A/N: This essay is from 2014 and is about the theme of ‘belonging’. It draws from a Shakespeare play and an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series to demonstrate the importance of natural belonging over artificial. Funnily enough, at the time when I wrote it, I completely skimmed over the K/S implications of the Star Trek episode. Nevertheless, be assured that the homoeroticism is as present in Star Trek as it is in Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

Snail Archer (2014)

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The struggle to differentiate between natural and artificial belonging aids the individual’s acceptance and understanding of their identity. In William Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek: This Side of Paradise the dichotomy of natural and artificial living is explored through a pastoral discussion of communities and how the real external world may differ significantly from the artifice of unrealistic notions of belonging and emotion.

In order to fully explore the nature of belonging, to artifice and to reality, Shakespeare utilises the pastoral mood of his play As You Like It. The juxtaposition of the “perilous pomp” of the “envious court” to the restorative Forest of Arden by Duke Senior establishes the pastoral mode. In utilising pastoral themes, Shakespeare makes possible the motif of homoeroticism which is a trope of the pastoral play, having its origins in Ancient Greece. This motif is symbolised in Ganymede, Rosalind’s disguise, who struggles to teach his/her love, Orlando, the difference between his artifice of love and a realistic love which may continue to thrive in the world external to Arden. Orlando’s poems – his “tedious homilies of love” – are symbolic of this artifice. Rosalind, as Ganymede, attempts to teach Orlando that “men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love.” This speech, in which she references the mythological love figures of Troilus and Leander, portrays her desire for a realistic love with Orlando, as opposed to his artifice. Orlando’s artificiality is a commentary on traditional courtly love which belongs to the world external to Arden. This type of love is a struggle to accept as false, as it hyperbolically cries, “For I shall live and die [Rosalind’s] slave.” This detracts from Orlando’s identity and understanding of himself. Rosalind’s Ganymede uses the metaphor “maids are May when they are maids but the sky changes when they are wives” to highlight the folly of the artificial love which is accepted by courtly tradition. In Arden, love exists on a realistic spectrum and Rosalind’s tutorage of Orlando as Ganymede is demonstrative of the struggle to belong to the external world. Shakespeare in his play As You Like It utilised the pastoral form in order to explore the struggle of individuals to differentiate between natural and artificial belonging and so gain a greater understanding of their own identities in relation to the external world.

The struggle against dislocation and for belonging metaphorically underpins Star Trek: This Side of Paradise which similarly explores natural and artificial belonging within communities in relation to the external world. The recurring motif of the biblical allusion of ‘paradise’ is set up from the title “This Side of Paradise” which reflects on the dual nature of an artificial paradise. The ‘paradise’ element is established in the episode through the symbol of the flora of the alien world, which are meant to reflect the harmonious community of nature. This harmony where all are one is soon shown to be artificial, since these people are living in a place where animals cannot survive, in a symbiotic relationship with alien spores. The artificial nature of paradise is first revealed to the audience in the simile of a jigsaw puzzle – “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle all one color. No key to where the pieces fit in.” – which indicates this ‘paradise’ is a community which is detrimental to individual identities. In drawing on the motif of ‘paradise’, McCoy asks the rhetorical question “Who wants to counteract paradise, Jim boy?” This use of the adverbial ‘counteract’ metaphorically underpins the idea that ‘paradise’ is a disease of community to which no individual can belong. This causes the audience to reflect on the struggle for belonging which led to this artificial paradise.

The protagonist Spock’s character arc is used to highlight the struggle against dislocation and for belonging which led to this artificial paradise. “Emotions are alien to me. I’m a scientist.” The duality of the term ‘alien’ here is therefore a humorous way to make the audience cognizant of Spock’s nature. He identifies as a Vulcan, a scientist. The juxtaposition of “I love you. I can love you.” in Spock’s love confession to Leila Kalomi reveals the artifice of the love induced by the Spores. Spock’s sudden acceptance of emotions is in stark contrast to his character and makes the audience question whether one can ever understand their identity in the artificial side of a community claiming to be ‘paradise’. Leila has her back to Spock – a lovely bit of directing, so the audience can see her face and Spock’s without a cut – as Spock uses the aphorism “I am what I am, Leila. And if there are self-made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than someone else’s.” The biblical allusion of ‘purgatories’ is an extension of the ‘paradise’ motif which metaphorically underpins the struggle against dislocation and for belonging, leading the audience to learn that ‘we all have to live in self-made purgatories’ or rather that we must experience the ‘purgatory’ of natural living in the struggle for belonging in order to achieve a true and natural paradise. This paradox of the struggle to belong is highlighted in the ironic statement “I have little to say about it, captain. Except that for the first time in my life, I was happy.” since Spock’s being happy for the first time in his life is no small matter. This reveals the paradoxical importance of artifice in the arc of self-discovery. Thus Spock has over his character arc in this episode come to understand himself more fully and helped the audience understand through his struggle against dislocation and for belonging the exploration of natural and artificial belonging.

Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Roddenberry’s Star Trek: This Side of Paradise both conclude that a struggle to belong to the external worlds in a natural rather than artificial way is the only real way to achieve an understanding of oneself and thus true happiness.