LITR 5737: Literary & Historical Utopias
Historical Presentation 2005

Gloria Sisneros

Utopian Models during the Renaissance

The Renaissance served as a fertile ground for literary utopias.  For discussion are:

1.      John Milton’s depiction of Heaven, the utopian military state in Paradise Lost, as compared to Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army; and

2.      Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince as instruction in statesmanship and power to both the prince and the public.

John Milton’s Depiction of Heaven

The visionary aspects of a militaristic utopia in Paradise Lost surprisingly point to Heaven, not Eden, as its setting.   In Amy Boesky’s article, “Milton’s heaven and the model of the English utopia,” she asserts that it serves as a paradigm in two ways for England--as an “epitome for the state at large” and “reinscribes that institution’s disciplinary procedures.” 

Boesky illustrates the drill-like motion that the angels take around Satan in Book IV, lines 977-80:  http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/milPL67.html

While he thus spake, th’Angelic Squadron

            Bright

Turn’d fiery red, sharp’ning in mooned horns

Their Phalanx, and began to hem him round

With ported Spears,

and she further notes that the poem is about conflict, both inside and outside of Heaven’s gate.  The angel squadron cannot relax, because this is a battle that never ends as long as there is a Christian to defend.  Wherever they are, the angels move as a military body.

Milton, along with his fellow countrymen are urged on by Lord General Cromwell’s example.  An offshoot of this inspiration is Gerrard Winstanley in his 1652 utopia, The Law of Freedom, who wants to abolish private property and the necessity of work “for idle persons and beggars.”  This is in contrast with Milton’s ideal when he refers to Cromwell’s Model Army, which serves as inspiration in training workers to be productive, to keep forging ahead, despite the temptations of the secular world.

To the Lord General Cromwell

Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud,

            Not of war only, but detractions rude,

            Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,

            To peace and truth thy glorious way has ploughed,

And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud

            Hast reared God’s trophies, and His work pursued,

            While Darwen stream, with blood of Scots imbrued,

            And Dunbar field, resounds thy praises loud,

And Worcester’s laureate wreath: yet much remains

            To conquer still; peace hath her victories

            No less renowned than war:  new foes arise,

Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains.

            Help us to save free conscience from the paw

            Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw.

A prolonged dialogue occurs between the Angel Raphael and Adam.  He explains that even though God does not need soldiers, the “lengthy war in Heaven is staged to demonstrate that celestial battle is ineffective, as only the Son has the power to expel the rebels (Boesky).

Gabriel, on the other hand, suggests that Satan’s fall occurred from a fall from discipline,

            Was this your discipline and faith engaged,

            Your military obedience, to dissolve

            Allegiance to the acknowledged power supreme?

Book 4, Lines 954-6.  http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/milPL67.html

Appearance and Reality in The Prince

James A. Arieti explores appearance and reality in Machiavelli’s analysis of statesmanship and power.  Arieti argues that the prince being addressed already knows the rules, so this argument precludes existing princes.   In Chapter Fifteen http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince15.htm , Machiavelli insists that previous writers have written about imaginary republics and told rulers how they should live.  Instead, he will teach rulers how to keep from falling into misfortune.  Arieti argues that the notoriously corrupt Cesare Borgia does not need to be told to “behave like Borgia”   So Arieti wonders if Machiavelli is truly addressing a prince who is trying to be a good man.  Does the man exist?  Would he listen to Machiavelli’s advice?

Several inappropriate allusions cause Arieti to question the sincerity of Machiavelli’s intended audience.  One of them is of Dido in Chapter Seventeen.  http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince17.htm

Arieti cites his use of an example of “good cruelty” by Borgia, followed by an example from classical literature, using the lovestruck Dido and her neglect of Carthage.  She assures the Trojans of their safety with her, neglecting her subjects.  Aeneas abandons her, and she commits suicide on a funeral pyre.  Arieti questions the validity of this allusion.   Could the cunning Machiavelli have been asleep, he questions?

Some of the questions Arieti entertains certainly are enough to make one wonder.  As he asks below:

Why use examples like Hannibal and Nabis, who came to bad ends, unless the purpose be to show that bad means yield bad ends?  Hence, it seems to me probable that Machiavelli did not nod and that the aforementioned examples in The Prince are deliberately planned to say something at variance with what the text says.  As I have said, the text seems to me to be aimed at an audience which is not the prince. . . . It is also possible that Machiavelli’s intended audience is the populace, the same audience as Discourses, and that he is trying in reality to stir up republicanism among his readers.

 Historical Objectives

Objective 3a.  What has been the historical impact of utopian fictions?  How would Plato’s ideal of the philosopher-king conflict with Machiavelli’s views?

Objective 3e.  What social structures, units, or identities does utopia expose, extend, or frustrate?  How is it possible that an epic poem such as Paradise Lost can be seen in a militaristic vein and still be addressing a religious subject?  What is Milton addressing in terms of English social morés with Paradise Lost?

Boesky, Amy. “Milton’s heaven and the model of the English utopia.” Studies in English             Literature, 1500-1900.  Winter: 36. Houston: Rice,1996. Accessed 5 May 2005.             <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/informark/336/108/69161577w4/purl>

Arieti, James A.  “The Machiavellian Chiron: appearance and reality in The Prince.”              Clio, Summer. 1995, v24 n4 381(7).  Indiana University, Purdue University of                 Fort Wayne.             <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/informark/336/108/69161577w4/purl>