The Globe Sustained: Shakespeare’s allegory for sustainable development

13 Pages·2017·1.32 MB·English

Futures87(2017)24–36

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Futures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/futures

Original research article

The Globe Sustained: Shakespeare’s allegory for sustainable

development
Iris Hanna Casteren van Cattenburcha,b,*

aUtrechtUniversity,InstituteforCulturalInquiry(ICON),Muntstraat2a,3512EVUtrecht,TheNetherlands
bCoperni cusInstitut eofSusta ina bleDeve lopment ,Facult yofGeoscie nces ,Will em C.vanU nnik gebouw,Heidelberglaan2,3584CSUtrecht,

TheNetherlands

A RTICLE IN FO A BSTRACT

Articlehistory:
Receiv ed17May2016 Sustainabilitytheoryshowsthatthesustainabilityproblemisavalueorientationproblem.
Received in revise dform21December2016 Inarecentstu dy,Kla asvan Egm ond identifiedan underly ing patter nofacross edcircle,
Accepted 12 Januar y201 7 re pr esentin g affi rmativ e a nd adve rsative va lue orientatio ns, wh ose disinteg ration
Available on line30J anuary2017 engendersun sustainable tende ncies.Thisar ticleex plicateshowS hakespe are’sallegories
invitetoqu estsfor‘value sworthyof pursu it’,gro undedupo nas imilarimmane ntcyclical
Keywords: patter n of valu e o rientati ons, mo vin g from and to the cent re of Sha kespeare’s works.
WilliamShakespeare Holding up theal legoricalmirr ortocon tempo rary sus tain ability cha llenges,Shakes peare’s
Sustaina ble development worksan tic ipat esustainab ilityna rr ativesforsocie tyatlargeand itsindividu alactors.The
Continuous improvement results ofthisres earcharehigh lyrelevant in thecon tem pora ryd eba tesonthe ‘erosion ’of
Scenariothinking
Europeanvalues,asitdemonstrateshowtoidentifysustainedEuropeanvaluepatternsand
Allegory
Sustainability theory ©ho2w0 1t7o TbhueilAd uotnh othr.ePsueb pliasthteerdnbsy inE lrseelvaiteironLt wd.iTthh icsoinstaenmoppoernarayc cqeusessatriotinclse oufn sduesrtatihneaCbCiliBtyY.

license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

1.Introduction

Sustainabilitytheoryhasshownthatthesustainabilityproblemisavalueorientationproblem(Nussaum&Sen,1993,
repr.2009;Worl dComm issi ononE nvir onm entandDeve lopment, 19 8 7).1 Th usaxiologi calquesti onshaveb ee na major
conc ernofs cholars inthefieldo ffu turesstudies, brin gingethicstoth eforefronto fthepolitica landacad emic susta in ability

debatesinthepastdecades.Thishasledtoaformoffuturesinquirythatusesanintegralapproach,implyinganeedfor
recognit ion of a‘plu ralityof ways of kno win g ’and su bsequen tvalue orien tatio ns (Voros,2 008).2Zia uddinSar da r(20 10)

notes:
Thediscourseoffuturesstudiesis(...)notjustmulti-andtrans-disciplinary,itisunashamedlyun-disciplinary:thatis,
itco nsciously re jectsthe status an d st a te of adis cipline wh ilebeingafullyfled g ed systematicm odeofcriticalin quiry .3

* Permanentaddress:Plattenberg24,3951ARMaarn,TheNetherlands.

E-mailaddress:[email protected](I.H.CasterenvanCattenburch).

1 Cf.MarthaNussbaumandAmartyaSen(eds.),QualityofLife(Oxford:ClarendonPress,1993,repr.2009);WorldCommissiononEnvironmentand

Development,chairedbyGroHarlemBrundtland,OurCommonFuture(Oxford/NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1987).
2 JosephVor os,‘Inte gra lFut ures:An approacht ofut uresinqu iry’in Futures40(2) ,197, http://d x.doi.org/1 0.1016 /j.futures.2007.11.010.
3 Ziaudd inSard ar,‘TheN amesake :Fu tures;futu re sstudies ;futurol og y;futuri stic ;fo resig ht–What’sinaname?’inFutures42(2010),183,http://dx.doi.

org/10.1016/j.futures.2009.11.001.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2017.01.002
0016-3287/©2017TheAuthor.PublishedbyElsevierLtd.ThisisanopenaccessarticleundertheCCBYlicense(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/

4.0/).
I.H.CasterenvanCattenburch/Futures87(2017)24–36 25

Fig.1. Surveyresults:valueorientationsandtheirclassificationineightcategories(VanEgmond&DeVries,2011,p.856).

Inlinewiththis,KlaasvanEgmondandBertdeVries(2011)argueforan‘integralworldview’,tobefoundinananalysisof

themutualrelationbetweensingleunderlyingvalues,therankingofthesevaluesandtheimplicationofthischoiceformoral
cha racter.4
VanEgmond’stheoryidentifiesanunderlyingvaluepatternintheshapeofacrossedcircle,representingaffirmativeand
adversa tive value orient ations, wh os e (centrifug al) di sintegra tio n e ngend ers unsustai nable tendencies – pleading f or a
(centripetal ) integ ration of va lue orie ntations. Ho wever, buildin g on Kant’ s observation that ‘witho ut a teleolo gic al
frameworkth ewholepro jec tofm oralitybecom esunintell igible’,M acIn tyre(19 81/2007/201 1,p. 11)haspo in tedoutthat
thereisno‘ ratio nal’so lutiont ot heproble mofvirtu eversusvice,a ndinthisr espectheconsider st heE nlig htenmen tto bea
failur e( tec hnologyw ithouta m ora lconcep tle dtoa necolo gical cris is) .5M acIntyre ar guesfora rev ivaloftheArist ote lia n

traditionwiththecentralconceptofmanashavinganessentialnature,purposeandfunction.AsAristotle(2011,p.61)

argued in his Nicomachean Ethics, a unity of virtues is to be sought in a complex diversity of values (virtue being the

intermediatebetweentwovices):

Virtue,then,isastateofcharacterconcernedwithchoice,lyinginamean,i.e.meanrelativetous,thisbeingdetermined

byarationalprinciple,andbythatprinciplebywhichthemanofpracticalwisdomwoulddetermineit.Nowitisamean

betweentwovices,thatwhichdependsonexcessandthatwhichdependsondefect;and,againitisameanbecausethe
vicesresp ecti velyfa llsh ortofo rexceed wh atisr ight inbo thpas sionsand ac tions,w hile virtue b ot h finds andchoo ses
thatw hichisinte rme diate. 6

This(dynamic)meanistoenablepeopletorealizetheirspecifichumanaim(telos).7VanEgmond’stheoryunderpins
MacInty re’sargum entan d att unesto theInt eg ralFutu resap proach, which also recognizesth iscomple xity:
Thus, to take an i ntegr al persp ec tive , one ne eds to be able to move out of specific , par ticularising paradigmatic
assum pt ions a nd paradigm -based pers pect ives int o w ha t we m ight ca ll a ‘me ta-parad igmatic meta-p erspective’—a

perspectivewhichrecognisesandvaluesthecontributionsofallparadigm-basedperspectivesbutwhichisnonetheless
freeofand outside oftheirp artic ularisin gh old.8

(Voros,2008,p.198)

4 Klaas van Egmond & Bert de Vries, ‘Sustainability: The search for the integral worldview’, in Futures 43:8 (2011), 853–867; doi:10.1016/j.

futures.2011.05.027.
5 AlasdairMacIntyre,AfterVirtue,AStudyinMoralTheory(London/NewYork:Bloomsbury,1981,thirdedition2007,impression2011),66.
6 Aristotle ,Nicomache anEt hics,W ill iamD av idRoss (trans .&ed.)(Charle ston: CreateSpace, 2011) ,61a nd65.
7 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, William David Ross (trans. & ed.) (Charleston: CreateSpace, 2011), 17.
8 Voros,op .cit.inFuture s40(2 ),198,ht tp://dx .doi.o rg/10.1 01 6/j.f utures.2007.1 1.010.
26 I.H.CasterenvanCattenburch/Futures87(2017)24–36

Fig.2. Humanvalueorientations(VanEgmond&DeVries,2011,858).

This article explains how the underlying allegorical structure of Shakespeare’s works corresponds to Van Egmond’s

theoretical sustainability model and how the (dynamic) value orientations of the northern European Renaissance that
groundSha kespeare’swo rksare relev antt othe ‘reflexive proces sofquestion ing ,cre ationand questionin g’anticipato ryof
moresu stainable(inc lusive) futu res(Inay at ulla h,2006,p .656).9

2.Sustainabilitytheory

2.1.Sustainabilitymodel

To classify different value orientations, Van Egmond collected data from social surveys, historical and philosophical
works .Inthis ‘integralw orldv iew’,VanEgm ond firstcomb inedthev alue orien tations deduced fromthep opu lationsurveys
withp hil osop hicalins ightsofthe past millenn ia(Fi g.110).
Po sitionedinthe figure,i nd ivid ualp eopleascri bem orevaluetocertainparts(quadrants)oftheintegralworldviewthan
otherparts;su ch pa rts(qu adrants)ca nbeco nsidere das (indiv idu al)wor ldview s(Fig.211) :

ThenVanEgmondanalyzedtherelationshipbetweentheseworldviewsandoutlinesof(macro)history.Hefoundthat
specificv alue patterns (quadran tso ftheintegral worldvie w)dom inatedcert ainp eriods,d en otingaq uadrant or‘ worldv iew’
as the ‘ Zeitge ist’. So, the time fa cto r w as adde d: history t urns count erclock wise thr ough the i ntegral w or ldview, one
wo rldv iewdomin atin gthe ‘Zeit geist’fo rsev eralhun dredye ars.Th entheworldviewd egenerat esin toitsow ncaricature ,and
othervalue sstarttodo mi nate,often as arespo nsetoth evalu esof the previousw orldview(F ig.3 12) .
Th e deve lopme nt of a world view in to its own car icat ure is a t rigge r for ‘un sustainable deve lopment’, Van Egmond

discovered.Thatisbecausecomplementaryvalueorientations,whichareopposedinthemodel,evoketensionsthatleadtoa

disproportionateone-sidedfocus,resultinginaperversionofthevalueorientation.Oncevalueorientationsbreakthrough

theperipheryof thecircleintotheoutside,theylosecontactwiththecoherenceofthevaluecircle(andherewithwith
‘hum andignit y’ whic hisd efine dby theval uepa ttern within thec ircle ).

9 SohailInayatullah,‘Anticipatoryactionlearning:Theoryandpractice’inFutures38(2006),656,http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2005.10.003.
10 VanEg mond&De VriesinFutur es(201 1),op.cit .,856,d oi:10 .1016/j.fu tu res.2011 .05 .027;ba sedo ntheWIN-modelTMofTNS-NIPO(Aalbers2006).
11 Van Egmond & DeV riesi nF utures( 2011),o p.c it.,8 56,do i:10.1016/j.futures.2011.05.027;ba sedon th eW IN-modelTMofTN S-NIPO(Aa lbers200 6),858.
12 Van Egmond & De Vries in Futures (2011), op. cit., 856, doi:10.1016/j.futures.2011.05.027; based on the WIN-modelTMof TNS-NIPO (Aalbers 2006), 861.
I.H.CasterenvanCattenburch/Futures87(2017)24–36 27

Fig.3. Overshootandcollapseofworldviews(VanEgmond&DeVries,2011,861).

2.2.Thechallenge

If ‘unsustainable development’ is represented by outward arrows – similar to ‘centrifugal forces’ – then sustainable

developmentisthe(centripetal)movementtowardthecentreofthecircle:theplacewheresocialvalueorientationsand

worldviewstouchorevenoverlap.Yetthedesiredbalancecomplieswiththedynamicsassociatedwithvalueorientations,
makingita compl ex task– resemb lant tot hecom plicacies in‘Integr alFut ure s’.Howto achievethi s(par adoxi cal)dynamic
equilibr iu m andmak ewh at isofvaluei nc lusiv e?13(Floyd,B ur ns,&Ram os,2008 ,p.77 )T ostruct ured ebatescirclin garound
thisquestion ,iti susefu ltos ee ho wthe worksofWilliamS hakesp ea reenge nder‘p ra ctic al self-reflex iveinqu iry’asac atalyst
fora nintegra la p proach (V oro s,20 08, p.198 ).14

3.DaVinci’s‘VitruvianMan’asamodelforunderstandingreality

Forifamanbeplacedflatonhisback,

withhishandsandfeetextended,

andapairofcompassescenteredathisnavel,
the fin gers an dtoesofh istwoha nd san dfeetwilltouch

thecircumferenceofacircledescribedtherefrom.

Andjustasthehumanbodyyieldsacircularoutline,
soto oa squ are figurem ayb efound fromit.1 5

13 ‘IperceivethechallengetobeinarticulatinganEmbodiedForesight,inclusiveofintegraltheories,butallowingthemtoinform(notover-code)local
challe ngesand circ umstance s,a nd be transformed by localityan dtheneed sathand .’Jo shFloyd ,AlexBur nsa ndJoseR amos, ‘A Challen ging Conversatio non
IntegralFu ture s:EmbodiedFo resi ght &Trialogue s’i nJourna lof Fut uresS tud ies13 (2,2 008), 77.
14 ‘Atr ulyinteg ralapproac htoknow le dgeinquiry w ouldsee k toinclud enoton ly all levelso fhumanexperience,butwouldalsoconsideralllevelsof
existe nceits elf,inal lofthefor m sithasbeen conceiv edofi nthe en tirehist oryo fthe hu mank no wledge quest,beitm ate rial,m ental or,indee d,s piritua l.’

JosephVoros,op.cit.inFutures40,198,http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2007.11.010.
15 Ma rcusVi truv ius ,De Archite ctur a,Mo rrisHickyMorgan(trans.)(Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress,1914),BookIII,Chapter1,retrieved2016-0311on
http://www .gutenber g.o rg/files/2023 9/2023 9-h/29 239-h.h tm.
28 I.H.CasterenvanCattenburch/Futures87(2017)24–36

(Vitruvius/Morgan,1914,III-1)
Around1490 ,Leo nardodaVincimadeadrawingofthehumanproportions:the‘VitruvianMan’.Thetitlereferstothe
Romanarch itectV itruvius, wh oused these p roportion sfi ftee nhund redyearsearl ier,i nDearchit ectura libri deci asa‘ca no nof
proport ions’for theconstr uctio nof templ es.Fromthe centre ofthisfi gure, botha cir cle andasqua reca nbe d ra wn.As a
modelforun der stan dingreality, th efigurei nspire dph ilosop he rs,sc ientist sand o ther t hink er sdurin gce ntu ries.On eo f

themwasCarlGustavJung,aSwisspsychiatristandfounderof theschoolofanalyticalpsychology.Onthebasisof this
drawi ngh eexp loredth erela ti onship betweenthe tan giblehum an ex istence an dtheunco nscious(Jung ,20 11,9 :1,p. 37 7).16
Huma na natomy, acco rdingtoJung ,depicts ame ntalstru cturein thedoma ino fthe ‘unconsciou s’,whe rebas icp att ernsof

human behaviour are embedded. In this structure, the circle symbolizes the spiritual aspects, the square the material
domain .Withinth is‘p ortrayalofm an ’,Jun gseestwo cen tres.Th eegoasan entit yatthec entreofc ons ciousne ss;t heSelfas
theunco nscious pre figuration of thee go,w hich inc ludesbo thth eco ns cio us,th eu nco nsciou sa ndtheego.Stu dyi ngt he
alch emistic conc ept of coincid en tia oppo sitorum (or con iuncti o), J ung (2011, 14: 1–2) analyse s th e co mpo nents of the

conjunction(i.e.physicalandspiritualunion),theirunderlyingdualisticstructureandtheprocesstowardstheunionof
opposites.17 Van Egmond’ sval uecircle echoesJ ung’s interpretati on:VanE gmondal sosu gge ststofin dshared valu esint he

middleofthecircle,invitingsustainablebalance.

4.Allegoryandthesearchforvalues

4.1.WilliamShakespeareandhistime18

UntilthelateMiddleAges,justbeforeShakespeare’stime,geocentrismwasthepredominantcosmologicalsystem.The
earthwa sth ece ntreoft heun iver se,and allcelestialbo dies(cid:1) thesun,mo on,s tars andplanets– werecarried around the

earthonspheresorcircles.TheHeavensstretchedoutabovetheearth,Hellwasbeneath.Inthisworld,everythingwaslinked
togeth er .Thesub lu nary,ea rthl yworldw asmade upo fthef our eleme ntse arth ,water,a ir and fire.Th einteractio nbe tween

these complementary elements on earth caused movement, but this was only temporary in duration. In contrast, the

movementsinthesuper-lunarworld(ether)werecyclical,unchanging,andeverlasting.Everymovingthing,bothphysical
andspiritua l,fo und itsbalance inside thebigc ircle, whichev erremained the same(Rivers ,1994 ,pp.68– 88;Til lyard, 1959).19

4.1.1.Worldviewquestioned
Th e reinterp retation of ancient sources in the European Renaissance led to scientific discoveries that changed the

medievalworld.NotlongafterthePolishmathematicianandastronomerNicolausCopernicusprovedthatnottheearth,but

thesunisthecentreofoursolarsystem,hisGermancolleagueJohannesKepleraddedthattheplanetsdonotmoveincircles
arou nd th esu n,butm a kee lliptic alorbits :th esuniso nlyoneo ftwofoca lpoints (Hon& Zik ,200 9,pp.3 07- 8).2 0Both fi ndings

wereinconvenientfortheCatholicChurch.Arrogatingbiblicalpassages,theChurchhadledpeopletobelievethatGodhad

created the earth as a solid, immovable rock, around which all celestial bodies made perfect circles. Due to the recent
scientifi cdi scover ies ,n owtw oscenarios were possible :eithe rth eBiblew asnot right,o rthecl ericalin terpr eta tion ofthe

Biblewaswrong.BothscenariosportendedlittlegoodforthepowerfulpositionoftheChurch.

The sixteenthcentury broughtmanyotherdiscoveries and innovations, like the barometerand the telescope, which
underm inedthem edieval worldvie w.Lif ewas nota‘Perfec tCir cle’withthe earth as itsunshaka blec entr e,andman inthe
upperpositio no ftheoldw orldorder, asa linkb etw e enheav enand earth :be tween G od andtheanim als(Ni colso n,19 65 ).21
Order –ifany –h ad tob erede fined.

ThinkerslikeLeonardodaVinciandFrancescoPetrarcarevivedanoldphilosophicalconcept,probingmanasthemeasure

ofallthings,andquestioningthehierarchicalmodeloftheChurch.Humanexperienceofrealitygroundedthisnew,early
m ode rnworl dvie w(Cf.Zarka, 201 1,pp.111-20 ).22Rev ivi ngA ristoteli anaesth etics,itwas n otonly permissib lebu tdesi rable

topursuehappinessinthepresentandnottowaitforaparadiseinthehereafter:Manwasendowedwithreasonandfree

16 C.G.Jung,DieArchetypenunddaskollektiveUnterbewußte,inGesammelteWerke9/1(Ostfildern:PatmosVerlag,1995,repr.2011),377.
17 C.G. Jung, Mys teriumConi unct ionis ,inGesam melteWerke,14 /1 &2(Ostfilder n:Patm os Verlag,1995 ,repr.20 11).Th e‘con juncti onofo pposites’isanold

philosophicalconcept,whichgoesbacktotheancientGreeks(Heraclitus)andHermeticism(HermesTrismegistos),laterappliedbythealchemistsand

Rosicrucians.
18 WilliamShakespearewrotehisplaysbetween1590and1613.
19 Cf.Isabe lRivers,Class icaland Ch ristian IdeasinE nglish Ren aissancePoetry:AStudents’Guide(2ndedn,London:Routledge,1994,firstpublishedAllen&
Unwin ,l979) ,68–88 ;Eustace M. W.Tillyar d,The E lizabeth anWorldPic ture(N ew York:V intage Book s,19 59).
20 Gio raHon ,Yaakov Zik,‘Ke pler’s OpticalP art ofAstronom y(160 4):Intr oducin gthe Ecliptic Instrum ent’inPerspectivesonScience,17:3(2009),307-8,

doi:10.1162/posc.2009.17.3.307.
21 MarjorieHopeNicolson,TheBreakingoftheCircle,StudiesintheEffectofthe‘NewScience’onSeventeenth-CenturyPoetry(NewYork&London:Columbia

UniversityPress,1960,revisededition1965).
22 Recent ly,sch olarsa ddedto thetra ditionalviewsofanthropocentrichumanismtheconceptofa‘heteronomoushumanism’,cf.YvesCharlesZarka,
‘Levinas:Hum anisma ndHet ero nom y’,intheB ritish Jou rnalfortheHisto ryofPhilos ophy ,19:1(2 011 ) ,111–120,DOI: 10.1080/0960 87 88.20 11.5330 14.
I.H.CasterenvanCattenburch/Futures87(2017)24–36 29

will.Scientists,philosophersandartistsporedoverthesenewinsightswhich‘callallindoubt’,asoneofthemliterallywrote
(Don ne/Patride s,1991,p.335 ,l. 205).23 Sodi dWi lliam Shak espeare.

4.1.2.Kingandtheatre
Sh akes pear e’saudiencesvaried fromLondon citizens inthe Globetothe Englisharistocracyandthe RoyalFamilyin

WhitehallPalaceoroutsideLondon.AfterthedeathofQueenElizabethin1603,hersuccessorKingJamesIbecamepatronof
Shakespea re’sthe at recomp any,whi chfro mt henon w ascalle dTheKin g’s Men. Des pitethisR oyal recogn i tion,Sha kespea re

didnotshuncriticalallusionstoRoyalauthorityandpolitics.Hisplaysdenouncedtopicalissuesregardingeconomicand
soc ialw elfare ,thesi tuationo fd isadva ntagedgr oups ,public hea lth,ag riculture,sc ience,m ining –allthis inlightof the

changingworldviewsinEurope.

4.2.Allegory

ForcriticismonState,ChurchorKing,playwrightscouldexpectaheavypenalty.PlaywrightBenJonsonandsomeactors

endedupinjailin1597,aftertheirstagingofasatiricalpiece.Criticismwaspossibleonlywhencloakedinsmartterms.A

triedinstrumentwasallegory:aformofimageryinwhichthemetaphorissustainedthroughoutthepiece.Allegoryoften

presentsabstractconcepts,suchasNature,Death,LoveandVirtueaslivingpersons.Thus,allegoryinvitesthereaderor
viewerto search andfindm eani ng s,which canbe appl iedt oreali ty. These meaning saren otpurel ycritic alor amusi ng

commentary,asinsatire.Satiremakesfunofstupidbehaviourorhatefulideasinanentertainingway,whereasallegoryis
directedtowa rd st hedisc overy ofvalu e(C liff ord,19 74,p.49).2 4

4.2.1.Allegoricalpatterns

Suchanallegoricalquestforvaluesisnotrandom.Anothercharacteristicofallegoryisthatitisbuiltonpatterns,which
are cont inu ously repe ated b etw een th e star t and fin ish of th e quest (Cliff ord ,1974).2 5 Thos e pa ttern s a re recogn izable
bec ausetheyare life-like.T heytella bout thed ifficu ltiest he char acters havetoo vercomeonthe irpath;a bout thequalities

andvirtuesthatareimportanttothem;abouthowthecharactersrelatetoeachotherandtheirchallenges;aboutthevalues

onwhichtheybasetheirchoices;abouttheconsequencesoftheirchoicesandbehaviour.Thus,thereaderorviewergainsan

insightintowhatdoesanddoesnotwork.

Theallegoricalpatternsmayinstigatethereaderorspectatortorelatetocurrentpersonalandsocialchallenges.This
increas es an und erstandin g of human r elat ionship s and social d evelop me nts. Su ch under stand ing c an help to find
‘sustainab le v alues’: principl es that a p erson or grou p of people find valuable a nd im portant to pur sue, becau se they

contributetoabalancedrelationshipbetweentheindividual,societyandtheenvironment.Thisisonereasonwhyallegory,

mythandmetaphorarerelevanttofuturesstudies,asAnthonyJudge(1993,pp.275-6) observes:
Me taph orsareus edt ogetaco nc eptualh andleon co mplexity ’(... )Amet aph orthus providesaframeworkofcredible

associationsthatincreasestheprobabilitythatrelationshipsinotherdomainswillbeconceivedaccordingtothepattern,
ratherthan anot her.26

4.2.2.Allegoryisnomoralcompass
A thirdcha ra cte ristico fallegoryisthatthereissomething‘unlimited’init,asNorthropFryeremarked(1957,p.88).27
There isno questionofo ne indisput ab leou tcome .A lthoughfac tsspeakfor th em se lves–the num berofdea thsinH a mletis
nine– ,t he questioni fH aml et’schoicesw erecorre ctornot,i f‘tob eorno tto be’reallyis a que stion,or if Hamlet 's success or

Fortinbrasheraldsabetterfuture,isdebaTableShakespeareprovideshisaudiencewithpracticalhandlestothinkabout
motives, re asons, a c tions o f and c on sequences for the chara cters and th eir sphere of in fluence. The stag e d ialogu e is a
represen tationof Hamlet ’sr ealit y,withoutjudg em ent ofawriter who puts upthat re ality.

4.3.Shakespeare’sallegoricalpattern:O

SketchesoftheallegoricalpatterninShakespeare’splayscorrespondtothecircularvaluemodelofVanEgmond.Thatis
not surprisin g, giv en the dom inance of the orderly, c yclica l worldview u ntil shortly before Shake sp eare ’s time, a nd th e
Aris totelianinfl uence on earlymoder np oliti cs(Armi tage,Co ndren,&Fit zmau rice,200 9,p.3) .28Ifcharacter sarep lace din

differentquadrantsofthevaluecircle,theyarticulatetensionsbetweendifferentvaluesandworldviews.Anexampleofthis

23 JohnDonne,TheFirstAnniversarie.AnAnatomyoftheWorld,Wherein,BytheOccasionoftheUntimelyDeathofMistressElizabethDrury,thefrailtieandthe
decayof thiswh o leW orld isrepresente d.I nTheCom p lete English Poemso fJo hn Donne,C .A .Pa trides(ed .)(Lon do n:Ever yman’sLi brary, 199 1),335 ,20 5.
24 ‘In t he fi rst ca se effo rt is directed tow ard s the rej ection of wha t i s val ueless, in t he secon d tow ard the discovery of value.’ Gay C liffor d, The

TransformationsofAllegory,(London/Boston:Routledge&KeganPaul,1974),49.
25 ‘In the first ca se effort is directed tow ards the re je ction o f wh at is v alueless, in the second toward the discovery of value.’ Gay Clifford, The
Transfo rma tions ofAll egory, (Lo ndon/Bos ton:Rou tledg e&Kegan P aul,19 74 ),14.’
26 AnthonyJ.N .Ju dge,‘Me taphorandtheLa nguageof Fu tures’, inFu tures25(3),275-6,http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0016-3287(93)90137-I.
27 Northrop Fry e,Ana tomyofCrit icism ,Fo urEssays, (P rincetona nd Oxford :P rinc etonUn iversityPress,1957),88.
28 Cf.Shakes peare andEarly M odernPoli tical Thought ,DavidArm itag e,Conal Condren, AndrewFit zmaur ice(ed s.)(Cambridge:UniversityPress,2009),3.
30 I.H.CasterenvanCattenburch/Futures87(2017)24–36

canbefoundinTheTempest.Here,the‘earthly’characterCalibanisopposedtothe‘spiritual’Ariel,asAntonio’segoistic
mat eria lismt oG onz alo’saltru istics tew ardship.T heplayen dswith Pr ospero’sa ck now ledgemen tofth ese tensions, drawing
acircleonth e stage,invi tingthere ader:onlyby em brac ingth ecom pletevalu ecircle,the‘O’ma yfi nally cometo‘ Prosper’.
S cholar sh ave noted theconn ect ionwith the alc hemisticco nce ptof‘coni unctio oppos itor um ’,as lateral soapp lie dbyC.G.
Junginh isps ychoan aly ticalwork(C obb, 198 4;Jung,201 1a,2011 b; Rogers,199 2).29
Li ke Van Egmond’scircula rvalu emode l,Shak espea re’sall egorica lpattern hasadynamicnature.Thisalsohastodowith

theZeitgeist.Intheearlymodernperiod,theorderofthecosmoschangedinthechaosoftheuniverse.Reasonandfreewill

enabledmantobringordertochaos.Orderisbroughtaboutbychoicesforvalues,whichpromoteorder.Suchchoicesare
based on hum a n judg emen t,w hich i mplies d ifference ,confl ict and tem po rality. T herefo re, Shake speare ’s wo rks are not

basedonastaticvaluecircle,butonadynamicandallegoricalO,inwhichShakespeareplayswithjudgements,oppositions
and co nju n ction s that acquir e si gni fi cance in dyna mic reality . T hi s dyna mic allegoric al O t hus c ontrasts wit h ‘future as
whe re-metaphors ’tha t‘condit ionpeopleto th inkinte rmsoft ime asalinea rarrow’(Ju dg e,19 93,p.279 ).30
Thesignificance ofSh akespeare ’sallego ric alOan d howit rel atest ot he cyclic almedi evalval uesys tem canbeunderstood
fromth eprinciples of theancienta rtofmemo ry ,wh ich to okona n ew dimensi oninSha kespe are’stim e.

5.Memoryart

5.1.Memoryartandassociation

Theartofmemoryisawaytoorganizecomplexstructuresordata,becauseplanningisessentialforgoodmemory(OED,
2016).3 1 A na ncientR om a nor ato rcouldm emorize longspee ch esby associat inghisw or dswithi mag ines orimage s,and
linkingthos eimages toaser iesoflo ci,orl ocations.T hisal lowedthe ora tortowalk thro ughan imag inarybui ldin gviaafi xed

routeduringhisspeech.Ineachroom,hefoundmemoryimagestowhichhehadattachedpartsofhisspeech.Bymeansof
assoc iationh eco uldlad le thete xtfrom h isme mory(Ya tes,196 6/ 2001,p .1 8;C arruthers ,1990 /20 08 ,p.25).3 2

5.1.1.Memoryartasscientia

Buildingontheprinciplesofscholasticanimistphilosophy,GiordanoBrunofurtherdevelopedmemoryartinthelate
fifteenthcen tu ry(S chmitt,Ski nn er,&Kessl er,1998– 2003,pp.23 6-63).33B runou sedper fectgeome tricfigure sin hi sde sign
(Wildgen ,2007,p .22).34In dividual le tterswe rememorize dby wayofassociativ eima ges,suc hastheO byasph er e,o rtheA
byaladde rora pa irofcompasses, andcom bina tionsforme dn eww o rdsorsente nces(G atti,2 00 2,p .1 98 ). 35Thus Br uno ’s

memoryartfunctionedasapracticaltoolforforeignlanguageacquisition.
Bruno arg uedthatth ea d iecta(liter ally ‘par ticiples ’:thesym boliccontentsofamemorycell,calledimaginesagentesby

Cicero)expressadynamicwhichischaracteristicofthesoul,andmanifestsitselfintheprocessofreasoning(Farinella&
Preston ,2002,p p .599–609 ).36Bru n oreasonedtha tt hisi ntern alm ovementp rincip le was notonly to befoundi nthetinie st

elementaryparticles,butalsointhememoryimages:ifthereisaprincipleofmovementthatdeterminestheouterworld,it

shouldalsobetraceablewithin:throughourimagination.Thus,imaginationspurredonthedevelopmentofscience,which,
afterhe lioc ent rism,now propos edtheor iesa bouttheinfi nityo ftheunivers e(Gatti, 20 02,p .202).37Now m emorya rtwas

morethanapracticalwaytostoreandreproduceinformation:ithadbecomeameditativedisciplinefocusedonspiritualand
scient ificd e epening, ont he basis ofw illpowera ndimaginat io n(Y ates,196 6 /2001,pp.2 26-7).38

5.2.MemoryartandShakespeare

Memoryarthadagreatpotential.Backwards,itgroundedmemory,facilitatingthememorizationofwords,texts,events,

people and objects in various combinations. Forwards, it trained the mind, as a technique for developing and testing

29 ForJungianreadingsofShakespeare,cf.BarbaraRogers,JungandShakespeare,Hamlet,OthelloandTheTempest(Wilmette:ChironPublications,1992)or
NoelCo bb,Pros pero’sIsla nd ,TheSecretAl che myatth eHearto fThe Tem pest(London :Coven ture,19 84). For Jung’sex planationo fconiu nctioopposito rum,s ee

Jung(1995),opcit.
30 J udge,in Fu tures25(3),279,http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0016-3287(93)90137-I.
31 OED,m ne monics ,n.
32 Franc esYates,The ArtofMemory(London:Pimlico,1966,repr.2001),18;MaryCarruthers,TheBookofMemory:AStudyofMemoryinMedievalCulture

(Cambridge:UniversityPress,1990,secondedition2008),25.
33 TheCamb ridgeHisto ryofR enaissa ncePhi losophy, Charle sB.Schmitt,QuentinSkinner,EckhartKessler(eds.)(Cambridge:UniversityPress,1988–2003),

236-63.
34 WolfgangWildgen,‘Color,SmellandMemory’,inSpeakingofColorsandOdours,MartinaPlümacherandPeterHolz(eds.)(Amsterdam-Philadelphia:

JohnBenjaminsPublishing,2007),22.
35 H ilaryGatti, GiordanoB runoan dRenaissanceScience:BrokenLivesandOrganizationalPower(Ithaca:CornellUniversityPress,1999;repr.2002),198.
36 Alessa ndroF arinellaan dCaro leP reston,‘Gior danoBru no:Neo plato nism andtheWhee lofMe moryin theDeU mbrisIdea rum’,i nRena issan ceQuar terly
55-2(2002),59 9–609,D OI: 10.230 7/126231 9.
37 G atti,op. cit.,202.
38 Yates, op. cit., 226-7.YatesarguesthatthemajoremphasisonimaginationischaracteristicoftheRenaissance,andthatthememorysystemsexhibit‘a
profound con vict ion,tha tman ,theim age oft hegre aterworld ,ca ngrasp,hol d, andunderstan d the greaterworld thr ough the powero fhisima gination .’
I.H.CasterenvanCattenburch/Futures87(2017)24–36 31

scenarios.Inbothways,memoryimagesworkbywayofassociation.Oncethementalpowersinthememorywheel(the‘O’
of Shakesp ea re’s plays) are put to work , asso cia tion cr eates new p erspe ctiv es, eme rging fr om m emorized realiti es th at
en hancesociallea rning. This key ide awas represented bythefl agab ovetheentra nceofShak espea re’soldGlob e,depict inga
memory image ofHercu lesw ith the glob eonhisshou ld ers (Cas terenv an Cattenbu rch ,2015).39Sha kesp earel iterallyan d
figurative lyplay ed withit: in,on an dthro ugh th e(letter)O .

6.Shakespeare’sOforsustainablefutures

Astheletter‘O’inmemoryartismemorizedbytheimageofasphere,soShakespeareusedtheletterOasawordwith

manymeanings.Thesemeaningshaveonefeatureincommon:theyalludetoaregenerativecapacity.Thatreferencecanbe
either positiveor negat ive,orbot h.Ifp osit ive,the Oc anproduc ean ewand a ni mateperspec tive,hen ce‘su stainable ’int he
longte rm.Ifth e allusionis n egativ e, theOaw ake n sto values(c h oices )tha tareno t‘sustainable ’inth elongterm.4 0 The

movement of Shakespearean characters between these alternate values echoes in works of other seventeenth-century

authorslikeBenJonsonorJohnLyly,andcorrespondstotheindicationsofcentripetalandcentrifugalorientationsinVan
Egmond ’ssu stain ability th eory. Inas tudy onBenJons on ,Th omasGreen e( 1970,p.32 6)lit erallyrefer stocentripe tal and

centrifugalforces:
Mostof theworksinJonson’slargecanon–includingthetragediesandcomedies,verseandprose–canbecategorized

broadlyintheirrelationtoanimplicitorexplicitcentre.Thatistosay,onecandescribeanimageorcharacterorsituationas

durable,ascentre-orientedandcentripetal(Ishallusethesetermsasmoreorlesssynonymous)oronecandescribethemas

movingfree,as disorientedandcentrifugal,inquestof transformation. Tosketchthesecategoriesistoseemtosuggest
absolute pole s, ethicallypos itive andnegativ e.4 1

Thisquotationresonateswiththedynamicsinsocietalvalueorientationsdescribedabove,asdeducedfromrecentsocial
surveys .Thereisa directasso ciati onb etween‘d ur able’(su staina ble)andtheo rientation onthe ce ntre,with apo sitivee thical
annotati on.Gr ee n e(1970 ,p.326)as sociatest hepositiv ewith(theas sert ion oforderin) the ‘ma sques’ andc o mediesa ndthe
negativewi th(crud ityan dd isord erin)the ‘an ti-masqu es’a ndtr agedies:
The g reat s torehous e of Jonson’s cen trip etal images is the series of masques which assert, almost by definition, the

existenceofanorder.Thesuccessionofanti-masquetomasque,ofcrudityanddisordertobeautyandorder,demonstrates
overand ov ert hebas ich armonyof the cosmosand th erealm.4 2

Thiscorroboratestheideaofacircularvaluepattern,withanoutspokenethicalnotion;positiveincaseofcentripetal

forces(comedies)andnegativeincaseofcentrifugalforces(tragedies).

6.1.O’ssenses

Thecirclemetaphorisalsousedintheplays,inmanyways.Afewexampleswillbegiven:

O,crown;O,zero
In thetrag ed yKingLear,theFoolsaystoLear:‘ThouartanOwithoutafigure’:azerowithoutacipherprecedingit,which
mean sze ro,noth ing( Shak espe are/ Hinm an ,196 8/1996 ,p .79 6 ).43The O alludes t othe preciou s crown ontheKin g’s head,

which really is not worthanything, because Learhas not been able topass on his kingdom tothe next generation in a
‘sustai nable’ wa y:s uccessi oninKing Learend sin ablo odb ath.W ith his ‘Ow itho ut afigure’,t he Foo lsug geststhatL ear ’s

crownishollow,anemptyring.Thisallusion(ormemoryimage)mayalerttothethoughtthatsustainablevaluesaretobe

foundelsewhere.

O,vagina

ThecomedyMuchAdoAboutNothingispepperedwithdisputation,intrigue,imputationandconspiracyforthesakeof
‘love’.T heplaye ndsw itht hepro misetha tt wocouple smar ryandthesc hemeris punished,le avin gtheaudien ce toco nclu de
thatth ere was nore ason for suchafu ss.T hea ccusatio n,that the fian céeofon e ofthemai nchara cter shadbee nu nfaithful

andlosthervirginity,turnedouttobegroundless,asalsotheostensiblehostilitybetweenthesecondpairoflovers,who
real lyjus tse emedtolo veeach oth er. Th erewas‘muc ha doa bou tnothing’: nothing, zero,0.An dal lthis‘m uch ad o’wasa bout
‘nO-t hing ’,avulga r word forv agina ,which de finitely nee ds‘No -thing’(n oting,no tion) fo rthe co nsu mmati ono fma rriage
(P artridge,1 9 47/200 1,p.2 00 ).44

39 HerculesreplacesAtlasinhiseleventh‘impossiblelabour’whichistofetchthethreegoldenapplesfromatreeguardedbyahundred-headeddragon
andtheHesp erides.Si nceA tla sis thefather oftheHesp erides,h ecans te al theap ples with outcrea tingsu spicio n .Wh ileHercu les ta kesoverAtlas’slo ad(i.e.
the cele stialvault,r eprese nted by th eglobe ), her eceiveshelp fr om theg odd essPal lasAthen a.Thise ventallud estoth erarem omen twh en‘Hea ven and
Eart h’arere connec ted(andhum an sca npeep be hindthe heave nlys cene s,i.e.the ycan broaden their persp ectives for mu tual respecta ndund erstandi ng).
Furthe rco ntextualizati onin author’ sdis serta tion(20 15) .
40 The ideasframedhere h avebeen substantiate dintheauthor’sdissertation(UtrechtUniversity,2015:oai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/313689).
41 Tho masM .Green e,‘Be nJons onan dtheCentere dS elf’ inStudie sinEnglishL iterature ,1500–1900 ,10:2 (1970),326,DOI:10.2307/449921.
42 Thomas M. Greene, ‘Ben Jonson and the Centered Self’ in Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900, 10:2 (1970), 326, DOI: 10.2307/449921.
43 TheTrag edi eofKing Lear, inTheN orton Fac simile,Th eFirs tFo lioofSh ak espeare ,BasedonF oliosintheF olger Shakesp eare Librar yCollection,CharlesHinman

(ed.)(NewYork-London:W.W.Norton&Company,1968,secondedition1996),1.4.705-8,p.796.Cf.KingLear,R.A.Foakes(ed.),TheArdenShakespeare
(Lond on:M ethuen,1997) ,202, 1.4.83-4 : Foakesexp lainst he‘Ow ithouta figure ’as‘ciphe r,o rzer o,w ith nonu mbe rbefore itto give itval ue’.
44 EricP artridge,S hakesp eare’ sBawdy( London andNew Yo rk: Routledg e ,1947; 20 01),200 (‘ O’for ‘circl e’), 99(‘circ le’for‘ pu de nd’).
32 I.H.CasterenvanCattenburch/Futures87(2017)24–36

O,death;O,eternity
In TheTem p est,Oisusedtoindicatedifferentmeanings.ThefirstemanatesfromSebastianandAntonio,twothugswho

arekeenonseizingpowerandwillingtocommitadoublemurderforit.Whentheyraisetheirswordsabovethesleeping
kin gAlon so andhis counse llor Gonzalo ,S ebastian s ays,‘O,b utonew or d’, which mean s:‘Fo rthe bounda rybetw een lifeand
deat h,only onew or disneeded :‘O’.’To thenonbe liever ,O isth epo intat which lifemer gesi nto nothingne ss(theem pt yO,
nothin g).To the believ er ,Oisthe mom en tw henman’sco rru p tible body is separa ted fromthe imm ortalpart,na mel ytheso ul

(Oastheperpetuallyrotatingwheeloflife).

O,thesoul
In the fifth act of The Tempest, Prospero the ‘magician’ draws a magic circle on the floor around all characters
(Shak espe are/H inm an, 1968 /1996,p. 34).45The yall standroote dtothe sp ot,asP rosper om akes hiscr iticalon e-w ayaddress.
This O alludes to Pros pero’s mom en t of insigh t, a s he fi nally rea lize s he ha s kept hi mself o ut of the circle of his own

projections,whereashehad(has)ascoretosettlewithhimself.HemuststepintohisownOforspiritualgrowth:hehasto
‘prosperO’.T heOher ea llude stoth e incen tiv eofm ovem entand life ,whic hme mor yar tists in Sha kespear’ stimewo ul dha ve
calledth e‘s oul’ ( Aude n/Kirsch ,2 003 ,p.6).46

6.2.CrossingShakespeare’sO

Shakespeare’sOfunctionsasatopographicmap,emergingfromtheplay’sstructure.The‘story’,toldfromtheprologueto
thefirstactuntil th eepilogu e af terthefifth, islik easphere that ha snob eginninga ndn oend .All chara cter sandthe ir

fortunesareinthissphere.Identifyingwiththecharacters,thereaderrollsonwiththetimespanoftheplaytoexperience

theforcesmanifestedwithin:rivalry,alliance,revenge,resentment,respect,acceptance,desire,despair,understanding.

Thisinterplayofforcestakesplacebetweenthecharacters,andisconstantlychanging.Thesphereincludesthepattern

undertheseforces.Thispatternunderliesthestructureoftheplay,thecharacteristicsofitscharacters,themes,storyline,

attributes and other memory images. Whereas forces differ from play to play, the underlying pattern hardly changes.

Alongsidethecharacters,thereaderhikesthroughanallegoricallandscape,whereinmemoryimagesserveasmarkerson
theroute. Ois thetopogra phic map,w hicht hereade ru sestofindh iswayinth eallegor y,discove rnewp athsa nd learnwh ich

routesaresustainableandwhicharenot.

6.3.Shakespeare’sOforsustainablefutures

Richard Slaughter (1998, p. 997) refers to Herman Hesse’s Siddharta as a dramatisation of ‘the potentially powerful
influenceo fthepresen tly-ecl ips ed‘pe rennia ltr adition’, orcollec tivespiritu al wi sdomofhuman ki nd,’a ndtheobsc urationor
lossofthi s‘ kno wledgeofaprior,i nnerworld tomostp eo ple’.47Ina critical futuresa pp roach,Siddha rta can functionas an
instr um ent tore-admit ‘th e inter iordim ensio ns ofind ividualandc o llective lifeinto thepictur easwell asre -assessin gt he
kindsofval ue sanddee pcu lturalco mmitments w ewishto take onintoth efu ture ’(Sl aughter ,19 98). 48
In as imilarv ein canS hakespea re’sO‘holdam irr orup to natu re’ (Sha kesp eare/H inman,1968 /2001,p.774)inorderto
bring ‘o bscured assu mp tionstofullaw are ness, w hereth ey can beexa minedand,ifnecessary ,discarded’ (Sl augh ter ,1998, p.
999).4 9 This,in Hamlet’swo rds ,is exactlythe ‘purpo seof pla yin g’:

HAMLETforanythingsooverdoneisfromthepurposeofplaying,
whoseen d, bothatth efi rstandno w ,was and is,toho ld, as
‘twere, the mirro ru pto natu re; tosho wV irtue he ro wnfe ature,

scornherownimage,andtheveryageandbodyofthetimehis

formandpressure.

Allegorically, Hamlet’s ‘playing’ stands for ‘living consciously’. If the allegorical mirror is applied properly, it raises
consciousnessof virtues,v icesandt heirdyn am icbalan ce,anditdoe ss oin the‘veryag eandbo dy oftheti me’.Shake sp eare’s

wordscannotbereducedtoasingularmeaningorideology,buttheyengendermeaningwithinnewcontexts.AsinSiddharta,

45 ‘HeereentersArielbefore:ThenAlonsowithafrantickegesture,attendedbyGonzalo.SebastianandAnthonioinlikemannerattendedbyAdrianand
Francisco: Theya llente rtheci rclew hichPr osper o hadmad e,andth erestand cha rm’d:wh ichProspe roob seruing,s pea kes: ’,which isthesta ge directio nin

WilliamShakespeare,TheTempest,inTheNortonFacsimile,TheFirstFolioofShakespeare,BasedonFoliosintheFolgerShakespeareLibraryCollection,Charles

Hinman(ed.)(NewYork-London:W.W.Norton&Company,1968,secondedition1996),5.1.2034-7,34.
46 Cf.W .H.A uden,T heSeaandthe Mirro r,AComm e ntaryonSh akesp eare’sTh eTempe st,Arth urKirsch(e d.)(PrincetonandOxford:PrincetonUniversityPress,
2003), 6.Ar thurKir sch wri tesi nh isintro du ctiontoAud en ’spoem:‘Att hes ametime ,thoug hAud enye arnedtotr ansc enddua lism–he saidthat‘A llthe
strivin go flifeis astrivi ngtotr an sce ndduality’-h er emained acutel yco nsc iouso fitsco ntrapu ntalma nifestati on sinhuman existenc e .He said tha tin this
world‘a lle xpe ri en ceisdua lis tic,’andin sistedtha t‘M anisneit herpure spiritnor pu re nature–ifhe werepurelyeith er hewou ldhaveno his tory –but ex ists
inand as atensionb e tweenthe irop posing pola rities. ’H ethus prais edwh at heca lled‘bi n oc ula rvisi on,’an dsaid th atthe ‘one infa llibles ym pt omof
gr eatne ss is thecap acityfor doubl efocus.”( xix–xx)
47 Richar d Slau ghter,‘Fu tur esbeyo nddyst opia’inFutures30:10,997,http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0016-3287(98)00101-3.
48 Richard Slaughter, ‘Futures beyond dystopia’ in Futures 30:10, 997, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0016-3287(98),999.
49 TheTrag edieofHa mlet,Prin ceofDe nmarke,S ha kespear e,Ham let,in TheNortonFacsimile,TheFirstFolioofSh akespeare,BasedonFoliosintheFolger

ShakespeareLibraryCollection,CharlesHinman(ed.)(NewYork-London:W.W.Norton&Company,1968,secondedition1996),3.2.1867-72,774.Second

quotation:Slaughter,inFutures30:10,999,http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0016-3287(98)00101-3.
I.H.CasterenvanCattenburch/Futures87(2017)24–36 33

Fig.4. ReproductionofLeonardodaVinci’sVitruvianMan(vanEgmond&deVries,2011;vanEgmond,2014).

everyactionandeventcanleadtounderstanding(consciousness),whiletheallegoricalOkeepsquestioningthe‘Future’as
anen ergetic fello wact orp layin ga vitalrolein‘P resent”splay.

6.3.1.Plurality
Th e application of Shakespeare’s allegorical O tocontemporary sustainability debates matches the method of causal

layered analysis (CLA) in the poststructuralist futures approach of Sohail Inayatullah (1998, p. 815) in the sense that
Shakesp eare’sw orksse rve ‘to openupthepres entand pasttocre ate altern ativefutures ’–(plu ral istical ly) follo wing from
their cyclical v alue p attern .50 Shak esp eare ’s allego rica l O fo cu ses on multiple i nterpret at ions rather than a meanin g: it
invite stherea derto findoutnewmeaning(of anissueat ha nd)byq ues tingthea llegoricalpathw hilequ estion in gthefutu re
(ofthe issu eathan d) .Bec aus ealle gory‘atte mp ts tooffe r means by whichw eca ninterpret ourr elation shiptothep ast, tothe
for ces opera tin ginth epsyche ,andtot hefactsa nd proc esseso fth eworl dar oun dus’(Clif ford ,1974,p.54 ),t hes truct ur eof
Shakes peare’sal leg oric alpatte rne xp oses ade eper coherenc e51 :

1. Withparticularexperience(inallegory:theconflict/incitingevent;inCLA:the‘litany’oftheissueathand);

2. Withthesharedstory(atplotlevel:action1causesaction2,leadingtoclimaxanddénouement;inCLA,understandingof

theworkingofthesystembehindtheissueathand);

3. Continuitybetweenparticularexperienceanddifferentphilosophicinsights,relatedtoindividualsandgroups,divisionof

rolesandstructure,leadingtoclimaxandperipeteiainallegory;inCLA,culturalcarriers,differentwaysofknowingand

worldview(s)underthesystemandissueathand;
4. Continuitybe tween past ,presen tand futur e: questioningthedénouementandperipeteiainShakespeare’sallegoricalOis

questioning the future. Moving up and down the layers of analysis is a way to transform the metaphor, in order to

transformtheworld,whileallegorykeepswatchingoverthecontinuityofthetransformationprocess(wearelearners).

Shakespeare’sallegoricalvaluepatternthusaddstothepost-structuralfuturestoolbox,asaninstrumenttoanticipate
futuresthatmove beyond‘ra tional /design effor ts’and b ecom emanifestthr oughan underst and ing ofcollectiv ea rchetypes

underchangingworldviews.

50 SohailInayatullah,‘CausalLayeredAnalysis’,inFutures30:8,815,http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0016-3287(98)00086-X.
51 Cliffor d(1974),op. cit.,54.