The Role of Government - The Tempest #2
The role of a government is to regulate the lives of human inhabitants and provide safety and security, and in exchange people give up their individual power. This question is very relevant in the play due to the current events of the time period when it was written. The New World was still a fairly new discovery, and the country was in the early stages of settlement. Conceptually, this had big implications for many people living in Europe. This was the birth of a totally foreign concept that made it possible to emigrate and start over in a land without the constraints of their government. Almost every European country in the 1500-1600s followed a system of castes and social or religious persecution, therefore a person’s future was almost entirely dependent on their birthright. Many people came to the America and formed settlements to escape religious persecution or the inequality of opportunity. The New World represented one of the only ways for a poor or middle class man to move up in the world. This led to the idea of a Utopia, where people escape a tyrannical government for a new land of opportunity and equality. A Utopia is still has a very necessary government, because humans arguably cannot properly function as a group without rules and consequences, however, in a Utopia this power wouldn’t be abused. It created an early version of the idea that value can come from work effort and intelligence, rather than familial bloodlines and wealth. In the play, Trinculo and Stephano are examples of men who have been caught in the social obstacles and have no chance of improving their livelihoods in their own countries. They have a very unique opportunity to live freely on an island and be their own kings. Humans have evolved as a species past the simple survival complex into conscious thought. This breeds self-interest in most if they're given the opportunity. Trinculo and Stephano have this opportunity to avoid manual labor at the expense of using Caliban as a slave, which they take advantage of. Their idea of a Utopia has no checks and balances, and there is no consequences for their actions. Therefore, they plan to kill Prospero to gain the ultimate control of the island.
I think the first point you made about the acceptance of representative government occurring in exchange with individual liberties is interesting, because the development of Prospero, Stephano and Trinculo and their relationships with other characters contrast that assertion. The historical trend you pointed out of settlers migrating to America to flee religious persecution is paralleled in Prospero and Miranda's exile to the island, because Prospero uses that isolation to freely practice his weird magic studies. The absence of government on the island allows Prospero to create his own, self-interested power structure, which he clearly uses and abuses throughout the play. Thus, in The Tempest, it is the lack of government instead of the application of government that causes the majority to lose power. Prospero uses his magic abilities to treat others on the island like pawns, taking their power away from them by placing them under spells or forcing them into submission. I agree with the example you provided about Stephano and Trinculo, as it also follows this pattern of self-service in the absence of government regulations. All three of these characters stumble upon a Garden of Eden waiting to happen, but their selfish inclinations and ambition drive them to seek autocracy over utopia.
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