The Coast of Utopia

‘Shipwreck’

Act 2 (183-228)

Time: 1849-1852

1. January 1849 Paris Garden (183-88)

2. April 1849 Maria Ogarev’s Studio apartment, Paris (188-93)

3. May 1849 A Jail Cell in Saxony, Germany (193-95)

4. June 1849 A Park Near Rousseau’s Cottage outside Paris (195-203)

5. September 1850 Verandah of a Beach House in Nice, Italy (203-208)

6. November 1850 Verandah of a Beach House in Nice, Italy (208-211)

7. January 1851 Verandah of a Beach House in Nice, Italy (210-215)

8. November 1851 Verandah of a Beach House in Nice, Italy (215-221)

9. August 1852 The Deck of a Cross Channel Steamer (221-226)

10. Summer 1846 Reprise of Ii Soklovo Garden (15 miles from Moscow) (226-228)

1. January 1849 Paris Garden (183-88)

(like at the beginning of the play) George is reading The Communist Manifesto to Natalie and Herzen. They ridicule Marx’s that any disagreement with his political analysis can be attributed to bourgeois ‘class consciousness’.
Herzen: “But Marx is bourgeois from the anus up.” (183)
Herwegh: It’s genius. Until now the miserable worker was an exploited victim who the enlightened philosophes would have to fix. Now they are destined to lead.
Herzen argues that the artisan cobbler was at least his own man, unlike the mindless factory workers. Even the utopian communities treat people like machines. Herzen prefers Bakunin’s mindless rebellion to Marx’s theory. Let the ideas come later. (184)
Utopian Socialists: see Early Socialism: New Possibilities for Society
Herzen lambasts the French liberals who betrayed the working class during the June Days of the Revolution of 1848. Liberalism: the kept woman of the bourgoaisie (186)
Note carefully Herwegh’s embrace of apathetic stoicism (186) Why isn’t history impressed by academic theories?
Herzen: “Ogarev and Natasha are engaged!” (187)
Herzen on Ogarev’s appreciation of the true meaning of freedom: his tolerance of Maria’s betrayal of him. What does he mean when he says that ‘fidelity is admirable but proprietorship is disgusting?’ (188)
How does Herzen define ‘freedom’? (188)
What size community could pull off this type of freedom?

2. April 1849 Maria Ogarev’s Studio apartment, Paris (188-93)

Why is Maria resisting the idea of granting Ogarev a divorce even though she no longer loves him or lives with him?
Maria Ogarev and Natalie stand before a painting much like this drawing by Degas:

Why is Natalie offended by the painting?
How does Natalie defend her version of idealizing love? (190)
Has Maria simply grown up or is she missing something when she says, “…the next time I fell in love, it stank of turpentine, tobacco smoke, dirty laundry… the musk of love!” (191)
What do you think of Natalie’s counter-argument: that our lives should be lived as a work of art, that nature is reaching for perfection through the lives we lead? (192)

3. May 1849 A Jail Cell in Saxony, Germany (193-95)

Bakunin is in chains. Why has he been arrested?
With whom did Bakunin lead the assault on the Berlin Opera House?
What does Bakunin suggest should have been hung on the barricades? How are his ideas about art changing as he becomes more and more committed to the life of a revolutionary?

4. June 1849 Montmorency Park Near Rousseau’s Cottage outside Paris (195-203)

The tableaux we see at the beginning of the scene is based on this famous painting by Manet:

Remember that Stoppard has set up the scene to be in two locations simultaneously: Herzen is with Turgenev and Emma; George is with the nude Natalie.
Why does Natalie pursue the affair with George? What conception of love is she pursuing? Why would Emma understand but not Herzen?
What does this scene have to do with Rousseau’s philosophy? (For a quick primer, see this link)
What story is Turgenev working on? What is it about?
Compare this idea to Emma’s conception of her marriage as like a bottle of cologne which has followed her across Europe but never caught up. (201)
Why does Herzen invite Herwegh to join his family in Zurich? Is he oblivious to the developing love affair between George and his wife?

5. September 1850 Verandah of a Beach House in Nice, Italy (203-208)

What has Kolya learned to do? (relationship to Stoppard’s purpose?)
Why were the Herzens thrown out of Zurich? (204)
What work has Herzen just published? What purpose has he discovered for his career as a writer? (205-06)
What has Natalie done to reassure Herzen after he began to suspect the affair?
Why does Natalie still feel no guilt in carrying on the affair? (208)
What is George’s reaction when he sees his wife, their newborn baby, and the pregnant Natalie?

6. November 1850 Verandah of a Beach House in Nice, Italy (208-211)

Natalie has just given birth to another daughter, Olga. There are now four children in the family: Sasha, Kolya, Tatania, and Olga.
How does Emma finally give away her knowledge of the truth? (209-10)
What is Herzen’s reaction when he figures it out?

7. January 1851 Verandah of a Beach House in Nice, Italy (210-215)

What event finally precipitates the argument between Natalie and Herzen?
How can Natalie insist on her loyalty to Herzen and her marriage to him while openly conducting an affair with George? (211-13)
Look at the exchange between Herzen and Natalie at the end of the scene: Herzen insists on the necessity of egoism and demands an end to the affair or his own hold on life will slip. Natalie insists that she has lost the ideal of a love which is greater the more it includes. Who is right?

8. November 1851 Verandah of a Beach House in Nice, Italy (215-221)

How is Rocca decorating the verandah?
The Russian consul has arrived to inform Herzen that he has been ordered to return to Russia and surrender to the authorities. Why is he upset when Herzen refuses to obey?
What news does Herzen bring when he returns home?
Why does this accident destroy Natalie?

9. August 1852 The Deck of a Cross Channel Steamer (221-226)

How has Herzen dealt with the death of Kolya? What does he mean when he tells Bakunin, “Where is the song when it is sung? The dance when it has been danced?” (223)
What are the political implications of Herzen’s new philosophy?
What has happened to the French Republic born in 1848?
Now that both revolutionaries have turned their backs on the West, which direction should Russia follow?
What does Herzen mean by ‘Russian Socialism’? Which political camp has he tentatively embraced?

10. Summer 1846 Reprise of Ii Soklovo Garden (15 miles from Moscow) (226-228)

What was the happiest day of Ogarev’s life?
What is the crushing irony of reprising the moment when Herzen got the news that he could travel to the West?