The Life of Galileo

by

Bertolt Brecht

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The Life of Galileo Symbols

Apples

Galileo uses apples as a demonstrative aid in his lessons and as a symbol of forbidden knowledge. While teaching Andrea about Copernicus’ model of the universe, Galileo uses an apple to represent the Earth. After…

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The Proving Stone

Much like apples, Galileo uses stones as a teaching tool. But where the apples represent forbidden truth, stones represent widely accepted knowledge that’s wrong. Galileo uses stones most often as an attack on those…

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Fire

Fire, flame, and burning are a constant presence within Life of Galileo. The reason is fairly obvious: Galileo fears being burned at the stake for his beliefs. Giordana Bruno (who is alluded to, but…

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