Question

"I'll do anything," he went on, more and more incoherently. "Anything you tell me. There be some sports are painful-you know. But their labour delight in them sets off. That's what I feel. I mean I'd sweep the floor if you wanted."
"But we've got vacuum cleaners here," said Lenina in bewilderment. "It isn't necessary."
"No, of course it isn't necessary. But some kinds of baseness are nobly undergone. I'd like to undergo something nobly. Don't you see?"

John quotes Ferdinand from Shakespeare's The Tempest here. What is it John attempts to communicate to Lenina?

Answer 1

In this line of Brave, New World, John uses a quote from The Tempest by William Shakespeare to communicate with Lenina. John talks about how some forms of "baseness" (something that is low, or that lacks merit) are undergone nobly. This means that some actions, even of they are bad or difficult, must be accepted honourably. This points to the idea of sacrificing and enduring difficulties. What John wants Lenina to understand is that he has a desire to make sacrifices or offerings in order to win her love.