THE TEMPEST - What is Your Moral Order?
Genesis and the books that follow in the Bible declare that there is One God and He created this world and established a moral order.
In Shakespeare’s, The Tempest, Alonso, Adrian, Antonio, Sebastian, Francisco and Gonzalo have survived a shipwreck and find themselves alive on what appears to be a deserted island. Gonzalo would rule (Moral Order) if this isle were his and he could make a Fresh Start.
ANTONIO: He’d sow ’t with nettle seed.
SEBASTIAN: Or docks, or mallows.
GONZALO: And were the king on ’t, what would I do?
SEBASTIAN: Scape being drunk, for want of wine.
GONZALO: I’ th’ commonwealth I would by contraries Execute all things, for no kind of traffic Would I admit; no name of magistrate; Letters should not be known; riches, poverty, And use of service, none; contract, succession, Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none; No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil; No occupation; all men idle, all, And women too, but innocent and pure; No sovereignty—
SEBASTIAN: Yet he would be king on ’t.
ANTONIO: The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.
GONZALO: All things in common nature should produce Without sweat or endeavor; treason, felony, Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine Would I not have; but nature should bring forth Of its own kind all foison, all abundance, To feed my innocent people.
SEBASTIAN: No marrying ’mong his subjects?
ANTONIO: None, man, all idle: whores and knaves.
GONZALO: I would with such perfection govern, sir,
T’ excel the Golden Age.
SEBASTIAN: ’Save his Majesty!
ANTONIO: Long Live Gonzalo!”
God made a Fresh Start in Genesis with Noah, the Tower of Babel and... and...
Prospero loved his books more than his dukedom losing it to his treacherous brother.
“PROSPERO: Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me
From mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom.”
“CALIBAN: O ho, O ho! Would ’t had been done!
Thou didst prevent me. I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.”
Stephano and Trinculo believe that they are the only survivors of the shipwreck and plot with Caliban to kill Prospero and create their Fresh Start.
“STEPHANO: Monster, I will kill this man. His daughter
and I will be king and queen—save our Graces!—
and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys.—Dost
thou like the plot, Trinculo?
TRINCULO: Excellent.”
Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding’s 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies, focuses on a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempt to make a Fresh Start.
If you could start over with a Fresh Start on a Island or science fiction world, what would your moral order be — your Fresh Start?
Could you do it without reverting to your favorite “isms”?
Capitalism, Socialism, Fascism, Nationalism, Marxism, Totalitarianism, Pacifism, Republicanism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, Mohamadism, Modernism, Buddhism, Judaism, Polytheism, Monotheism, Paganism, Atheistism, Environmentalism, Feminism, Romanticism, Rationalism, Vegetarianism, Patriotism ... and on-and-on!
Are you an independent thinker or just a ism-ite? Do you have an independent identity?
What would be your Utopian Moral Order? your Fresh Start?
Carpe Diem
Carl
In high school I read Lord of the Flies and all my friends talked about it and what we'd have done different. If you haven't read the book, read it.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Prospero has the right idea. If I were to have a "fresh start" on a desert isle or a science fiction world, I would want a recorded history and/or how-to and scholarly books to stimulate the intellect and imagination.
ReplyDeleteIf we're considering the true meaning of Moral Order, and there is a society to be proactive in building on their ideals, in my mind for the better, then -isms or the establishment of such seem necessary or we are likely doomed to repeat the mistakes of humankind. There are many -isms I could live without.
Although, the idea of reestablishment and a "Fresh Start" is appealing on many levels.
I envy Prospero as a parent, with the ability to teach his child and create a noble generation without the presence of so much outside stimuli that, in our world, distract many from their true potential.
Prospero’s power—knowledge comes from his books, which he prefers to his Dukedom.
ReplyDelete“Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.”
The world has no secrets from one who can read.
But, Prospero fears that superior knowledge in the wrong hands to be dangerous. He buries his books deep in the earth.
“Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I’ll drown my book.”
Knowledge is Power