Utopia: remote cabin on the beach, the kingship of a vast empire, Nirvana; Heaven, the Happy Hunting Grounds, paradise, perfection. What exactly is Utopia? According to Webster it is “1,an imaginary and indefinitely remote place” or “ 2, often capitalized : a place of ideal perfectionesp. in laws, government, and social conditions”. Where is this perfect place? Will my dog liveforever there? Will I never grow old? If I never grow old there does that mean I never mature? What if my idea of perfection differs from my neighbor there, will it still be perfect for both of us? Utopia is a nonexistent, but absolutely perfect place, as we can see from the beginning of theword in 1516 by Sir Thomas More.More was one of Henry VIII's main councilors. He fell out of favor with the king when hedid not sign a letter urging the pope to divorce Henry and Catherine. He was imprisoned in theTower of London because his going against the king was treason; he was beheaded. It is strangethat a man with such a life, and such an end, was the creator of the perfect world as well as acommonly used word in our language. In his writings Utopia was a place of absolute perfection. He described a poor king who cared more about the riches of his people than his own welfare,much different than the dystopia that he lived his life in. This Utopia of More sounds very similarto that that Gonzalo speaks of in Shakespeare’s Tempest “All things in common nature should produce without sweat or endeavor. Treason, felony,Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need for any engine Would I not have; but nature should bring forth ofit own kind, all foison, all abundance, to feed my innocent people”(Shakespeare 334)There have been many attempted Utopias. One of these can be seen in the book Brave NewWorld. This book takes place on earth in the future. In this future everything is dominated byscience and technology. There is no Religio...
