No animal shall drink alcohol to excess

The Fifth Commandment, one of the Seven Commandments inscribed on the end wall of the big barn after the Rebellion, originally read "No animal shall drink alcohol." This prohibition was part of the pigs' codification of Old Major's teachings, which explicitly forbade the adoption of human vices. The commandment was written in great white letters that could be read thirty yards away, and the animals learned it by heart as an unalterable law. However, the commandment was later surreptitiously amended, a change that reflected the pigs' growing hypocrisy and the erosion of the revolution's principles.

Origin and Early Enforcement

The prohibition against alcohol was established from the very beginning of Animal Farm. When the pigs first formulated the Seven Commandments, they included "No animal shall drink alcohol" as the fifth rule, alongside other bans on wearing clothes, sleeping in beds, and killing other animals. The animals accepted these commandments as the foundation of their new society, believing they would prevent a return to human tyranny. The pigs themselves, including Snowball and Napoleon, initially upheld this rule, and the commandment was memorized by all the animals.

The Whisky Incident and the Commandment's Revision

The turning point came after the Battle of the Windmill, when the pigs discovered a case of whisky in the cellars of the farmhouse. That night, loud singing was heard from the farmhouse, and Napoleon was seen emerging from the back door wearing an old bowler hat of Mr. Jones's, galloping around the yard before disappearing indoors. The next morning, Squealer appeared ill and announced that Napoleon was dying. As his last act, Napoleon supposedly decreed that drinking alcohol was to be punished by death. However, Napoleon recovered, and a week later he ordered the small paddock beyond the orchard to be ploughed up and sown with barley. Soon after, a strange incident occurred: a ladder, a paint-brush, and an overturned pot of white paint were found at the foot of the wall where the Seven Commandments were written, with Squealer sprawled beside them. Muriel later discovered that the Fifth Commandment had been altered. It now read: "No animal shall drink alcohol TO EXCESS." The animals had forgotten the last two words, but the change was now visible on the wall.

Consequences and Significance

The amendment of the Fifth Commandment was part of a pattern of systematic revision of the Seven Commandments. Earlier, the Fourth Commandment had been altered to "No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets," and the Sixth Commandment had been changed to "No animal shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE." Each revision allowed the pigs to violate the original principles while maintaining the appearance of legality. The alteration of the alcohol prohibition directly enabled the pigs' indulgence in whisky and beer, which became a regular privilege. Napoleon himself received a daily ration of half a gallon of beer, served in the Crown Derby soup tureen, while other pigs received a pint each. The pigs also began brewing barley, and the small paddock was sown with barley for this purpose. The revision of the Fifth Commandment thus symbolized the pigs' complete abandonment of the revolution's ideals, as they adopted the very human vices they had once condemned. The commandment's final form, with its qualifying phrase "to excess," became a tool for justifying any behavior, as the pigs could always claim they were not exceeding some undefined limit. This pattern of linguistic manipulation culminated in the ultimate revision of the Seventh Commandment, which became "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." The Fifth Commandment's alteration was a crucial step in the pigs' transformation from revolutionary leaders into a new ruling class, indistinguishable from the humans they had overthrown.