AN OUTLINE OF FRANCIS BACON'S NEW ATLANTIS

  (Based on J. Weinberger, "Science and Rule in Bacon's Utopia," American Political Science Review, Fall, 1976, pp. 872-3. Page references in parentheses are to the class edition of New Atlantis.)

 The 2 overlapping major themes of New Atlantis:

1. Changing character / situation of the sailors who will subsequently announce Bensalem's virtues to the world: 

a. Their original plight at mercy of nature/ chance, when they consider selves unfree (37-59).

b. Their experiences after they come to regard selves as "free men" (59-81).

2. Revelation of Bensalem:

a. Sailors' reception by Bensalemites (37-45).

b. History of Bensalem, explaining its Christianity and laws of secrecy (45-58).

c. Current practices that extol/ control Bensalemite erotic behavior: Feast of the Family; Adam and Eve's Pools - the latter described by the "wise" Jewish "merchant" Joabin (59-67).

d. Description of Solomon's House by one of its Fathers, culminating in his "blessing" narrator and authorizing him to publish account of Bensalem "for the good of other nations" (67-81).

 The 2 main themes overlap/ intersect: the cut between the 2 sections of the first theme is also the cut between 2nd/ 3rd sections of 2nd theme. The shared cut is the sailors' declaration of their liberation (59). Combined, the 2 major themes form a 3rd one: revelation of Bensalem to rest of the world. The reader must consider why the sailors' "liberation" is necessary for their becoming Bensalem's announcers to the world, and what their liberation consists in.