Monarchy, Disorder, and Politics in The Isle of Pines

Abstract

Part of a special issue on Henry Neville's 1668 text The Isle of Pines. The writer focuses on The Isle of Pines as a political and utopian text. As a political text, The Isle engages with the contemporary philosophical arguments and popular polemics on the origin, structure, and exercise of political power, the relation of politics to religion, the widespread arguments and concerns about monarchical rule, and the day-to-day issues of the morals and practices of the current king. The Isle of Pines can also be described as arcadian, utopian, and dystopian. In the beginning, the island is an arcadia for the four survivors of a shipwreck—an idyllic island where an abundant nature can supply their every want. Soon, however, arcadia gives way to utopia, and attempts are made to establish an ideal society, with institutions to accommodate, constrain, or render superfluous anti-social attitudes and behaviors. Defective political arrangements eventually decline into conflict, violence, and civil war, as the utopia becomes a dystopia.