Appearances
In America a Prophecy (1793), Orc is described as a threat to the British colonies in America and to society. The angel of Albion sees Orc as an antichrist figure, and Orc views the prince of Albion as a dragon. During the work, Orc has an apocalyptic vision where the empire is destroyed and the oppressors of the world are stopped. Following the vision, Orc is able to get the Americans to rise up in revolution and they begin to attack their oppressors through a mental revolution. In Europe a Prophecy (1794), Orc is connected to the revolution in France but it is Los who calls the people to revolution. In The Song of Los, Orc provokes thought within the second half, "Asia", which unsettles the kings of earth, and Orc is described as raging across Europe. In these continental works, Los and Orc are seen as describing an apocalypse that would result in freedom.
In The Book of Urizen, the African civilization ends along with the third cycle, describing Adam and Eve, ending. Orc, symbolized as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, is cursed. This is followed in The Book of Ahania of a new cycle beginning in Asia, which parallels Exodus. Within the Israeli civilization, an Orc and an Urizen figure battles against each other with Orc representing a pillar of fire that guides the Israelites during the night while Urizen is a pillar of cloud that seeks to mislead them. Urizen is able to win over the Israelites by giving them the ten commandments and moral laws. These commandments are attacked by Orc in America a Prophecy.
Later in Vala, Orc describes the divided aspects of the soul, which, in Blake's mythological system, God has a twofold essence that is capable of good and evil. This idea parallels Blake's personal belief that there was a division within himself. In this later work, Orc is born during the winter solstice and Urizen begins to search for him. Urizen, during this time, becomes witness to the life cycles that Orc is part. When Urizen finally reaches Orc, the view of the Orc cycle is described in a deistic manner, which is opposite to how Blake believed is true. Urizen believes that Orc is connected to chaos and seeks only predictability in life. He sought to do so by creating laws, and mankind would be enslaved under the laws as uniformed individuals. Urizen crucifies Orc, in the form of a serpent, and war spreads over the land.
In The Four Zoas this is over-ridden: there the parents produce the four sons Rintrah, Palambron, Bromion and Theotormon. This is a double-dialectical analysis, rather than an inconsistency as such.
On the other hand Orc is connected to Luvah in The Four Zoas VIII.
Read more about this topic: Orc (Blake)
Famous quotes containing the word appearances:
“What I often forget about students, especially undergraduates, is that surface appearances are misleading. Most of them are at base as conventional as Presbyterian deacons.”
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“The appearances of goodness and merit often meet with a greater reward from the world than goodness and merit themselves.”
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