New Atlantis

Descriptions of Bacon’s utopia contain in them implicit and explicit critiques of contemporary European society. The most explicit of these arrive in the narrator’s interlocution with Joabin, who compares Europe unfavorably to Bensalem in matters of sexual chastity and moral probity. He attacks Europe for tolerating brothels and “courtesans”—by which he means sex workers—both of which are prohibited on Bensalem. Joabin also contrasts the marriage customs in Europe versus Bensalem, pointing out that Europeans “have put marriage out of office: for marriage is ordained a remedy for unlawful concupiscence; and natural concupiscence seemeth as a spar to marriage” (25). In short, Joabin believes that lust is the dominant motivator among Europeans, whether they choose to marry or not. A sacred bond for Bensalemites, marriage is viewed by Europeans as either a way to engage in lust lawfully or a trap warding men and women away from forging and maintaining all-important familial bonds.

The importance the Bensalemites place on morality is consistent with Bacon’s writings on the importance of self-restraint, both for the purpose of living a good Christian life and for the purpose of scientific pursuits, which he believed should be conducted with the utmost self-discipline. The author’s thoughts on European marriage may also be influenced by his own difficult marriage to Alice Barnham, the daughter of a prominent London politician. Upon learning of an extramarital affair between Alice and an English courtier, Bacon cut his wife out of his will entirely. It is also worth placing Bensalem’s thorough rejection of “masculine love” (26) in the context of 17th century England and Bacon’s life more generally. Scholars disagree about Bacon’s sexual orientation, with some stating that the evidence in either direction is inconclusive. Others, however, argue that an orientation toward same-sex relationships—embodied by that term “masculine love”—is a well-documented fact for both Bacon and King James I (Forker, Charles R. “‘Masculine Love’, Renaissance Writing, and the ‘New Invention’ of Homosexuality: An Addendum.” Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 31, issue 3. 1996.) However, the fact that there is no place for “masculine love” on Bacon’s ideal utopia shows that the author sought to distance himself publicly from the label.

There are other more subtle ways that Bacon draws a distinction between Europe and Bensalem in spiritual and social matters. Although the narrator prays to God while lost at sea, he only does so while on the verge of starvation. The characterization of the narrator as the Biblical Jonas also suggests that the European seamen had done something to anger God, whether in deed or by way of a general lack of piety. Moreover, when the narrator discovers that the Bensalemites are Christian, his primarily feeling is one of relief, as opposed to a genuine embrace of Christian brotherhood.

Finally, in Bacon’s descriptions of the works of Salomon’s House, there are implicit critiques of the author’s contemporaries in the field of natural science. Unlike the researchers at Salomon’s House, who go about their work using the Baconian methodology of induction—by which general principles are reached by painstakingly amassing extensive observations and experiences—European scientists like Bernardino Telesio had yet to sever themselves sufficiently from Aristotelian modes of natural philosophy, in Bacon’s view. Thus, Bensalem represents a spiritual, social, and scientific rebuke to European conventions.