Jesus Of England

Jesus of England

The detailed depictions of assault, rape and murder in A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess led to the censorship of a movie bearing the same title, and led the American Film Institute to name the protagonist, Alex, the 12th greatest villain in the last 100 years of American film. However, this designation is ironic because Burgess presents Alex as a figure representative of perhaps the greatest hero of all time: Jesus Christ. Burgess gradually strengthens this connection throughout the novel. At the beginning of the book, the reader quickly learns that Alex has a group of followers similar to Jesus’ disciples and that the two leaders occasionally teach the same lessons. Later, Alex refers to himself the same way a prayer mentions Jesus. Both leaders eventually fall to the same fate; they end up betrayed by one of their followers and teased, beaten and spat on after the police capture them. Once in prison, a reluctant authority figure grudgingly approves each of their final punishments. While both Jesus and Alex initially express desire to abide by their penalties, they both express doubt directly before receiving the punishments. Lastly, Jesus and Alex both escape their sentences, which were supposed to be permanent, in exactly three days. By linking the two men throughout the book in a multitude of ways, Burgess sets up one final correlation between the two. Other characters in each story expect Alex and Jesus to save people. The bible says that Jesus is supposed to save the world from sin. While (practicing) Christians believe he succeeded, there is no way to prove whether Jesus’ death truly redeemed everyone. However, it is relatively easy to show that Alex failed to save those he was intended to save. The rebels want him to overthrow the government and save the population from oppressive rule, but he ends the book as an ally of the Minister of the Interior and, by extension, the regime. Alex realizes that he cannot even save his own son from the cycle of violence that consumes the society. By linking Alex and Jesus and showing Alex’s failure to save anyone whom he or others wanted him to save, Burgess implies that Jesus failed in a similar manner, not truly saving anyone.

The first link between Jesus and Alex is that they both have a group of followers, and use the same analogy to describe their relationship with the group. Before he was crucified, Jesus gathered his disciples and referred to scripture containing an analogy: “Then Jesus said to [his disciples], �You will all lose faith in me this night, for the scripture says: I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Matthew 26:31). In this analogy, Jesus is the shepherd and his disciples are the sheep. Jesus is the leader, though he will not say so directly. Alex also views himself as a leader. After winning the fight against George and Dim, Alex says, “So they knew now who was master and leader, sheep, thought I” (55). Alex thinks of the others in his group as sheep, the same way Jesus did. For Jesus, the sheep would scatter without him; for Alex, the sheep need a master and leader. Not only do Jesus and Alex both have a group of followers, but they both refer to their followers as sheep, expressing a similar relationship with them.

Part of the relationship Alex and Jesus have with their followers is teaching, and both Jesus and Alex teach the same lesson at times. While preaching to a large crowd, Jesus says, “How happy are you who are poor; yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). Jesus is promoting being content with what one has, saying that the poor will receive the kingdom of God, presumably because of the virtue of their lifestyle. Similarly, when Alex’s followers want more money, Alex responds, “вЂ?And what will you do,’ I said, вЂ?with the big big big deng or money as you so highfaluting call it? Have you not every veshch you need?вЂ™Ð²Ð‚Ñœ (52). Alex, though he has no moral qualms about stealing, sees no reason to attain more than one needs. Both Jesus and Alex teach their followers to be content with what they have and not strive for material goods.

Along with teaching similarly, Alex refers to himself in a way similar to the way the Hail Mary mentions Jesus. The prayer calls Jesus “the fruit of thy womb.” Because he is Mary’s only son and someone whom many people idolize, the prayer gives him this complimentary title. Alex bestows such a description on himself after talking with his parents: “Mum gave me a tired like little smeck, to thee fruit of my womb my only son, sort of” (48). Alex interprets his mother’s “smeck” as bestowing him with the title given to Jesus, “sort of.” He interprets a simple kiss as expressing the same relationship between his mother and him as between Mary and Jesus. Using the specific words “fruit of my womb” has a biblical implication that reinforces the link between Alex and Jesus.

Another link between the two is that one member of their respective groups betrays Jesus and Alex. Jesus’ betrayer was Judas: “Judas the traitor knew the place well, since Jesus had often met his disciples there, and he brought the cohort to this place with a detachment of guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees, all with lanterns and torches and weapons.” (John 18:2). Judas puts Jesus in a vulnerable position by bringing the police to him. However, Judas’ action was ultimately responsible for Jesus capture. For Alex, Dim plays the role of Judas after Alex exits the house he robbed alone: “Dim said, “You stay to meet the [millicents] huh huh huh,’ and then I viddied that he had his oozy out, and then he upped with it and it snaked whishhhhh and he chained me gentle and artistic on the glazlids, me just closing them up in time” (64). Dim puts Alex in a vulnerable position by harming him when Dim knows the “millicents” are coming. However, Alex would have likely escaped if it were not for Dim’s action. Therefore, police capture both Jesus and Alex because of the betrayal of one person in their group.

Once the police capture Jesus and Alex, they tease and beat each of them. After marching back to the common hall, Jesus’ captors “gathered unto him the whole band [of soldiers]. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put [it] upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed