The Role Of Utopia In William Shakespeares The Tempest

The word Utopia comes from the Greek ou-topos, which means â€Å"no place† or â€Å"nowhere†, and Sir Thomas More coined the term â€Å"Utopia† in 1516, when writing his famous novel Utopia(The British Library). A utopia is a place where everything is perfect and there is no fighting, social status, nor inequality. The idea of a utopia sounds great, but is very challenging to achieve, and past attempts at creating a utopia have failed and ended up becoming a dystopia. Throughout history, many novels and plays have been written about utopian and dystopian society. Gonzalo, a character in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest describes how he would be able to form a utopian society on the Island he has been shipwrecked on with many others. However, the current†¦show more content†¦Gonzalo would like to be seen as the king and ruler of this island, but does not want there to be a kingship or feudal system in place. The idea of him being the king of the i sland takes away the opportunity for complete equality on the island, and therefor takes away the chance for a utopian society. The island that Prospero was exiled to, and where Alonso, Sebastian, Gonzalo, Antonio, and many others were shipwrecked, is not a utopia because there is no equality present. When the travelers arrived on the island and woke up, all of their previous positions of power and wealth had dissipated. On this island there was no king, no other inhabitants, no government, and no new world technology. To their knowledge, they were given an opportunity for a fresh start and could resolve their internal conflicts before returning home. Also, they were all in a state of equality on the island since no system of power or government was ever established. However, they were only partial correct in believing this. Alonso by the end of the play has realised the error of his ways, and he wants forgiveness from Prospero. However, in reality the island was never equal, because Prospero was influencing all the decisions and thoughts the characters had, and was making sure that everything went his way. P rospero created events and put thoughts into the other characters’ minds thatShow MoreRelated Portrayal of Utopia in The Tempest Essay example1652 Words   |  7 PagesPortrayal of Utopia in The Tempest      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In The Tempest, Shakespeare allows the audience to appreciate the possibilities of utopian society and whatever this may posses.   Being the good, and bad so that they can see that problems can arise in such a society. The Tempest can be thus seen as a window into the dimensions of utopian societies. 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