Furthermore, Napoleon disobeyed and manipulated the commandments which were the base of Animalism, making them favourable to the pigs. These commandments were essential for the development and organization of Animal Farm. This may not be seen as very shocking, but it is. This is because what matters is what the commandments symbolized: justice, equality and order. Although they did not have any value materialistically, they represented Animalism and all those animals that fought for their independence. Napoleon did business with humans when it was strictly against the foundations of Animalism, and by the end started living just like them. Major, who represents Marx, had warned the animals of that this could happen, and that it was not at all a good idea: “Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest...” Jones was kicked out of the farm because they wanted no contact with humans and as the commandments stated “Four legs good, two legs bad”, but why is it that Napoleon was able to interact with humans? The pigs altered the chant to a similar sounding “Four legs good, two legs better”, showing how they abused language to control the lower classes.
Others weren’t treated as badly, but were also mistreated by Napoleon, like the dogs for example. The dogs were Napoleon’s guards, his secret police, causing substantial fear amongst the animals too. However, this wasn’t their fault, as they were brainwashed by Napoleon, who took advantage of their foolishness to strengthen his position in the Animal Farm.
Lying was also common from Napoleon. Snowball, a noble and modest pig, representing Trotsky, a brilliant individual, was the main victim of all the lies Napoleon came up with. Firstly, he convinced the rest of the animals that the windmill’s plans were his and not Snowball’s by stealing them and announcing them as his. The plans, actually, were Snowball’s creation. He them expelled Snowball from the farm and convinced all the animals that everything that went wrong in the farm was Snowball’s fault. A curious point is that Napoleon was against the building of a new windmill when Snowball came up with the idea. He only decided to steam them when the idea was having great success amongst the animals. Once against, we can notice that Napoleon took advantage of the other animals’ naivety to overcome his own obstacles which, in this case, was Snowball, who was a ‘threat’ to Napoleon’s reputation and position. Also, Napoleon used Squealer as his spokesman, who said to the animals that "No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?". Obviously this was a lie, a classic hypocrisy, but Squealer’s statement not only convinced the animals that Napoleon was trying to help the animals but also that they were dependent of him, as they weren’t able to take care of themselves.
As Napoleon was a pig, he gave other pigs priorities, with one condition: they had to serve him with loyalty and pride. The other races were discriminated against and the pigs were attributed, with no legal right, the power to rule. As they stated, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”, which once again was a hypocritical proclamation from the pigs who gave power to their own small elite by abusing logic and language as an instrument of control. This hierarchy was created by Napoleon himself, a hierarchy very similar to the one which was formed in Jones’ era: a leader (Napoleon or Jones), his personal friends (other pigs or Jones’ wife) and the rest of the animals. So there wasn’t really any difference between Napoleon and Jones. The animals had complex memories about life before the revolution, and although it wasn’t that different (maybe it was even better), they thought that at least Napoleon didn’t treat them as Jones used to. Napoleon knew this and therefore took advantage of the animals’ confusion to threaten them with an eventual return of Jones to distort reality.
Napoleon is portrayed as a clear opportunist who shows no interest in the Animal Farm itself. Instead, he cared for the strength of his power it. This is shown in different occasions. Napoleon took credit for the Battle of the Cowshed after Snowball exiled, and when this was questioned, he had Squealer explain to the other animals that they remembered the battle incorrectly. Another time when this happened was when he assumed the training of a few puppies. Instead of educating then for the sake of their own self-actualisation, he educated them for his own good, as they were raised to become his own private army. Napoleon never put the animals’ interest first, which he should have done, especially in some occasions, as their leader.
From all these events it is obvious that it was Orwell’s objective to depict Napoleon as the true villain in this novel. Napoleon can be described as a tyrant, hypocrite and corrupt opportunist; all of which together make him a villain.