The Tri-ethical Structure Of Shakespeare's The Tempest

As England was experiencing social transformation in the Renaissance,great changes had taken place in its ethical structure,which is embodied in the following three aspects: the ethics of individual virtue,the ethics of family and the ethics of society.As “the mirror of life”,Shakespeare's drama examines the three dimensions and rich connotations of ethics.Inheriting and developing Aristotelian ethics,Shakespeare constructs his own ethical system and delineates the ethical ideal.Based on Aristotelian ethics,this thesis explores the tri-ethical structure in The Tempest: individual virtue ethics,family ethics and social ethics.This thesis mainly consists of three parts.The first part expounds the deficiency and embodiment of individual virtue ethics.According to Aristotle's theory of three-fold souls,the soul of a man is composed of the vegetative soul,the sensitive soul and the rational soul.Opposite to the rational soul,the irrational soul consists of the vegetative soul and the sensitive soul.As the representative of the irrational soul,Caliban loses the ethics of individual virtue and is completely controlled by desire.His deformed appearance is just the externalization of his vicious character.Without the rational soul,Caliban exposes the nature of gluttony which is presented by his excessive eating and drinking,and bestiality which is revealed by his intemperate lust for Miranda.Whereas,Prospero,the incarnation of rationality,embodies the virtues of wisdom and temperance that Aristotle advocates.Prospero presents the virtue of wisdom by magic,and shows the virtue of temperance by his high value of chastity and effective control of his temper.The second part studies the collision and concordance of family ethics.The connotations of Aristotelian philia are abundant,which involve not only the general friendship between friends,but the friendship between family members.Aristotle proposes that there are three different types of friendship which are respectively based on pleasure,utility and goodness.The relationship between the two brothers in The Tempest is analogous to the relationship between Cain and Abel,which both lack friendship.Due to the lack of friendship and the practice of primogeniture,Antonio harbors a grudge against his brother Prospero.He usurps the throne of his brother,then expels and even persecutes his brother and his brother's daughter Miranda.Whereas,the relationship between Miranda and Ferdinand illuminates the highest level of friendship,which is based on the goodness Aristotle values.The two young people are mutually attracted by their respective virtues and ultimately get married.Their equal and friendly relationship presents the harmonious ethics between husband and wife,which is pleasant,useful and lasting.The third part discusses the distortion of social ethics and the construction of an ethical utopia.Aristotelian eudaimonia not only refers to the happiness of an individual,but encompasses the happiness of a whole society or state.The happiness of the whole society necessitates the establishment of a community which concerns about the overall interests.The secular world is deeply influenced by the unhealthy custom of alcohol addiction which has become a trend spreading from the monarch to the plebeian.Alcohol addiction bereaves people of reason and undermines people's ethics.As the epitome of the current society,the ship echoes the distortion of monarchial ethics.In this distorted society,people are unhappy.Therefore,Shakespeare aspires to construct an ethical utopia.In the ethical utopia,nature is prosperous,and ethics is purified and sublimated,constituting a happy and blessed panorama.In conclusion,the tri-ethical structure reveals Shakespeare's profound reflections on human nature,interpersonal relationship and social form.Faced with the depraved status quo,Shakespeare conceives an ethical utopia to explore the way for human's return to the Garden of Eden.Ultimately,Shakespeare regains his faith in human beings and the world,and offers a beacon of hope for humans' redemption.