Show the Heavens More Just: Ordering Society in Utopia, King Lear, and The Tempest

Abstract

Using essentially dramatic methods, creating an imaginary country, and setting up moral tension by having characters interact in a realm of complex ideas, Thomas More in Utopia draws the reader into active participation. Later, Shakespeare carries forward some of the ideas introduced in Utopia. In King Lear he responds to similar social and legal problems, and in The Tempest, inspired like More by recent discoveries of new lands, invents a strange world. Using georgic or pastoral dimensions, both authors explore the nature/nurture theme. While implying Christian ideals, More sets his fictive world outside Christianity, introducing it explicitly as the work reaches its conclusion - a technique Shakespeare echoes. By stimulating imaginative sympathy in their audience, these works open the way to a sense of community which accords with natural law.