Original artwork, not a still
1984 · 1949
Power is not a means; it is an end.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
This is the one line where the villain stops hiding the motive: no ideology, no utopia, only power for its own sake. It makes the novel more frightening than a tale of fanatics. People quote it, in the original comma form, to say that those who seek power only for itself will never give it back.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for 1984Show the scene
In Part Three, Chapter 3, O'Brien tells Winston why the Party seeks power, since the Party's real purpose is the thing Goldstein's book left unsaid. Earlier rulers, he says, pretended they seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, with a paradise round the corner. The Party does not. He then lays out its aim, that the object of persecution is persecution and the object of torture is torture, before asking if Winston now begins to understand him.
Sources (1)
- Nineteen Eighty-Four, full text (Project Gutenberg Australia)Part Three, Chapter 3Reference checked
Context reviewed
