Commonwealth speech of gonzalo in the tempest by shakespeare
Answers
I' th' commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things, for no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none; contract, succession,
Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;
No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;
No occupation; all men idle, all,
And women too, but innocent and pure;
No sovereignty—
[...]
All things in common nature should produce
Without sweat or endeavor: treason, felony,
Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,
Would I not have; but nature should bring forth
Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance,
To feed my innocent people. (2.1.162-171; 175-180)
Shakespeare (a notorious and unapologetic plagiarist) cribbed Gonzalo's speech from Montaigne's famous essay "Of Cannibals" (1580), where the Brazilian Indians are described as living at one with nature:
[Brazilian Indians have] no kind of traffic, no knowledge of letters, no intelligence of numbers, no name of magistrate or politic superiority, no use of service, of riches or of poverty, no contracts, no successions... no occupation but idle, no respect of kindred but common, no apparel but natural, no manuring of lands, no use of wine, corn, or metal. (from John Florio's 1603 English translation)
At a time when Europeans were running around calling natives in the Americas "savages," Montaigne suggests that the Brazilian Indians live a utopian lifestyle while European colonizers are the real barbarians. (This essay, by the way, is where the concept of the "noble savage" comes from.)
So, it's interesting that Shakespeare puts this speech in the mouth of one of his characters, gonzalo, after all, is the play's ultimate good guy. On the other hand, Caliban, who is a kind of exotic "other," is portrayed as a complete savage in this play.
Answer:
There would be no trade or business.No 'name of magistrate', therefore no one in charge of administering the law, as their would be no law.'Letters should not be known', 'Letters' being in reference to education, therefore there would be no education, learning or literature.Everyone would be the same, there would be no 'riches' and 'poverty' and no 'use of service' meaning slavery or servants.No one would inherit; 'contract' and 'succession... none'.No 'Bourn, bound of land, tilth' which means there would be no boundaries, fences or agriculture, which also alludes again to there being no law.'No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil'No one would be employed and everyone would be 'idle', possibly wanting everyone to be free.Women would also be 'idle' and 'innocent and pure'. All things which are commonly used by human beings in their daily lives would grow naturally without anybody having to work or to exert himself .He believes that this would lead to no treachery or crime and no need of weapons or to fight.Everything would be made natural and there would be no 'need of any engine' since nature would be 'all foison', plenty, 'all abundance'.His subjects would be innocent.