The Tempest Research Paper

Everyone, at one point in their life, has thought about a perfect world or utopia would be like. Depending on the person, these notions of a utopia can vary but typically are societies with no rulers and where everyone is equal. Utopianism can be seen throughout history and has had quite the impact on modern society. Comparisons can be made between the utopian vision seen in reality and in The Tempest. The Tempest, a play by William Shakespeare, is about a group of characters forcefully getting stranded on an island. The play itself is about Prospero, a former duke, scheming and using magic to manipulate his ‘enemies’. The Tempest sets up an ideal setting, an island away from civilization. This allows different ideas of a utopia to be discussed …show more content…
Usually, this perfect community is impractical to implement in reality. But, utopians hope to reform political, social, and economic aspects of their society to make their society closer to their ideal. Some of the major ‘utopians’, such as Robert Owens and Charles Fourier, were able to make some changes during the nineteenth century involving social reform. Laws were passed to restrict work hours for children and they stressed education for children. The formation of trade unions and beginning of the feminist movement started during the spread of utopianism during the nineteenth century, which we still see today. During the spread of industrialization, they wanted society to share industry control and create a more cooperative equal society. Many norms in modern society are because of the reformers who helped create an ideal …show more content…
While Gonzalo’s utopian vision is most directly stated in The Tempest, we can see that many of the other characters have their own idea of what a perfect society will be. For example, Caliban’s idea of a utopia would to have things go back to before Prospero and Miranda came to the island. He wishes that things could be like they were in the past. This can be related to one of the few utopian societies around today, the Amish. The Amish think that the technology and lifestyle from the past is better than current society for various religious reasons. Another character such as Prospero, we can infer his utopia is where he has the power and keeps his daughter Miranda from corruption from others. As we can see from The Tempest, different characters each have their own ideals of what a utopia should consist of. This is similar to reality, where different reformers and utopians each want different characteristics for their perfect