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Renaissance Master-Slave RelationshipsFreedom suppressed and again regained
bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered. --Cicero We fight not to enslave, but to set a
country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in. --Thomas Paine Those who deny freedom to others
deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it. --Abraham Lincoln A man's worst difficulties begin when
he is able to do as he likes. --Thomas
Huxley No man is free who is not a master of
himself. --Epictetus A hungry man is not a free man. --Adlai E. Stevenson When we lose the right to be different,
we lose the privilege to be free. --Charles
Evans Hughes I know but one freedom and that is the
freedom of the mind. --Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry It is
common to think of the Renaissance era as a period of emergence out of the "oppressive"
Dark Ages and as a "rebirth" under the guiding light of discovered
documents and artifacts from antiquity. Under this paradigm, the Renaissance is
thus seen as a movement toward freedom and a view that through reason man can
be the master of his universe. However, history and literature from that period
tell a different story; from these sources we receive a multi-faceted and
chaotic view of
this epoch, and find that freedom was a prize difficult to wrench loose from the
entrenched institutions of nobility and the Church. In renaissance cities in Europe, in Thomas
More's Utopia, and in William
Shakespeare's Black PlagueMost historians place the renaissance transition from
medieval to modern times from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries.
Lewis Mumford claims that the real
renaissance of European culture, "the great age of city building and
intellectual triumph," began in the twelfth century and that the classical
revival began in the fifteenth century. In between these two remarkable
centuries was the Black Plague of the fourteenth century in which one third to
one half of the population died. This Black Death triggered two immeasurable
forces that would determine the course of human events in the western world for
centuries to come. One, as a result of the tremendous loss of life, social
chaos ensued, and as Mumford relates, "power came into the hands of those
who controlled armies, trade routes, and great accumulations of
capital." The second force was
psychological. Individuals turned away
from concentrating their energies on matters relating to death, eternity,
security, and stability. Instead, in the aftershock of the Black Death,
according to Mumford, people wished to seize all they could out of their single
lifetime. "Overnight, six of the seven deadly sins turned into cardinal
virtues; and the worst sin of all, the sin of pride, became the mark of the new
leaders of society . . . To produce and display wealth, to seize and extend
power . . ." (345-7). People freed themselves from the limitations of the
"Thou shalt nots." This mode of living was the antithesis of the
ideals formed in ancient Economic ForcesWhat economic forces during the Renaissance period created
wealth for the rich to display, and how did these changes modify previous master-slave
relationships? For one thing, there were growing professional classes of
merchants and industrialists who had artisans and servants moving further and
further away from the toils of soil. In spite of the deaths accrued in the
Black Plague, Joel Hurstfield reports that "the crisis of land and rent
was undoubtedly the greatest crisis of all," and that "the greatest
force of all exerted upon the Tudor nation was the rise in
population." This was true all over
Shakespeare undoubtedly saw this mob in action,
"a constant source of anxiety to the governing classes" (Hurstfield
34). More notes the social discord that accompanies such a displacement of
workers and attributes much of the problem to sheep and cows. Nobles, no longer
content to merely lead lazy and comfortable lives, now engage in the harmful
destruction of others' economic livelihood: "Each greedy individual preys
on his native land like a malignant growth . . . hundreds of farmers are
evicted. . . together will all their employees . . . and they can't find
anywhere else to live" (26). The ancient Greeks, who for the most part,
plied their trades within workshops attached to their homes, did not suffer
these kinds of workers' plights. However, the citizens of Nation StatesMeanwhile, during the renaissance era, nation-states
were consolidating power, wresting it from local noble lords. This freed
industry to prosper outside the auspices of organized municipalities (Mumford
336). This consolidation of power gave rise to the national capital with ever
growing populations in those centers. This consolidation resulted in a loss of
power and freedom in the smaller towns and municipal centers. As Mumford
explains, city building was no longer a means for small businesses to achieve
financial freedom and security. Instead, it became a way to consolidate power
and "directly under the royal eye" in order to prevent challenges to
the central authority. "The age of
free cities, with their widely diffused culture and their relatively democratic
modes of association, gave way to the age of absolute cities . . . ."
(355-6). This, in turn, gave rise to oppressive permanent bureaucracy with its
attending permanent buildings, law courts, archives and records. Just at a time when the newly emerging capitalistic
economy was becoming more dependent upon freedom of movement to facilitate a
constant flow of goods, the newly consolidated nation-states exacted more and
more tolls and taxes, thus constraining the growth and stability of the new
economy. The state held the monopoly on rent and doled out privileges to
companies in the form of patents. These controls in addition to the loot of
conquest increased the wealth and power of the master-sovereign. With increased
wealth came increased appetites for more riches: increasing the taxable
population became the means to increase the coffers of the state. Capitalists were ever searching for larger
markets "filled with insatiable customers." With this common goal of
increasing wealth, as Mumford points out, "power politics and power
economics reinforced each other."
Only a few hundred families in each large nation-state owned most of the
land and benefited from economic and political policies during this timeframe
(340, 363-74). More viewed the social system that prevailed in his
time as "a conspiracy of the rich to advance their own interests under the
pretext of organizing society" (111). Just as Plato saw that pride of
ownership was a bane to societal order, More paints a picture of Utopia where equal distribution of goods
is a necessary condition for a healthy society. Where private property is the
basis for moral order there are never enough laws "to ensure that one can
either earn, or keep, or safely identify one's so-called private property"
and this results in "never-ending lawsuits" (44). Undoubtedly, More
would be daunted by the volumes of books pertaining to this issue that line the
shelves of today's law offices in industrialized nations. More posits that the
end of all money results in the end of most criminal behavior and frees
individuals from "fear, tension,
anxiety, overwork, and sleepless nights" (111). However, the powers that be ignored such philosophy
and scarcely paid heed to any root causes to society's ills. As Mumford
describes it, they were relentless in their quest to increase their own wealth
and power and they sought to conquer weaker nations, if for no other reason
than to eliminate rival markets. By the beginning of the Renaissance period,
the previous land based economy had been transformed into a money-goods
economy. One major technological change
early in the fourteenth century, the use of gunpowder, facilitated a major
shift toward a war economy. The town
walls and moats were no longer adequate defenses, and now offensive action had
the advantage over defensive means; cities were forced to hire soldiers. Many
services were required to support the soldier population. For example, in 1740 almost one fourth of Defense and WarTowns had to erect complicated defense systems that required
much engineering knowledge and skill and vast quantities of money. Cities were then fitted into their
fortifications as if constrained in a strait-jacket. In order to be free from
the threat of takeover, citizens had to give up space and freedom of movement
between town and countryside. This competition for space forced up land values
in large cities. Often, through the use of mercenary armies, nations' leaders,
instead of increasing their own freedoms, ended up enslaved to the Condottieri,
the leaders of soldiers that were hired to protect them. If the mercenaries did
not seize control outright, the cities were nevertheless now in control of the
oligarchies that financed the official rulers' wars and "mischievous
policies." Mumford observes: "Whoever could finance the army and the
arsenal was capable of becoming master of the city. Shooting simplified the art
of government . . ." (Mumford 352-63).
More also pointed out that "again and again
standing armies have seized some opportunity of overthrowing the government
that employed them . . ." (24). In his Utopia,
however, it was still better to store up wealth in order to hire foreign
mercenaries if a war should be necessary. The Utopians loathe fighting, but
will engage in war as necessary to defend themselves or to assist allied
neighbors in fighting against invaders. They will also use force, proactively, in
order to topple dictators "in a spirit of humanity" for the victims
of such tyranny. Nevertheless, they will protect their own skins as much as
possible and use mercenaries "whose lives they risk more willingly than
their own . . ." They do not even care how many such foreign fighters die
for their causes. They have such distain for these foreigners that they think
it best for humanity "if only they could wipe the filthy scum off the face
of the earth completely . . . Assassination of enemy kings and their associates
is encouraged as a way to limit the casualties of war" (90-4). In this
vision of society, then, Utopian citizens are free from doing the dirty work
and from the risk of fighting and neighbor citizens are liberated from
dictatorships. In comparison, in Greek antiquity, most cities were
founded on sites with natural defenses. Therefore, there was more emphasis on
soldiering than on engineering for defense and conquest. Most of Greek cities,
molded in Athenian ideals, were in philosophical alignment with the sentiments
of More's Utopians. However, the Spartan-like cities glorified war and this
emphasis is portrayed in Plato's Republic. In our modern era, coalition armies made up
of units from different countries within organizations such as the United
Nations or NATO will often get organized to defend liberties of otherwise
helpless countries being attacked. Many think that the U.S. preemptive strike
against Iraq was justified because it resulted in toppling a tyrant, thus
freeing its citizens from an oppressive regime. But then one must ask: why stop
with just this tyrant? Social ClassesAlong with a changing economy during the Renaissance,
people attempted to break free from the strictures of their social classes;
some with more success than others. Ironically those most wealthy, nobles who
had active responsibilities and serious interests during medieval times, were
now enslaved to tedious court ritual (Mumford 376-7). Today's royalty and
otherwise wealthy individuals are restricted by ritual and by the paparazzi. Hurstfield
reveals that although the Elizabethans believed in a society in which everyone
knew his place, there was adequate room for moving up the social scale, but
only if one was willing to conform to the upper class tastes and habits. The Boatswain in The
Tempest is the one ordering the noble to keep in his place: "I pray now, keep below. . . . What cares these
roarers for the name of King? To cabin! Silence!" (1.1.11, 1.1.16-18). Shakespeare
is also questioning whether nature is superior to any civilized art. Throughout this play we see
contrasts in social structures and the opposing forces of nature and structured
civilization. For example, to escape effects from a storm, Trinculo creeps
under Caliban's smock and retorts: "Misery acquaints a man with strange
bedfellows" (2.2.41). As Bernard Knox reflects, there is no more difficult
barrier to cross than the dividing line between slave and free man. Whereas
Aristotle denoted comedy as imitation of "lower type" characters,
then a proper comedy will end up liberating a clever slave or restoring a
stupid one to his proper place (131-5). Thus, Ariel, the airy genie, through
his spirit-like magical qualities, enthusiastic obedience, and clever
machinations, is liberated by his temporary master. Caliban, on the
other hand, is a cross between natural and unnatural. Just as nature is
mindless, no matter how much Prospero tries, Caliban can not be educated:
"A devil, a born devil, on whose nature/ Nurture can never stick"
(4.1.188-9). He is to be treated with contempt because he is rebellious, he is
not respectful of his superiors, and through birth he is "got by the devil
himself” (Tmp. 1.2.319). Caliban
aligns himself with Stephano and Trinculo and claims "High day,
freedom!" (2.2.194). However, he has only traded one master for another
and in the end he realizes that he was mistaken to think he could slip his
bonds of nature: ". . . and I'll be wise hereafter . . . What a
thrice-double ass / Was I to take this drunkard for a god . . ."
(5.1.295-8). All the rough and dirty work is done by slaves in More's Utopia also. The slaves here are either
Utopian convicts or criminals acquired from other countries. They can also be
volunteers, working-class foreigners, who are free to leave Utopia if they
choose. In The Tempest Prospero
was trapped on an island as the direct result from his neglect of noble duties
to attend to matters of the state. His brother, Antonio, had seized power from
him and threw Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, out to sea. The concept of
the divine right of kings was a medieval idea that gained power later in the
Renaissance as kings were being threatened. During the Renaissance, according
to Mumford, the divine right of kings displaced the Deity in the order of things.
Kings employed lackeys to bolster their power through dubious treatises
connecting the king directly with heaven's council (372). Caliban knew that he
was Prospero's only subject and he thought that Prospero had unjustly taken the
island away from him (1.2.331-47). However, apart from divine power, Caliban
knew that Prospero's power lies in his knowledge. When devising his evil plot
to overthrow Prospero, Caliban instructs his cohorts: "Remember /First to
possess his books; for without them / He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not /
One spirit to command" (3.2.95-8). Gaining knowledge was the hallmark of
the Renaissance. This was the secret for man to gain mastery and free him from
the shackles of nature and religious superstition. However, life on the island has taught Prospero the
enchantment of nature and of living a life apart from his books. Before he
makes his physical escape from the island, he escapes from the prison he made
for himself cloistered among written words. He imparts a rather existentialist
view to Ferdinand when he disrupts the wedding masque and exclaims that, just
as the actors and the "baseless fabric of this vision" have
"melted into air," so, too, "the great globe itself, / Yea, all
which it inherit, shall dissolve / . . . We are such stuff / As dreams are made
on, and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep" (4.1.148-58). What was this "little life" like for women
during this era? One could not claim that the Renaissance was a period when
women finally broke free from their bonds: the patriarchal structure was still
very entrenched in most parts of the world. In Utopia, a woman joins her
husband's household when she gets married. She must kneel before her husband
and confess all sins of omission and commission before going to certain
ceremonies at church. This practice is intended to clear the air, so-to-speak,
but More gives no instructions for men to make such confessions (59, 107). More
comments that "in countries where the women do work, the men tend to lounge around instead," indicating a
low opinion about—or just dismissing—the work women do in making homes and
tending children (62). Premarital intercourse is severely punished because it
is thought that men would not get married and spend "one's whole life with
the same person, and putting up with all the inconveniences that this
involves" if free sex were
allowed. A man must carefully examine "the goods" before choosing a
wife in Utopia, lest he be stuck with
an ugly woman (83-5). In More's Utopia both husbands and wives can be viewed as
slaves. Shakespeare gives us a much more romantic view of
marriage in The Tempest, where both
Ferdinand and Miranda wish to be
slaves to each other. Nevertheless, it is still a master-slave view he presents
where women are still merely properties of men in this well-ordered society. It
is Miranda who proposes marriage, but she had the “disadvantage” of not being
properly educated at court. Prospero tells Ferdinand: "Then, as my gift,
and thine own acquisition / Worthily purchased, take my daughter . . ."
(4.1.13-14). Lorie Leininger suggests that Miranda's sole purpose is to be chaste and she is thus "deprived
of any possibility of human freedom, growth or thought" (152). Throughout Government StructureThe structure of cities changed and was organized during
the Renaissance into three functions of producing, selling, and consuming.
Whereas lower classes gained access to transportation, this new freedom turned
into drudgery getting to and from work, not unlike our monstrous commutes is
seen as today. Houses became private,
without workplaces attached. Free from prying eyes, privacy became valued and
became more pervasive in all aspects of life. This naturally led to a decrease
in one's interests in public affairs and increase in freedom to pursue one's
own private, self-centered concerns. As Mumford conveys: "The city was
nobody's business" (383). He explains that when populations of cities are
restricted, as they were in ancient A large benefit in Utopia
is freedom from countless laws—at least free from laws that ordinary citizens
can not understand, and freedom from lawyers and petty lawsuits over property
rights (87). The downside of this egalitarian distribution of wealth, of
course, is a drab and dull atmosphere where everyone wears the same kind of few
clothes with no variation in color or style; everyone has the same kind of
house, furniture, and utensils, and where, more importantly, the arts seem to
be totally missing, save for the rudimentary instruments and singing used in
church services (108). Glaucon (of The
Republic) would think that Utopia was a "city of pigs," where
only things to provide one with barest necessities are produced. In order for Utopians to have more free time from labors, More achieves
this by limiting the supply of consumer goods. I agree with Paul Turner that
this effected "heavy casualties among the minor pleasures of life . .
." (xvii). More did not intend for citizens to use their free time in
idleness or pleasure. Rather, they were to "make good use of it . .
." to cultivate their minds (56, 59). Another freedom for a citizen of Utopia is to practice
whatever religion one chooses. Reflecting on the dubious nature of wars over religious
concepts, More's Utopian principles allows one to try to convert others
"only through quiet, polite, rational discourse. Trying to decide these
things by force of arms will only serve to bring down the religion one is
trying to force on others. Unfortunately, these kinds of conflicts continue to
trouble our world today. However, in Utopia, one is not free "to believe
anything so incompatible with human dignity as the doctrine that the soul dies
with the body, and the universe functions aimlessly, without any controlling
providence . . ." (100-1). In ReligionOn the other hand, the Renaissance marks a period when
people were breaking free from the Church's emphasis on the spiritual and on
the next world, and their thoughts shifted more toward concerns of this
material world. In addition to the rediscovery of the philosophy from classical
antiquity, the Church herself contributed to these changes of heart and soul.
As Mumford recounts, the Church embraced political and military power along
with private property and it became the wealthiest institution in Christendom:
"corruption had become a stench in It is interesting to note that one freedom denied to
Utopians was unaccompanied travel. You needed a group passport: you would be
severely punished if caught without one and you would become a slave for a
second offence. Why such harsh punishment? Could it be that citizens may want
to escape such a paradise?
Furthermore, any such travel could not be considered a vacation; you were
expected to work wherever you were. "Everyone has his eye on you" to
ensure you would make good use of your time (64-5). It is as if More foresaw
the kind of regimentation that future states, like Hurstfield, Joel. "The Elizabethan People in the Age of
Shakespeare." Shakespeare's World. Ed. James Sutherland and Joel
Hurstfield. Knox, Bernard. "The Tempest
and the Ancient Comic Tradition." Shakespeare 128-145. Leininger, Lorie Jerrell. "The Miranda Trap: Sexism and Racism in
Shakespeare's Tempest. Shakespeare
146-155). More, Thomas. Utopia. Trans. Paul Turner. Mumford, Lewis. The City in History: Its Origins, Its
Transformations, and Its Prospects. Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare: The Tempest. Ed. Robert
Langbaum and Sylvan Barnet. Turner, Paul. "Introduction." More xi-xxiv. Opening
quotes: “Correct Quotes 1.0” software. Copyright © 1990-92. WordStar
International Inc. Software published
by: WordStar International Incorporated
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