Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange is filled with a rich and varied musical presence. Alex, the protagonist’s love of classical music gives life to his character and makes him more interesting. The novel’s music can also be used as a metaphor for high culture and counterbalanced by Alex’s violent, antisocial ways. The novel’s most violent scenes are set to music by various Romantic- and Classical-era composers. This creates jarring moments that provide a wealth of hermeneutic possibilities. Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 adaptation is a movie known for its violence depiction and for its faithfulness towards its source material. It features a score that is reflective of the novel’s musical disposition. However, it uses Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as a narrative catalyst. I will be examining Burgess’s novel along with Kubrick’s movie adaptation. I will explain how music is used in these works in similar and different ways. Also, I’ll bring into focus aspects that relate to film, music, or literature. Burgess in an article entitled “Music and Literature,” states that music can be used as both a critical and illustrative tool. Burgess draws upon his musical experience and musical inspirations to enrich his explorations of morality. The music is played in various settings at different points in Alex’s narrative. When he is in a state of rumination, it is playing. The novel opens with him listening to Bach, while he contemplates his actions and the “droogs” of the day before.
It was about A Clockwork Orange. Listening carefully to J.S. As I listened to J.S. (38)
The music in this instance seems to have brought Alex to realization. It acts as an obvious and crucial mechanism in the narrative. It unlocks the supposed meaning of A Clockwork Orange, the title of his novel-in-progress. This illuminates what will return later as an important thematic element. In the final section, where the controversy is most prominent, the sounds from Beethoven’s Ninth appear to trigger Alex’s “tigers”, causing him to rape two 10-year-old girls.
I then pulled out the Ninth from its sleeves, so Ludwig van was now nagoy [naked] as well. The needle started hissing to the final movement, which was pure bliss. The bass strings started to govoreeting under my bed at other musicians… and then came the sweet blissful tune all about Joy. After that, I felt the old-tigers leap in and I then leapt on the two young ptitsas. (50-51)
Alex has a curious relationship with Beethoven through his animalistic sensibility. In taking the ninth out of Beethoven’s sleeve, Alex has made the music reflect his nakedness. Burgess is taking the music — a music that is usually associated with an order and elegance — and literally debasing its content in an attempt at alarming readers. Galia Haynoch-Roe pointed out that Burgess was a composer and sought to shock readers using the music as a catalyst for extreme psychopathic behaviour. As the second act progresses, however, it becomes clear that music has both a critical and an illustrative role. Alex’s central theme, the Ludovico procedure, is characterized by a painful side effect. He cannot listen to classical music and suffers from severe and debilitating symptoms. This treatment causes the subject to experience a severe sickness when exposed to sexual or physical violence. Burgess uses the idea to explore important questions about autonomy. A criminal who is subject to the Ludovico procedure becomes a robot. Alex is unable to choose because of his “ultraviolence”, which he had previously admired. The last section’s climactic section sees Alex driven by the sounds that he used to love so much to commit suicide.
The music was still blasting through, all brass and drums, and the strings were miles high up through the wall… Finally, I got to the sill and the music started to blast away to my right. I shut the glazzies. I then jumped. (188)
This side effect has been described by one doctor as the “punishment factor”; in fact, it is Alex, the political activist who wrote the fictional A Clockwork Orange. Alex was raped and murdered by his wife. Burgess frames Ludovico’s moral pitfalls with music. The side effect of choosing not to be removed is fatal. To frame the protagonist’s fate, Burgess uses powerful music descriptions, including verbs like “pouring”, “blasting”, and other verbs that refer to music. While Beethoven’s Ninth was able to stir his psychopathic tendencies before, Otto Skadelig’s “gromky and brutal” music now awakens an entirely different kind of animal. Alex suffers the consequences of his excessive violence, just as Beethoven and other musicians did before. In the end, music is used to help frame the essential idea that the removal or replacement of a problem does not replace it. Alex protests during the Ludovico procedure.
Do I look like a dog or an animal? … Or am I simply to look like a clock-work Orange?
It is interesting that the Alex treatment before and after Ludovico are tied together by the theme animalism. This idea is interwoven by music. Music acts as a catalyst and induces the depression and stunting of physical sickness in the final section. Moving on to Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic version A Clockwork Orange, I will point out some of its most significant differences from the novel in the way music was used thematically. Kubrick preferred Beethoven’s Ninth for the adaptation over using different compositions all throughout. This gives the work a unique thematic prominence. Hanoch-Roe clearly explains this in her article, “Beethoven’s ninth: An ‘Ode of Choice’ as presented in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange”.
Contrary to some films where the music is an integral part of the plot and expresses and magnifies the emotional intensity and dramatic developments, here the music serves as a commentator and follows the plot closely. It almost becomes a protagonist within the film.
This is why music in films plays a more prominent role than in novels. Partly, this can be attributed to cinema’s unique medium. Cinema, which includes both audiovisual and video elements, has a greater influence on the audience than books that only have a printed description. Kubrick adapts the novel to make it more accessible on the screen by acknowledging the significance of music and translating it into a compelling story. Hanoch Roe explains that the Ninth is played five times in the film. The protagonist listens to it at key moments and often in conjunction with violent acts. The Ludovico method prevents Alex’s listening to Beethoven’s Ninth. Alex attempts suicide by listening to this piece, not the novel. It is worth mentioning the connection between Alex and Beethoven — a concept that was explored in the novel. Visually, Alex’s face is very similar to that of the seminal composer because of his music. In the scene where Alex is made to commit suicide, F. Alexander plays the deadly music from a stereo located below Alex’s room. Kubrick has created this shot to portray the writer as Beethoven. The arrangement in Kubrick’s clothes is like a statuette. As the Ninth’s structure is similar to the film, it has interesting narrative implications. Hanoch-Roe noted that the film’s finale and the symphony’s final act occur simultaneously.
The film’s ending and the symphony are a thrilling celebration of freedom and salvation. This scene corresponds both visually and in reality to the text echoing from the speakers. Alex and the entire orchestra, choir, soloists achieve a sense of release.
Alex has, after his suicide attempt, been healed by the Ludovico treatment. It is now synonymous for Alex’s ability to listen to the music again. This makes it a huge irony that the character’s final catharsis is intensified by the dramatic Ninth movement. This is an example of how the cinematic version uses music in a way that the novel doesn’t: Kubrick masters the narrative technique of playing the structure of a piece progressively with the film’s most important points. The film’s treatment for the theme is perhaps more important than my previous dyad about illustrative or critical use of music within Burgess’ novel. It places it on the exact same level as Alex’s progression and also acts as a Wagnerian liitmotif. The film’s music is more than just illustrative and critical. It is an overriding narrative force. The film’s score contains music that doesn’t make it into the novel. Wendy Carlos composed electronic synthesized musical accompaniments that are sprinkled throughout the film. These were presented non-diegetically to set the scene for the dystopian futuristic setting. Nacio Heb Brown and Arthur Freed sing “Singin’ In The Rain”. Alex sings this song as he attempts to attack the writer and prepares to rape her. However, it is in the third act where he is recognized. This is another example of music’s narrative prominentity, though it is more humorous. However, some musical elements in the novel are lost in the film. This is due to the use of Beethoven and Ninth as almost exclusive sources of diegetic song. The film’s treatment of Alex as a condition against the Ninth, instead of all music in it, may reduce some of what the film’s moral explorations of Ludovico’s effects on the human soul can achieve. The film’s Ninth plays a prominent role in the story, but I think Burgess’s juxtaposition between Alex’s psychological tendencies and the influence of music on him is a little compromised by the Kubrick adaptation. A Clockwork Orange’s music has both filmic and novelic implications. A constant dichotomy exists between culture and violence; music is used to blur that line. Alex’s alignment to classical music is a disturbing character trait, both for the reader and for the audience. Hanoch Roe’s essay is a good example.
Kubrick provokes in the spectator an unease about violence and culture. The authorities of authority… as well as spectators… are shocked to discover a picture…of Beethoven in Alex’s Cell.
This is an area where the novel and film share a lot. Both works aim to subvert music’s role in the cultural umbrella. This is evident in the fact that classical music is used against some of the most violent scenes, but there are other subtle implication. Ludovico, for instance, allows the subject’s integration into society to be swift. It is ironic then how classical music’s cultural sign falls apart. Kubrick uses visual cues to show Alex as a puppet. Hanoch Roe also noted that the cat lady scene in which Alex attacks her using a large phallic sculpt (referred to as an “important work of Art”) is visually depicted. The cat-lady defends itself with a bust Beethoven. This is why it is worth noting the musical energy that A Clockwork Orange’s music has in both these versions. The protagonist’s place in exploration of the implications and freedom of choice is shaped by his musical presence. Burgess makes sure that Alex’s musical connection is always in the forefront. Kubrick’s version utilizes one powerful and overarching work in order to connect with Alex at the pivotal moments of the narrative. The screen adaptation is more successful than the novel in this aspect. Music is not only experienced by Alex but also by the audience. This is because printed media’s limitations on this front make it less effective. A reader may interpret Alex’s words based only on the literary descriptions. These descriptions are powerful but cannot connect with the audience as well as the actual music. Bibliography Burgess. Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian science fiction movie about a teenage boy living in a future society where violence, crime, and freedom of choice are rampant. London: William Heinnemann Ltd (1967). London: Penguin Classics (2001 Burgess. The Wilson Quarterly (1976). Vol. 7, No. 5 (Winter, 1983), pp. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars operated from 1986 to 1997. Stable URL: http://0-www.jstor.org.library.ucc.ie/stable/40257552. Hanoch-Roe, Galia. “Beethoven’s Nineth: An Ode To Choice’ as Presented In Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music. Vol. 33, No. 2 (Dec., 2002), pp. The Croatian Musicological Society is located between 171-179. Stable URL: http://0-www.jstor.org.library.ucc.ie/stable/4149775.
