a societies class order. It was first meant to mean someone who had no wealth apart from the sons they bore, until Karl Marx used it as a sociological term to refer to the working class. The scope of the term was further narrowed when V.I. Lenin and his followers used it to refer specifically to poor factory laborers, poor agricultural laborers being referred to as bednyaks. The 'Proles' are everyone who is not a member of the Party. They don't follow its customs, are not overshadowed by telescreens, and are free of Big Brother. They are given the same care and attention as animals. Winston believes this freedom could allow them to revolt against the Party.

What is the significance of the "Oranges and Lemons" poem?

"Oranges and Lemons" is an English nursery rhyme. It consists of a semi-nonsensical conversation between the bells of various London churches. In the novel, Winston reconstructs it by hearing fragments from various Londoners. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, it serves as an example of the eradication of shared culture, and is foreshadowed as being lost forever after the final few people who remember it die."Oranges and lemons," Say the bells of St. Clement's. "You owe me five farthings," Say the bells of St. Martin's. "When will you pay me?" Say the bells of Old Bailey. "When I grow rich," Say the bells of Shoreditch. Here comes a candle to light you to bed, And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!