Napoleon is the main villain of Animal Farm, “A large, rather fierce looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way”, an allegory of Stalin. He begins gradually to build up his power by taking Jessie and Bluebell’s newborn puppies and training them to be vicious attack dogs to guard him.
After driving Snowball away and off the farm, Napoleon uses full power by using false propaganda through Squealer and threats to all the other animals. He will command his guard dogs to kill them if they don’t confess that they were on Snowball’s side. Among the other animals, Napoleon changes the commandments for his benefit to gain power.
Throughout the story, Napoleon didn’t have any interest in Snowball, “Napoleon took no interest in Snowball's committees. He said that the education of the young was more important than anything that could be done for those who were already grown up.”
The three pigs in the story show that they do nothing to the farm, they only direct the animals and that’s it, “The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others”.
Snowball is Napoleon’s rival and is the original head of the farm after Jones’ overthrow. Snowball is mainly based on Leon Trotsky; Old major represents Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx. He wins over most of the animals and gains their trust by leading a very successful first harvest. But Snowball is driven out of the farm by Napoleon. Snowball genuinely works for the good of the farm and the animals, and devises plans to help the animals achieve their best, but Napoleon and his dogs eventually chase him from the farm.
After Snowball was gone, Napoleon spreads rumours to make him seem evil and corrupt; “They dashed straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws. In a moment he was out of the door and they were after him.
Too amazed and frightened to speak, all the animals crowded through the door to watch the chase. Snowball was racing across the long pasture that led to the road”
When Snowball was gone for good, Napoleon tried to claim that Snowball had secretly sabotaged the animal’s efforts to improve the farm, and that he was on Mr Jones’ side as a secret agent working for him. However there is proof thought the story that shows Snowball did fight for the animals, also in the battle of the cow shed he was shot in the back and still carried on fighting for Animal Farm,
Then, when he had power he started to change little things, like he stopped Sunday-morning meetings “He announced that from now on the Sunday-morning Meetings would come to an end. They were unnecessary, he said, and wasted time”. Napoleon then started to break and change the rules of the farm “It was also more suited to the dignity of the Leader (for of late he had taken to speaking of Napoleon under the title of (“Leader") to live in a house than in a mere sty”.
In chapter 7, the pigs told the hens that they must surrender their eggs. Napoleon agreed on this and was fine with the decision since he had all the power in the farm, “One Sunday morning Squealer announced that the hens, who had just come in to lay again, must surrender their eggs. Napoleon had accepted, through Whymper, a contract for four hundred eggs a week”. This shows Napoleon still carrying on, using all his power to gain more and more till the animals will bow down to him.
It is not always beneficial for all when some people gain total power. In the wrong hands it can make them corrupt. In this case, Napoleon abused the power that he gained and neglected the animals.
Conclusion:
George Orwell tried to get across to the world how the Russian rulers (mostly Stalin and Trotsky) abused their power by being selfish and cruel (represented by Napoleon). His goal in writing in Animal Farm was to speak out against Russian Communism, and tell the world that the rulers of Russia were ruling unacceptably cruelly, exactly how Napoleon decided to treat all the animals (mostly Snowball) in Animal Farm.
George Orwell was telling the people of Russia that they did not have to put up with the cruel leaders and they could change the leaders. It was not communism that was wrong, but the people in charge. They became cruel and obsessed with power which is similar of what Napoleon did when he got power.
