Tempest vs. Utopia Duality between Nature and Society



Tempest vs. Utopia Duality between Nature and Society

Introduction

One of the essential themes of the Tempest is the duality between nature and society. This is made evident through the character of Caliban: the disfigured fish-like creature that inhabits the island at which the play takes place. Caliban lacks civilized influence due to the fact that he was born on the island deprived of any social or spiritual morality other than nature and instinct. He is literally man untamed. Caliban is not monstrous simply for the sake of being frightening; his ghastly visage is intended to literally depict the duality between civilization and natural instinct. While here is little doubt that Sir Thomas More's Utopia is a work of social criticism on the harsh social reality. Through the mouth of the idealistic and fiery character Raphael Hythloday, More uncompromisingly railed against the then-present society and its endless evils. Among the most important of which were the Closure Movement (consequently, loss of land possession by farmers) and the unreasonably harsh law system that fathered a vicious circle, "if you do not find a cure for these evils, it is futile to boast of your severity in punishing theft what else is this, I ask, but first making them thieves and then punishing them for it?"

Analysis

What, then, is the root of all these evils? According to Hythloday, the economic system is built upon the fundamental principle of private ownership. "So long as private property remains, there is no hope at all of effecting a cure and restoring society to good health" (More, 1992, 29) Utopia has no currency, no use for precious metals or luxury of any sort, and most importantly abolishes private ownership. The result, as Hythloday mythically describes it, is a perfect world in which people leave in accord because they are cut off from the source of greed and envy. In this world, people develop a complete detachment to the unnecessary material life because they do not own anything except for their own bodies. Yet despite its apparent seamlessness, this theory is doomed to fall apart when it is subjected to examination from the capitalistic perspective. When the fictional More, the representation of the author's other philosophical half, raises the question about the apparent lack of motivation for people to produce in a such a society that disavows private ownership, Hythloday only replies that the concern is not uncommon. This question one that is crucial to the understanding of Utopia remains unanswered, and indeed unanswerable (Shakespeare, William, 1987).

While Utopia can be regarded as crossover between an awkward blue print for a social system and a fantasy state that can only exist in one's wistful imagination, the Commonwealth from William Shakespeare's last play The Tempest is much more explicitly a creation of fancy. It is plausible that Shakespeare at least knew of More's work; and while The Tempest may not be a direct response to Utopia, it does offer a different ...