Imperfect Attempts of an Utopia: Voyage Act 1

Voyage, the first play of the Coast of Utopia, is very different from all of the plays that I have read. Its characters are in a way, undeveloped, as they are truly simple and even idiotic. Their conversations are completely egocentric as they do not have any interests beside their own.

The first act of Voyage, introduces to the reader a traditional Russian family that struggles constantly to be perfect, but that in reality is nowhere near perfection. The sisters are all in conflict for they do not think for themselves, and therefore act under the influence of other members of the family, such as their brother Michael. This character is always jealous his sister’s suitors and he ends up destroying all of their relationships at the beginning of the play. Michael is a young man that likes to defy authority, and in a way this is very contradicting because he thinks as a liberal but he lives under the conditions of his father, which includes being part of the army. In his various attempts to try to find his own ideology, Michael changes hi mind about the philosophers he admires very often. This shows his lack of self confidence, because he can’t even choose what to think. “I got led astray by Schelling. He tried to make the Self just another part of the world- But now Fichte shows that the world doesn’t exist except where I meet it-there is nothing but Self. Now I know where I was going wrong.” (33) The quote above shows how Michael changes his mind so drastically about the philosophers he decides to read. Every time he talks about them, he mentions the “Self” which indicates that he is really trying to understand himself and to find his true vocation in life, because he can’t really do it on his own. If you think about it, this is very pathetic. A person that doesn’t have ideas of his own and has to use ideas from others is definitely very sad.

When Michael talks about revolution and change, it is also very hard to believe him because the ideal that he fights for are not exactly his own. This is obvious when he supports the cause of his friend that fights for the servant population and their rights. When doing this, he is clearly contradicting himself. His father owns hundreds of servants and Michael also controls them as he is the son and therefore future heir. Belinsky is Michael’s friend and he has a lot of liberal ideas, His influence over Michael is great because he manages to convince him to supporting his causes. “He wrote a play against serfdom, that’s why.”(43) Belinsky writes articles and plays about serfdom and stats that there is no literature in their country. The fact that Michael supports his friend in this ideologies is very hypocritical of his part because by trying to create this Utopia out of his life with philosophy and the rights of slaves, he is contradicting himself because he still own hundreds of “souls” and he does use them for his personal benefits.

This play addresses many topics that are very common with other works related to Russia, such as Uncle Vanya. The constant attempts for revolution and change in the Russian society show in this literary works are actually an effort to reach a Utopia. In Uncle Vanya, the family wants to have an equal distribution of land and to receive what they deserve for their hard work. In Voyage, the characters want to fight for the rights of the serfs and for what corresponds for them to have. It is possible to think that this theme of Utopia is common in a country such as Russia because in a way, its various political, economical and social movements have led to revolutions and therefore to systems such as communism, which is a way of saying Utopia, as it tries to have a perfect or equalitarian society.