The Seven Commandments on the wall

The Seven Commandments on the wall are the foundational legal code of Animal Farm, inscribed by the pigs after the Rebellion to codify the principles of Animalism into an unalterable law. Over the course of the novel, they are repeatedly and surreptitiously amended by the ruling pigs to justify their own privileges and violent repression, culminating in their reduction to a single, paradoxical maxim that declares all animals equal but some more equal than others, thereby exposing the complete betrayal of the revolution's ideals.

Inscription and Original Principles

Shortly after the expulsion of Mr. Jones, the pigs revealed that they had taught themselves to read and write from an old spelling book. Snowball, the most literate pig, climbed a ladder set against the end wall of the big barn and, with Squealer holding the paint-pot below, inscribed the Seven Commandments on the tarred wall in great white letters that could be read thirty yards away. The original commandments were: 1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. 3. No animal shall wear clothes. 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed. 5. No animal shall drink alcohol. 6. No animal shall kill any other animal. 7. All animals are equal. The writing was very neat, though "friend" was misspelled "freind" and one of the "S's" was the wrong way round. Snowball read the commandments aloud, and all the animals nodded in complete agreement; the cleverer ones at once began to learn them by heart. The commandments were intended to form an unalterable law by which all the animals on Animal Farm must live forever after.

First Alterations: The Bed and the Sheets

The first modification of the commandments occurred when the pigs moved into the farmhouse and began sleeping in the beds. Clover, who thought she remembered a definite ruling against beds, fetched Muriel to read the Fourth Commandment. Muriel spelled it out and announced, "It says, 'No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.'" Clover had not remembered that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets, but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so. Squealer, passing by with two or three dogs, explained that a bed merely meant a place to sleep in, and that the rule was against sheets, which were a human invention; the pigs had removed the sheets and slept between blankets. The animals accepted this explanation, and no more was said about the pigs sleeping in the farmhouse beds.

Further Amendments: Killing and Drinking

After the executions of the animals accused of being Snowball's secret agents, some animals remembered—or thought they remembered—that the Sixth Commandment decreed "No animal shall kill any other animal." Clover asked Benjamin to read it, but he refused; she then fetched Muriel, who read the commandment as: "No animal shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE." Somehow the last two words had slipped out of the animals' memory, but they now saw that the commandment had not been violated, for clearly there was good reason for killing the traitors who had leagued themselves with Snowball. Later, after the pigs had drunk whisky and Napoleon was seen wearing Mr. Jones's bowler hat, Muriel noticed yet another forgotten amendment. The Fifth Commandment, which the animals had thought was "No animal shall drink alcohol," actually read: "No animal shall drink alcohol TO EXCESS." The animals had remembered it wrong, and the two missing words justified the pigs' drinking.

The Final Transformation: A Single Commandment

In the final chapter, after the pigs had begun walking on their hind legs and carrying whips, Clover, her eyes dim with age, led Benjamin to the end of the big barn where the Seven Commandments were written. She asked him to read what was on the wall, for it appeared to her that the wall looked different. For once, Benjamin consented to break his rule of silence and read out what was written. There was nothing there now except a single commandment: "ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS." This final, paradoxical maxim encapsulated the complete subversion of the original revolutionary ideals. The commandments, which had once been the unalterable law of a free and equal animal society, had been progressively eroded and finally replaced by a slogan that enshrined the pigs' absolute supremacy. The wall that had borne the Seven Commandments now bore only the justification for tyranny.