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The Phoenix and the Turtle
Let the bird of loudest lay,
On the sole Arabian tree,
Herald sad and trumpet be,
To whose sound chaste wings obey.
But thou, shrieking harbinger,
Foul pre-currer of the fiend,
Augur of the fever's end,
To this troop come thou not near.
From this session interdict
Every fowl of tyrant wing,
Save the eagle, feather'd king:
Keep the obsequy so strict.
Let the priest in surplice white,
That defunctive music can,
Be the death-divining swan,
Lest the requiem lack his right.
And thou, treble-dated crow,
That thy sable gender mak'st
With the breath thou giv'st and tak'st,
'Mongst our mourners shalt thou go.
Here the anthem doth commence:
Love and constancy is dead;
Phoenix and the turtle fled
In a mutual flame from hence.
So they lov'd, as love in twain
Had the essence but in one;
Two distincts, division none:
Number there in love was slain.
Hearts remote, yet not asunder;
Distance, and no space was seen
'Twixt the turtle and his queen;
But in them it were a wonder.
So between them love did shine,
That the turtle saw his right
Flaming in the phoenix' sight:
Either was the other's mine.
Property was thus appall'd,
That the self was not the same;
Single nature's double name
Neither two nor one was call'd.
Reason, in itself confounded,
Saw division grow together;
To themselves yet either-neither,
Simple were so well compounded
That it cried how true a twain
Seemeth this concordant one!
Love hath reason, reason none
If what parts can so remain.
Whereupon it made this threne
To the phoenix and the dove,
Co-supreme and stars of love;
As chorus to their tragic scene.
THRENOS.
Beauty, truth, and rarity.
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclos'd in cinders lie.
Death is now the phoenix' nest;
And the turtle's loyal breast
To eternity doth rest,
Leaving no posterity:--
'Twas not their infirmity,
It was married chastity.
Truth may seem, but cannot be:
Beauty brag, but 'tis not she;
Truth and beauty buried be.
To this urn let those repair
That are either true or fair;
For these dead birds sigh a prayer.

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"OH! She doth teach the torches to burn bright.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of the night,
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear, Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear..."

Act I Scene V
Original context: Romeo is in awe of Juliet's beauty and describing it to others.

Reconfigured context: John is reading Romeo and Juliet, and thinks about his attraction to Lenina and how beautiful he thinks she is, she is also a forbidden love figure because the two can't be together in the ways they both want to (163).

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"O thou weed, who are so lovely fair and smell'st so sweet that the sense aches at thee. Was this most goodly book made to write 'whore' upon? Heaven stops the nose at it..." Act 4 Scene 2

Original context: Othello questions if Desdemona had been faithful to him and thinks she is lying when she promises she had been.

Reconfigured context: John professes his love to Lenina, who tries to engage in a strictly sexual relationship with him because they have different ideas of how male-female relationships should look (195).

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"Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?" (3.1 58-61).

Original context: Hamlet is considering whether or not he should commit suicide, whether or not life is worth it, and whether or not his existence may improve if he continues to try.

Reconfigured context: John is talking to Mustapha Mond about society. He states that rather than experiencing pain or handling problems, they simply do away with it entirely (238).

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"Property was thus appall'd,
That the self was not the same;
Single nature's double name
Neither two nor one was call'd
Reason in itself confounded
Saw division grow together..."

Original Context: This poem is about a love affair between a phoenix and a turtle dove. The birds die and there is a funeral for them. They exhibit the ideals of devoted love and a perfect unity.

In Brave New World: John read this Shakespeare poem as an example of its powerful and even scandalous language.  John and Lenina come from different backgrounds and any romantic relationships outside one's own caste was seen as scandalous. (167)

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The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us:
The dark and vicious place where thee he got
Cost him his eyes.
Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true;
The wheel is come full circle: I am here.
King Lear (V, iii)

Original Context: The gods are just, but they also used our vices to punish us, even through their justice. So the wheel of pain and suffering will go around again.

In Brave New World: The quote is used to try and combat the idea that there are no gods. The Controller instead says that the gods may be real, but their code is enacted by man, not by direct divine intervention. (211)

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"Outliving beauty's outward with a mind that doth renew swifter than blood decays"
Troilus and Cressida, Act III. Scene II.
Original Context: Troilus and Cressida love each other (seemingly).  They are separated and Troilus watches Cressida become Diomedes lover.

In Brave New World the quote is used to illustrate how John feels about Lenina (p 174).

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"How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!
O brave new world,
That has such people in it!" (Act V Scene I)

Original Context: Miranda is reacting to seeing new humans at the end of The Tempest. She says this when she finally sees the rest of the men, as previous to this she had only seen her father and Ferdinand, as well as the other spirits.

Reconfigured context: John quotes these lines from The Tempest at multiple points throughout the novel. It can be a way to examine the way his feelings about the World State evolves. As the novel progresses, he dislikes the World State more.

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"If after every tempest came such calms, may the winds blow till they have wakened death." (Act II, Scene I)

Original Context: Othello gave this speech when he was reunited with his love, Desdemona. It was meant to show how happy he was to be back with her.

Reconfigured context: Page 213. John uses this quote as an argument to prove why soma is so bad. Sure, it makes the bad times better for a short while, but, without the bad times it is impossible to see how good the good times really are. Emotions, good and bad, are a necessary component of life. You cannot appreciate one without the other.

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"Is there no pity sitting in the clouds, that sees into the bottom of my grief? O sweet my mother, cast me not away: delay this marriage for a month, a week; or if you do not, make the bridal bed in that dim monument where Tybalt lies."  (Act III, Scene V)

Original context: Capulet and Lady Capulet are trying to get Juliet to marry Paris. Juliet is begging them to delay the wedding. Juliet would rather be in the same tomb as Tybalt forever than marryh Paris.

Reconfigured context: Page 168: John reads this passage to Helmholtz and Helmholtz breaks out laughing. He thinks that having a mother and father is comical, Juliet is foolish for not telling her parents she was having someone else she preferred, and that Tybalt lying dead instead of being cremated into phosphorous was wasteful. John is embarrassed and puts the book away.

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"Eternity was on our lips and eyes" (Act 1, sc. ii)

Orignal Context: Antony was leaving Cleopatra to go back to his wife. She claimed that he said he saw eternity in her. Then she accused him of being a liar and overpraising her because she was not his eternity and he was returning to his wife.

Reconfigured context: Pg: 143 - John wondered why the doctors are giving his mother Linda so much soma because he feels it was detrimental to her health and taking years off her life. John stated that eternity was on our lips and eyes because the drugs given to his mother were taking her back to her happiest moments in life, therefore allowing her to live for eternity.

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"The devil Luxury with his fat rump and potato finger" (13.107-9); "Fry, lechery, fry!"(18.95)

Original context:  Troilus and Cressida love each other, but then Troilus suspects Cressida's fidelity. He spies on her and sees her flirting with another man, and Troilus' companion goes on a rant against lechery and Cressida.

Reconfigured context: Read John Savage and Lenina for Troilus and Cressida. Luxury means lust or appetite for a wide range of things. Throughout the novel, Huxley plays with the concept of pleasure/pain outlined by Freud. Is love pleasure or pain? Sensual or platonic? Would it be the same if there never were any difficulties in the way (as in the case of most relationships in the World State)? Is asceticism and complete denial of the body better? (John whipping himself and living like a hermit).