Modified Fifth Commandment: No animal shall drink alcohol to excess

The Fifth Commandment was among the original Seven Commandments inscribed on the tarred wall of the big barn in the early days of Animal Farm. Its wording, 'No animal shall drink alcohol,' derived directly from the prohibitions Old Major had laid out in his foundational speech, where he warned that no animal must 'drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade.' The Commandment was intended to be an unalterable law, a bulwark against the vices of human beings. The simpler animals, unable to learn the full set of Commandments by heart, were taught the reduced maxim 'Four legs good, two legs bad' as a substitute, but the written law remained absolute.

The modification of the Fifth Commandment occurred after a series of events that revealed the pigs' growing hypocrisy. One night, the pigs found a case of whisky in the farmhouse cellars. Loud singing, including strains of the forbidden Beasts of England, was heard, and Napoleon was distinctly seen emerging from the back door wearing an old bowler hat of Mr. Jones's, galloping round the yard before disappearing again. The next morning, Squealer appeared gravely ill and announced that Comrade Napoleon was dying, and as his last act he had decreed that the drinking of alcohol was to be punished by death. But Napoleon recovered, and soon after ordered the purchase of booklets on brewing and distilling. A few days later, a strange incident occurred: a ladder, paint-brush, and overturned pot of white paint were found at the foot of the barn wall where the Commandments were written. Squealer was sprawled nearby, stunned. Soon after, Muriel, reading over the Commandments, discovered that the Fifth Commandment no longer read as the animals remembered. They had thought it said 'No animal shall drink alcohol,' but actually it now read: 'No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.' The last two words had somehow slipped out of the animals' memory.

This modification was part of a systematic pattern of the pigs altering the Commandments to legalize their own behavior. The Fourth Commandment had been similarly changed from 'No animal shall sleep in a bed' to 'No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,' and the Sixth Commandment from 'No animal shall kill any other animal' to 'No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.' Each alteration introduced a loophole that allowed the pigs to enjoy privileges that were originally forbidden. The addition of 'to excess' transformed a clear prohibition into a subjective standard, one that the pigs could interpret as they pleased. It was a classic example of legal manipulation, where the letter of the law was preserved while its spirit was destroyed. The pigs, who had themselves been the ones to paint the Commandments, could now drink alcohol in moderation without violating the written rule.

The modification of the Fifth Commandment was a crucial step in the pigs' transformation into the very human beings they had rebelled against. By the end of the story, the pigs were walking on their hind legs, carrying whips, wearing clothes, drinking alcohol, and sleeping in beds. The final reduction of the Seven Commandments to a single, cynical maxim—'All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others'—was the culmination of this process. The Fifth Commandment's alteration, seemingly minor, was in fact a microcosm of the entire revolution's betrayal. The rule that had once stood as a clear boundary between animal and human was eroded, allowing the pigs to adopt the very habits Old Major had condemned. In the final scene, the pigs and humans were indistinguishable, their faces alike, and the original prohibitions were a distant memory.