Category: The Tempest

Music in the Tempest.
Critics who have noted the repressiveness of music, songs, and musical allusions in Shakespearean drama have often attempted to extrapolate from the canon of his work and posit a distinct philosophy of music which they insist he was trying to communicate in his plays. This is most easily accomplished by rather vague references to Renaissance ideas of divine harmony and the “music of the spheres,” that microcosmic heavenly order of which this worldly microcosm was thought to be a reflection.
It has also been pointed out that during the Renaissance, music came more and more to be associated with a rhetoric of emotion,” a kind of language of the heart in which man could express his inmost feelings and communicate them to others. 2 Though neither of these notions can account for our experience of a play as musically rich as The Tempest, together they can provide us with helpful tools for understanding how Shakespeare employed music in his drama. For from ideas of order we can derive principles of structure, and if there is a providential design in The Tempest, it is certainly an artistic and a musical one.
Furthermore, this design manifests itself in the manner in which it peaks to deep human feelings; it is meaningful in the extent to which it can express the “language of the heart. ” In The Tempest these two modes of interpretation form a unity from which music emerges as an emotional and philosophical idea. Embodying its own conceptual integrity, music becomes a force that transcends its power as melons, or in the case of song, as melons and lexes, to achieve its status as the plays presiding symbol of both feeling and form. This explanation will account, I hope, for what may appear to be my subsequent neglect of the melons of The Tempest’s music. From contemporary song books of the period one is able to conclude with a certain amount of assurance that some of the plays actual music still survives. Peter Seen points out the existence of possible original melodies for two of the songs, “Full fathom five” (l, it, 397) and “Where the bee sucks, there suck l” (V, I, 88). That the evidence for the remaining body of the plays music is sparse gives us, I think, license to employ our “imaginative” ears to evoke in our own minds the presence of those “strange and solemn airs” that pervade The Tempest. The absence of considerations f melody in my discussion of the songs will not, I hope, be perceived as an oversight, but rather as a methodological step necessitated by my thesis that the ontology of music in The Tempest is an additional as well as a melodic one. If we want to examine music as an informing idea in The Tempest, we can begin by looking at a play with which it has many affinities, As You Like It.

One can view The Tempest and Music in the Tempest By saltshakers As You Like It as companion plays in more than one sense. In terms to plot they snare many common elements. Each begins in medias rest; Duke Senior and Prosper have tooth been deposed before the plays’ actions begin. Each drama presents a principal figure whose machinations orchestrate events to bring about a desired end; Roseland wishes to win Orlando and Prosper to recover his dukedom. Both plays Juxtapose groups of good and bad characters; there are the evil-doers and the victims of evil.
The primary actions of The Tempest and As You Like It unfold in artificial worlds where the old exigencies of court life do not obtain. Prosperous island and the Forest of Arden become places of self-discovery where new standards of behavior are earned. Each plays deepest concern is with the process of recognition of error and regeneration, and finally, each abundantly employs music as a vehicle for commenting upon this process or for helping to bring it into being. As You Like It is richer in music than the plays that preceded it.
From his experience with the earliest comedies Shakespeare had probably learned the value of music as an important dramatic device. Here the songs are more carefully integrated, reinforcing and illuminating the themes of the play. The first song, “Under the greenwood tree” (II, v. ), portrays the life of the exiles in the Forest of Arden and focuses their dramatic situation. Cast from their position of security at court, the new inhabitants of Arden are learning that nature supplies a home that is in many ways far superior to the one they have left behind: “Here shall he see no enemy / But winter and rough weather” (II, v. -7). 5 A musical statement of one of the themes of the play, the beneficent effect of nature on man, the song also reveals the character of its two singers, Amines, the cheerful exile, and Jacques, the melancholy cynic. This is a fine instance of music as dramatic economy. Simultaneously fulfilling two functions, the song delineates the import of the plays action and displays antithetical responses to it. The placement of the songs in As You Like It also intensifies the plays dramatic movement. Blow, blow, thou winter wind” (II, vii, 174) repeats the theme of the first song, but it is more caustic, more explicit in its comment. The implications of this song, which contrasts winter’s natural violence with the violence that human beings inflict upon each other, are undercut by its dramatic position. Coming directly after Orlando carries in his faithful but debilitated servant Adam, the song becomes an ironic comment upon itself, for we have Just seen an example of friendship that is not “feigning,” of loving that is not mere “folly. We have also discovered that Duke Senior’s attachment to Orlando father survives in his kindness to the son. Like Jacques’ misanthropic speech on the ultimate insignificance of human life, the song makes a point which the events of the play qualify, and the agent of this qualification is the very benignity of nature itself. One final instance of the use of music in As You Like It is worth noting. While perhaps bearing no explicit relationship to the progress of the plot or the nature of character, the song “It was a lover and his lass” (V, iii, 5) has an evocative power that imbues the entire conclusion of the play.
Celebrating a life of love and springtime, the song by contrast reminds us of the winter of exile and misfortune that has Just passed. It looks ahead to the marriages that are about to take place and brings a sense of freshness to inform the repentance that Duke Frederick and Oliver experience. More atmospheric than thematic, this song suggests new order of living and being; it transcends the events of the play to provide a context that expresses their tulles meaning. In this sense it comes closer than any other song in the play to the use of music that Shakespeare employs in The Tempest.
This brief discussion of As You Like It illustrates how important to a drama music and song can be. Taken together, the songs of As You Like It form more than a decorative enhancement of the action. Amines’ simplicity and energetic gaiety are so closely connected to its progress that it is very difficult to imagine the play without him or his ones. The music of As You Like It moves with the play as an analogous structure of mood and motive. It does not, however, become the structural principle of the play itself.
This is where The Tempest takes its crucial departure from a play with which it otherwise shares many similarities. The difference between the two plays is, of course, the chronological fact of twelve or thirteen years. Historical considerations of dramatic presentation–the acquisition by the King’s Men of the Blackbirds Theatre– can, in part, account for the unique use to which music was put in The Tempest. But the deepest distinctions between The Tempest and As You Like It are those that point to profounder questions of ethics and the nature of freedom and responsibility.
The answers supplied by As You Like It are essentially those of the comic vision–that human nature is susceptible to goodness and that man, if not perfectible, is at least referable. But Shakespearean romances follow the writing of the tragedies, and they are caught in a delicate balance between the affirmation of the earlier plays and the dark and ponderous probing of Macbeth and King Lear. And if they are able to sustain or even suggest a positive vision, it is only after an excess of suffering and the painful passage of time.
The divergent attitudes toward time that As You Like It and The Tempest reveal are perhaps a key to understanding the very different roles that music takes in each of these plays. In one sense, time seems to be of little significance in As You Like It. Duke Senior and his company regret their unfortunate exile, but the Forest of Arden has a medicinal effect that tempers the burden of the past and makes the present livable, even enjoyable. The future, too, looms in their consciousness as neither a promise nor a threat.
There is in the play, however, the repeated appearance of what I call “the salutary moment,” those unique instants when men and women fall in love and when wrong-doers recognize their errors and seek forgiveness. This is the “love at first sight” of Roseland and Orlando, of Celia and Oliver. It is also the instantaneous conversion of Duke Frederick by his encounter with a religious hermit and the quick reformation of Oliver when saved from the devouring Jaws of a lion by the intervention of his brother. Time, then, in As You Like It is fragmented and dispersed; it is important insofar as it coincides with certain significant incidents.
Helen Gardner, speaking of the “unmeasured time” of this play, points out that comedy by its very nature makes use of changes and chances which are not really events but “happenings. “6 Comedy exploits adaptability; it tests a character’s willingness to grasp the proper moment and fashion it to his own end. Briefly, it dramatists Raising’s advice to Phoebe: “Sell when you can, you are not for all markets” (Ill, v, 60). This carper diem attitude toward living, which depends on the coincidence of situation and desire, posits a sense of time that locates value in the reticular moment.
Time’s effect, then, is not cumulative but instantaneous; it is not the fulfillment of destiny but life lived “as you like it. ” I stated earlier that the music of As You Like It formed a structure analogous to the movement of the play, and I think my point is reinforced it we notice that the songs tend to embody this special “momentary” quality as well. They either occur in relatively short scenes devoted to the consciousness of “having a song” (II, v; ‘V, it; V, iii), or they exploit a significant moment by providing an ironic or thematic comment (II, vii; V, iv).
The possible exception is “It was a lover and his lass” (V, iii), the import of which has already been discussed. If the musical instances in As You Like It parallel in theme and tone the movement of the play, the music of The Tempest orchestrates its developing action at every point. The songs of As You Like It are largely situational; for the most part, they do not require a comprehensive view of the drama to render them meaningful. They do not depend upon time as a moving force that brings events and feelings to a certain issue. Time, however, is of utmost importance in The Tempest.
Prosper has four hours to complete his magic revels; this sense of time (and timing) thus makes every moment meaningful. An intuition of urgency, a recognition of catastrophe Just barely avoided, imbues our experience of The Tempest. Our perception of time in the play includes both a sense of the “proper moment” and a feeling of necessary duration. Ariel saves Gonzalez and Alonso from the swords of Antonio and Sebastian in “the nick of time,” but Alonso saves himself by enduring a period of suffering. And I think, too, we can see how the shape of time in The Tempest is largely coextensive tit its music.
For music informs the play not only as an agent of the “proper moment”; it also directs and integrates all of the plays moments into the total vision that is the play. The Tempest could not exist without its music, whether it is the strange and solemn airs that accompany the magic banquet, the sprightly singing of Ariel, or the drunken cavorting of Clinical, Stephan, and Triathlon. All of these bear an intimate relationship to each other; all relate to Prosperous one significant action– his effort to recover his dukedom and to bring his enemies to a recognition of their sat and their errors.
Ultimately one’s view of the importance of music in The Tempest will depend upon what one thinks the plays dramatic import finally is. If one believes that Prosperous island is an harmonious one where redemptive grace allays and triumphs over evil, one is apt to find its music symbolic of a celestial concord which will eventually obtain on earth. It is true that The Tempest’s music revolves around the opposition of concord and discord and that the agents of these two modes of being respond (or do not respond) to it in their respective ways.
But ether than seeing the play as the victory of harmony over disorder, I think The Tempest suggests how very difficult it is to bring order into being and that order, once achieved, is indeed a fragile thing, precariously balanced between the violent past from which it has emerged and the threatening future which may consume it. Music, then, assists at the birth of this tentative order, and Prosperous music must be considered in terms of both the extensions and limitations of his art. 7 The first song of the play is Riel’s “Come unto these yellow sands” (l, I’, 375), which he sings too revving Ferdinand.
The tempest has finally subsided, and Riel’s song celebrates the simplicity of the calm earth into which Ferdinand has been transported. As an invitation to the dance, “then take hands,” the song looks ahead to that moment at the end of the play when all of its characters are Joined inside Prosperous magic circle. The magic which Prosper had used to invoke the tempest now enchants Ferdinand, drawing him further into the island and toward Miranda. This is the first crucial step toward their marriage, which will in part resolve the parental stripe that ad been Prosperous cause for raising the tempest.
One critic has suggested that this song is the musical counterpart of the sweet-singing Sirens’ invitation. “The island has all the magical charms of Circle’s island: strangers from afar have been lured to it and Prosper provides a magical banquet and charms his visitors by music’s powers, so that they are no longer able to obey their reasoning powers. “8 Here Prosperous more benevolent powers replace the lust and destruction of the Sirens, and the music leads Ferdinand, not to an easy satisfaction, but to a test of discipline and dutifulness. Ferdinand response to the song, “Where should this music be? ‘ the’ air or the’ earth? ” (l, it, 388), establishes the magical quality of this island, where the very air is music. W. H. Aden has written that “the song comes to him as an utter surprise, and its effect is not to feed or please his grief, not to encourage him to sit brooding, but to allay his passion, so that he gets to his feet and follows the music. The song opens his present to expectation at a moment when he is in danger of closing it to all but recollection. “9 As Ferdinand follows this elusive music, Ariel egging his second song, “Full fathom five thy father lies” (l, I’, 397).
Probably no song of The Tempest is so well remembered and perhaps no other is thematically so important. Ferdinand is made to believe that his father is dead; similarly, Alonso will believe that Ferdinand is dead, and in that belief he will undergo the madness, the “sea change” of grief and humility, from which he will emerge transformed. The poetry of the song transports Alonso from the world of mutability and flux to a kind of permanence. His bones and eyes become coral and pearls; the “sea” gives form to hat was subject to decay. 0 Thus the song reminds us that the life of Milan–the disordered world of usurpation and potential tyranny–is now under the shaping influence of Prosperous art. Ferdinand reacts to the song not with grief but with awe: “This is no mortal business, nor no sound / That the earth owes” (l, it, 407-408). The music, in the plays first triumph over history, moves Ferdinand to accept his past and leads him to the future–and Miranda. The swift agent of Prosperous well-timed music, Ariel plays a “solemn strain” (II, I, 178) that lulls the Milan travelers to sleep.
Gonzalez, n his simplicity and warm-heartiness, submits most easily, but Alonso soon follows. Sebastian and Antonio, however, are significantly exempted from the effect of the music. Prosperous magic has no power over them. Their own imperviousness to this music, their inability to hear it, contrasts sharply with Clinical, who, even in his vile earthiness, is subject to the music’s seduction. “The isle is full of noises,” he tells Stephan and Triathlon, “Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not” (Ill, ii, 132-133). When Sebastian and Antonio plot to take the lives of Alonso and Gonzalez,
Prosperous music urgently intervenes. Ariel sings a warning song, “While you here do snoring lie” (II, I, 290), into Gonzales ear, and the sleepers awake. The music that had induced their slumber becomes the agent of their deliverance; Alonso and Gonzalez escape catastrophe. One of the primary distinctions to be made about music in The Tempest is, of course, that there is Riel’s music and there is Scallion’s music. And while there is that moment when Clinical seems to come close to understanding both of these musical languages, he remains, for the most part, on the side of the raucous and the bawdy.
This is the music of Stephan and Triathlon as well. Stephanotis first two songs, “l shall no more to sea” (II, it, 41) and “The master, the swabbed, the boatswain, and l” (II 5), are indeed the “scurvy tunes” that nee calls them. The songs are a kind of comic diversion and an introduction to the buffoonery of the three that is to follow. Their lustiness and earthiness offers a clear antithesis to the obedient chastity of Ferdinand and Miranda, who are learning that fulfillment must be by desert and not demand. Clinical, now under the influence of his new god “sack,” raises his own voice in song.
His “Farewell master” (II, I’, 173) and “No more dams I’ll make for fish” (II, I’, 175) signaling his revolt from Prosper. The latter song ends with a call for freedom, reminding us, perhaps, of Riel’s behest early in the play that Prosper release him. Ariel must work for his freedom; Clinical expects his to fall into his lap. It is important, too, I think, and perhaps ironically significant that the only two characters in the play who ask for freedom are the non-human ones, while all the other characters are very much involved in a struggle to be free from history, from ACH other, and from themselves.
Scallion’s “scurvy song” heralds the delusion he is about to come under in thinking Stephan and Triathlon the vehicle through which his freedom may be realized. Together the comrades plot to kill Prosper and take the island, and they seal their bargain with their song “Flout ‘me and scout ‘me” (Ill, I’, 118). Clinical remarks, “That’s not the tune” (121), and Ariel enters with his tabor and pipe and a wholly different kind of music. This evokes different responses from the three; Stephan thinks it the devil, Triathlon expresses penitence, but Clinical ounces them not to fear this intervention.
Curiously, the two scenes of the drunken songs frame the scene of log-bearing Ferdinand, engaged in his trial to prove to Prosper his fitness for Miranda. Ferdinand sobriety in performing his task and his willingness to accept control and responsibility–his efforts to bring about his own freedom–are thrown into relief by this contrast with desire run wild. This reminds us that Prosperous attempt to bring a new order into being is threatened on all sides by strongly motivated self-satisfaction and potential anarchy.
Riel’s music, then, has intervened a second time to hinder the enactment of a plot hatched to assassinate a ruler. Similarly, shortly after the maneuvers of Stephan, Triathlon, and Clinical to do away with Prosper, we see Antonio and Sebastian once again involved in machinations to kill their king. Again Ariel interrupts, this time with “solemn and strange music” (Ill, iii, 18), and he produces the dance of the strange shapes and their banquet. Alonso and Gonzalez admire the apparition, calling it “harmony” and “sweet music. Antonio and Sebastian, still beyond the pale of the island’s music, can only elate the phenomenon to inhumanities of geography and travelers’ tales. Gonzalez thinks the shapes’ “manners” more gentle than human kind, while Sebastian wants to eat the food they have placed in front of him. Like Stephan, Triathlon, and Clinical, his earthly-mindedness has no access to the beauty that affects Gonzalez and Alonso. Ariel enters again, this time disguised as a harpy, and the banquet disappears.
He explains to them the initial effect and purpose of his music: “you ‘amongst men / Being most unfit to live, I have made you mad” (Ill, iii, 57-58). Ariel reminds them of their position of Prosper and promises them “lingering perdition” unless they are able to experience “heart’s sorrow / And a clear life ensuing” (82). Ariel is telling the representatives of Milan that they must submit to the music of the island and endure the pain that the achievement of freedom involves or continue to be agents of chaos and evil.
This is the point where the powers and limitations of Prosperous art merge. While it is true that the play NAS revealed that there are those amenable to order and those that are not, Prosper can only use his music to bring his captives to a unconsciousness of their own disordered, threatening behavior. His music cannot perform that transformation by itself. As Ferdinand had to choose whether or not he would undergo the ordeal of log-bearing, Alonso must choose whether or not he will repent.
In doing so he must experience a depth of despair as a necessary prelude to his recovery: “My son I’ the’ ooze is bedded; and / I’ll seek him deeper than ever plummet sounded / And with him there lie muddied” (Ill, iii, 100-102). Perhaps the most magnificent use of music in The Tempest is that which introduces and informs he masque that Prosper produces as a wedding blessing for Ferdinand and Miranda. The song “Honor, riches, marriage, blessing” (V, I, 106) looks forward to the happy union of the couple.
Yet while the song of Junco and Ceres bespeaks a life of plenty, this is not the same kind of richness that Gonzalez had envisioned when he dreamed of his ideal commonwealth: “Bourn, bound of land, tilt, vineyard, none; / all men idle, all” (II, I, 148, 150). Junco and Ceres sing of the bounty that is the result of cultivation: “Barns and garners never empty, / Vines with clustering bunches growing” (1 11-112). This copiousness is the result of dedicated work, of nature and nurture, and the dance which concludes the masque is one of nymphs and “August- weary” reapers.
We should remember, too, that Prosperous magic is also the outcome of his hard “labors. ” If we would chide Gonzalez for his innocent simplicity in imagining a golden world, the masque song balances his dream with one that must admit the necessity of the human work that brings fruitfulness and bounty. This masque is perhaps revelatory of Prosperous imaginative desire to see order and goodness, but it expresses this goodness as the result of meaningful human effort. The frailty of this vision, however, shows itself by rapidly dissolving as Prosper remembers Scallion’s “foul conspiracy” against his life. 1 Jan Kyoto has called this play “the great Renaissance tragedy of lost illusions,”12 and while one may hesitate to see it as the dark and murky drama which he thinks it is, one must, I think, give credence to the sense of incompleteness that emerges as the play comes to a close. For there are gaps, empty spaces in our perception of the human lives we have seen portrayed, which we suspect even Prosperous finest magic and greatest music cannot touch. His ammos “Our revels now are ended” speech (V, I, 148) seems, in fact, to point to the limitations of the musically enchanted spectacle he has produced.
Just how fragile it really is is evidenced by its ambiguous effect on Prosper himself. For he has yet to be reminded by Ariel that “the rarer action” is one of loving forgiveness, and there is that crucial moment when it seems as if his “nobler reason” will be as baseless as the fabric of his vision. When “the insubstantial pageant” fades, what is left is Prosper and his beating mind. His labors, however, are not without positive issue. Prosperous music had made Alonso and his company mad, yet that madness was a necessary prelude to their recognition of guilt and repentance.
If Prosperous music led the shipwrecked travelers to an awareness of their own history, it also provided a vehicle through which this awareness–this madness–could be healed. They enter Prosperous magic circle too “solemn air . The best comforter / To an unsettled fancy (V, I, 58-59). Yet if they have attained a freedom from madness, it is a freedom that must accept the burden of responsibility for its past and future. In this content t, Riel’s Tindal song, “Where the bee sucks, there suck l” (V is significant.
One critic has suggested that this song, which is about Riel’s freedom, is really a lyric coda to the entire play, celebrating the attainment of freedom on the part of all who have been involved. 13 1 think the song has a different and greater function. As it suggests Riel’s approaching happiness, it points to the world beyond the play, the world which must remain that of our imaginings. And in going beyond the world of the play, we must inevitably consider not only the “cowslip’s bell” and the merry mummer that Ariel looks forward to with delight, but also Milan and the world to which the reinstated Prosper must return.
Riel’s song most poignantly reminds us that his freedom is not the freedom of a Prosper or an Alonso, that only a spirit can be free to the four elements. For the court of Milan freedom must now reside in responsible action emerging from the recognition of the pain of history. Throughout The Tempest Prosperous art–his music–had been the measure of the shaping influence he had on the lives of other people. Its power finally, I think, must be as initiative as the conclusion to which it brings us.
It has united Ferdinand and Miranda and created a new future for Alonso, but Antonio is still trapped in vile self- seeking, and the cases of Sebastian and Clinical are questionable. Music has helped to bring about some order in what had been chaos, some concord from what had been discord. 14 But Prosper breaks his staff and drowns his book, and thus he abandons his music as well. There is the suggestion, I think, that from now on the attainment and preservation of freedom and forgiveness will be a thoroughly human effort in which music can no longer intervene.

Music in the Tempest

The Tempest theme on illusion.
The Tempest: Illusions An illusion is an incorrect or distorted perception of a real situation. The Tempest, written by Shakespeare in 1600-1611, uses illusion in many different ways. I am going to Juxtapose the play with the There are 4 different aspects to the play, which are Magic, Deception, Dreams, and the Theatre. I am going to study 3 different episodes in the play where Illusion is relevant, and I will consider the ways illusion is presented. Illusion is a prevalent theme throughout both the play and the film, where it is amplified by the use of special effects.
The first aspect that I am going to expand on is Magic. This is an aspect that creates illusions. The Tempest itself, was an illusion created by Prospered magic. I will be examining Act 1, where there are numerous episodes surrounding the aspect of magic. “Hell is empty and all the devils are here,” Ferdinand had screamed as he threw himself from the burning ship during the tempest. The ship burned but it didn’t get torn apart or wrecked. The ship was taken safely into the harbor and the crew was magically charmed to sleep.
Prosper had even told Miranda that “not so such perdition as an hair/ Betide to any creature in the vessel/ Which thou heart’s cry, which thou sat sink. ” The use of iambic pentameter, as well as the use of enjambment, creates an eerie atmosphere of mystery, which goes hand in hand with the aspect of magic. After this episode had finished, Prosper says to Miranda, “Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions: / Thou art inclined to sleep; its a good dullness, / And give it way: I know thou cants choose. At which point Miranda falls asleep. This was due to the powerful magic of Prosper, who cast a spell on Miranda o fall asleep. Moreover, when Ariel, Prospered spirit-servant, who had been issued the task of creating the Tempest by Prosper, was summoned by him, Riel’s starting words were, “l come/ To answer thy best pleasure: bet to fly, / to swim, to dive into the fire, to ride / On the curled clouds, to thy strong bidding task/ Ariel and all his quality. This monologue gives Ariel a magical aura, and is also spoken in a haughty tone, alluding to the powerful magical side to the spirit. Ariel boasted that, “Cove’s lightning, the precursors/ 20th’ dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary / And sight- outrunning were not; the fire and cracks/ Of sulfurous roaring the most mighty Neptune / Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, / Yea, his dread trident shake. ” This prose was said in an enthusiastic tone, with an iambic pentameter, but cleverly written by Shakespeare in Blank Verse.

Caesura, along with enjambment is also used to maintain a magical grip among the audience. In addition, when Prosper asked Ariel if the passengers aboard the ship were safe, Ariel replied, “Not a hair perished. ” This meant that what the passengers aboard the ship were experiencing as all an illusion, created by Riel’s magic, rather than a real shipwreck. Additionally, when moving from Riel’s active speech mentioned before to this part, the use of juxtaposition and contrast makes the magic seem more realistic than it is thought, alluding the audience.
As well as that, Riel’s music, when heard by Ferdinand in Act 1 The Tempest theme on illusion By Sheehan Scene 2, ” Come unto these yellow sands, / A d then take hands; / Curtsied when you have and kissed/ (The wild waves whist)/Foot it featly here and there, / And, sweet sprites, bear / The further” lures Ferdinand towards Prosper and Miranda. Ariel, due to his immense magical power, was invisible to Ferdinand, which shows the audience the power of magic throughout the whole play, as Ariel is a spirit, and is part of the island.
Therefore, if Ariel is that magical, then the island must be teeming with magic. The primary change that I found between the original reading of the play and that of Julie Tommy’s production is the introduction of a female protagonist, namely “Prospers. ” This, along with the introduction of special effects, will give a new interpretation of magic in the Tumor Production. In he film, Prospers is first shown on a cliff, wearing a cloak and bearing a staff, conjuring the Tempest. She is presented as a goddess, as she uses her magical powers to invoke disaster upon the ship containing her enemies.
This shows her immense magical prowess, and therefore creates a distinct variation between the play and the Tumor Production, as there is an unembellished contrast. Visual effects can also be taken into consideration as the Tumor Production uses to represent violent natural incidents, such as when Ariel describes how he “annihilated” the ship sing fire, lightning and thunder. The CGI made the destruction more realistic and the accompaniment of the drums make the whole scene more authentic in general. Another difference is the sex of the protagonist, as it changes the relationship between Ariel and Prospers.
In the play, Prosper controls Ariel in a more volatile way, threatening Ariel constantly. In the Tumor Production, however, Ariel obeys Prospers more willingly, and even though he wishes to be free, he is respectful and more obedient to Prospers than to Prosper in the play. When Prospers was scolding Ariel about his desire to be free, CGI creates the environment that Ariel was in before Prospers came to the island, which was that he was stuck in a tree (this, of course as shown in the Tumor Production, was an illusion).
Now I am going to examine the aspect of deception in the Tempest, in Act 2 Scene 1 . Deception is an illusion, as it is intended to mislead someone. In this scene, Antonio (Brother of Prosper) and Sebastian (Brother of Alonso), conspire to kill the king. Alonso falls asleep due to Riel’s magic, as well as Gonzalez, and so Sebastian and Antonio are given the task of protecting the king and Gonzalez from any harm. In the original reading of the play, I can see that Antonio and Sebastian are the Machiavelli of the play, and are morally deceitful.
They, while King Alonso was resting, were conspiring to kill the king. Antonio hinted this when he said, “And yet, methinks, I see it in thy face, / What thou should be: desiccation’s speaks thee, and / My strong imagination sees a crown / dropping upon thy head. ” This implies that Just as Antonio deceived his brother Prosper by usurping him to become the Duke of Milan as Sebastian mentions, muff did supplant your brother Prosper’), Sebastian should kill his brother Alonso in order to become King of Naples.
The whole dialogue between Sebastian and Alonso, until the point where they drew their swords (unsuccessfully killing the king, as Ariel awoke them first Witt the song, “While you here do snoring lie, / Open-eyed conspiracy/ His time doth take. / If of life you keep a care, / Shake of slumber and beware. / Awake! Awake! ), the dialogue was written in blank verse, and the iambic pentameter was often shared between two people, for example, when Sebastian says, ” What? Art thou waking? ” and Antonio replies, “Do you not hear me speak? ” This adds up to 11 syllables, which is considered a variation of the iambic pentameter.
Even after Alonso and Gonzalez awoke, the pair still deceived them, by Sebastian saying that, “Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing / Like bulls, or rather lions: diet not wake you? / It struck mine ear most terribly. ” This was a deception because they were trying to hide the fact that they were about to kill the King and Gonzalez! Antonio, following on from this, to deceive them even further, trotted that, “O, twats a din to fright a monster’s ear – / To make an earthquake! Sure, it was the roar / Of a whole herd of lions. ” The diction used during this dialogue is formal and persuasive.
The blank verse arrangement emphasizes this, as it is somewhat poetic like persuasion is. In the same scene, Ariel utters that, “My master, through his art, foresee / the danger / that you, his friend, are in, and sends me forth / (For else his project dies) to keep them living. ” This meant that Prosper had been deceiving Antonio, Sebastian, Gonzalez, and Alonso from the very beginning, cause Prosper had foreseen this beforehand. This also meant that Prosper is deceiving Ferdinand because he knew that Alonso (Ferdinand Father) would have been alive. In the Tumor adaptation of the play, the scene subtext is different.
In the play, Antonio and Sebastian are morally deceitful, however, in the Tumor production, which is a feminist production, the characteristics that they possess are shown to be not morally, but instead the deceit occurs because they are male. Antonio usurping Prospers is shown as a symbol of male dominance. For example, Ferdinand in the Tumor Production is more sensitive, showing a feminine side, and is accepted by Prospers. Antonio and Sebastian are shown as proud males, and so are looked down upon by Prospers. The actors of Sebastian and Antonio (namely Alan Cumming and Chris Cooper) show that to the audience respectively.
The final aspect I will be examining is Theatre. To begin with, the whole theatrical aspect of the play is illusory, because to watch a play, you must believe something that is not true. In the case of the Tempest, the characters are not on an island, but on a stage set, and they themselves are not aristocrats, however they are actors. The disappearing feast in Act 3 is certainly relevant to this aspect. In Act 3, Antonio, Gonzalez, Alonso and Sebastian are walking across the island when several strange shapes bring a banquet to them and invites the king to eat.
They all discuss the incident, for example when Sebastian says, “No matter, since / They have left their viands behind; for we / have stomachs. / Will’s please you taste of what is here? ” Just as they were about to start eating, Ariel, in the form of a harpy, appears and makes the banquet vanish. Then Ariel calls Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso “three men of sin, homo destiny – that hath to instrument this lower world [And what is nit – the never surfeited sea / Hath caused to belch up you,” and then mentions that, “l have made you mad” which means that they could see things that Gonzalez could not, which is illusory.
This would be shown on stage with the use of trapdoors, soundboards, and phosphorus lighting effects, giving the indoor stage an eerie effect. This play was originally created for the indoor stage, and so lighting effects via. Candles could also be used. For example, to produce lightning effects, candles would be repeatedly blocked and unblocked. This gives an illusory effect to the play itself, making it more plausible.
The Toymaker version of this incident is vastly different in respect to Theatre; this was cast in a studio, and in real life islands. The CGI made Ariel look more harpy-like, and it even shows him (Ben Wish) flying. When Ariel mentions making them mad, a burst of crows appear, this is created by SF, and makes the madness of the characters more credible. The banquet is seen to be lit by a ‘heavenly spotlight’ in the Tumor Production, whereas in the play, a group of strange shapes brought the banquet onto the stage.
This meant that in the Tumor Production, due to more modern techniques, the banquet would not have to be taken off the ‘stage’ but the camera would be cut at this point. In conclusion, both understandings of the Tempest display the theme of illusion in different ways. Although it is one of the main themes orbiting Shakespearean play itself, the theme is presented in a more sophisticated and is more alluring in the Tumor Production of the play, by the use of special effects and CGI, which highlights the films ability and proficiency to produce believable and credible illusions.

The Tempest theme on illusion

The Tempest as a Power Struggle Between the New and the Old World.
To what extent do you agree that The Tempest is a power struggle between the old and the new world? Shakespeare’s Plays II Assignment 1 Rocio Corral Garcia 119042576 It is generally accepted that Shakespeare’s Play The Tempest is complex in many senses, but it cannot be denied that it is especially rich in terms of interpretation. A huge variety of critical analyses have been written about Shakespeare’s last play suggesting different possible approaches to it, such as human salvation, magic, colonisation and power.
This essay will focus on the struggle between the old and the new world, which is one of the major themes in this play and that can be easily applied to politics and conspiracy in their more broad sense. Prospero is a European who dominates the island on his own and he is able to do so because he has magic powers. In this way he controls the island and its inhabitants by combining threats of force, promises of freedom and all kind of techniques characteristic of a proper dictator. He takes charge of the island which does not belong to him and exerts his power over the inhabitants, forcing them to serve him as slaves.
It is almost impossible to draw a parallelism between this situation and the European colonial power in North America during the XVII century. Thus, it may be assumed that the old world stands for Europe and all its common practices and customs while the new world is represented by the uncivilised island. Throughout the whole play the reader is able to find several occasions in which the struggle between the new and the old world is very noticeable. In the first scene of the play, for example, we find the exchange between Prospero and Miranda talking about what has been left in the old world: dukedom and serving women.

For them, living in the island means abandoning all these things and implementing facets of the new world. Miranda has been educated by her father following the old world rules but at the same time she has learned the secrets of the island by Caliban. Caliban is a native of the island who rails against language and is forced to submit. He reveals against all those things related to the old world, since he belongs to the new one. This fighting is constant along the play. Then, on the second act Shakespeare presents the difference between the new and the old world in terms of appearance.
That is to say, the green and the light of the new world contrast with the European world. The new world is wild and uncivilised. Gonzalo has his own dream which is labelled as a utopian view of the island. He portrays it without order and hierarchy. In his new world there would not be chaos because everyone will be happy: I’ the commonwealth I would by contraries Execute all things; for no kind of traffic Would I admit; no name of magistrate; Letters should not be known; riches, poverty, And use of service, none; contract, succession, Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none; No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;
No occupation; all men idle, all; And women too, but innocent and pure; No sovereignty; The reader may acknowledge this as the internal fight men had in this era. Following this scene we find the metaphor of the drunken servant men that come to the island and they imagine that they are able to rule it, thinking that they will secure the loyalty of a native through gifts and the promise of benevolent ruling. This metaphor is made on the basis of a strong parallelism with the real accounts of the colonisation. So, there cannot be any reading of The Tempest without considering it as a study of colonialism.
During the colonisation the struggle between the colonizers and the colonized world was a constant feature, so this view support the idea that The Tempest is a clear example of the struggle between the old and the new world. The English colonial project is on Shakespeare’s mind throughout the play, as almost every character, from Gonzalo to Stephano, imagines how he would rule the island if he were its king. Shakespeare seems as well to be influenced by Montagne’s essay “Of the Cannibals” since the name of Prospero’s servant is Caliban could be an anagram of “cannibal”.
Prospero stands for the dominant part in his relationship with Caliban and his allusions to him are most the time is contemptuous. Prospero describes Caliban as: “Devil, a born devil on whose nature, Nurture can never stick” This description of Caliban is quite similar to those descriptions of the “savages” by Captain John Smith who set the first English settlement in Jamestown, or to those descriptions given by Mary Rowlandson later in the XVII century.
These descriptions fit perfectly with Prospero’s concept of Caliban, so maybe Shakespeare’s intention here is to make a direct link between the current accounts of the colonisation process and the situation of the play. Again, this makes a clear instance that the play wants to portray the confrontation between the old and the new world. This clear struggle in the play between the new and the old world may be emphasized by political themes associated with Caliban’s conspiracy and Prospero’s colonialist control of the island. This essay will focus now on the political issue of the play.
On the one hand, it may be clear that usurpation is the main political theme pervading the play. The possibility of usurpation is precisely what allows Prospero to legitimise and sustain his totalitarism on the island. Paradoxically, he was first usurped from his throne and it is him who repeats that behaviour in the island. Prospero’s power is proved by Caliban’s resistance. Caliban stands for the main dissident voice in the play. His threatening integration of Prospero’s rhetoric makes him a dangerous insider to the established system: “You taught me language, and my profit on ’t
Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language! ” Caliban’s use of language illustrates perfectly the potential to resistance contained within power. , and Prospero’s response to Caliban consists in violent outbursts of rage: “Hag-seed, hence! Fetch us in fuel. And be quick, thou ‘rt best, To answer other business. Shrug’st thou, malice? If thou neglect’st or dost unwillingly What I command, I’ll rack thee with old cramps, Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar That beasts shall tremble at thy din. Prospero’s violence hardly hides his terror at Caliban’s appropriation of his language. On the other hand, the play deals perfectly with the topic of conspiracy, being Caliban its maximum exponent. Caliban resists to Prospero’s authority, but this authority may be called into question, since Prospero gets it by means of usurpation. Anyway, Caliban’s role is essential in terms of resistance; however, by depriving Prospero by his unique discourse, he represents the existence of alternative voices in the island.
He exposes three different versions of the past in the island: Caliban’s, Ariel’s and Prospero’s, although it is the latest the one who succeed. Prospero appropriates the past of the island, and he rewrites history according to his own standards, in order to construct a credible narrative. Caliban shows his resistance: “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou takest from me” Prospero manages to make his version the one to be trusted. He describes Sycorax as the malevolent witch, a chaos and evil, which contrasts with him, the balance.
This is another actual clue that asserts the play as the struggle between the new and the old world. Prospero assures that it was Sycorax who imprisoned Ariel and it was him who released Ariel. It seems that Sycorax is dead, since she does not appear on stage, but her presence lurks ominously in the background. Despite her physical absence from the play Sycorax has great importance. In the politics of the play she serves an ideological function as she is constructed as the evil witch, the ‘other’, through which Prospero’s ownership of the island is legitimised.
She is constructed as being the antithesis to Prospero – female, non-European and evil – and Prospero uses her to justify his acts of dispossession. Prospero shapes the past on his own way. However, the presence of other rivals frightens Prospero, and his anxiety increases as it is shown with his irrational outburst of anger at Caliban’s command of language. Besides, in the island there are different ideological ways of thinking, such as Gonzalo’s political manifesto mentioned above “No sovereignty” (2. 1, 156). Indeed, Gonzalo’s utopia is likely to the real hierarchy in the island, ince there is a king but without sovereignty. Another aspect of the play that may be related to politics is the marriage between Miranda and Ferinand, since it serves as an agreement between the old world, here represented by Ferinand, and the new world, embodied by Miranda. In this way the marriage stands as a peace treaty between both worlds. It might represent a political marriage, which were very common during the Elizabethan period. The reader may find another political marriage in the play, since in Act II Alonso’s daughter marries the king of Tunis against her wishes.
But this is not the case of Miranda, since she falls in love to Ferinand at the first glance. However, this marriage is a sort of business because Miranda is a political tool in Prospero’s plan. Besides, it is very interesting that Miranda is the only female character on an island full of men. She makes possible the reconciliation and redemption of both, Prospero and Alonso. The most important value of Miranda is her chastity which enables the marriage. Virginity is a matter of politics in the play, since with Miranda being not pure the marriage would not be possible.
But Prospero makes sure that her daughter is virgin and emphasizes Miranda’s purity linking her to her mother: Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir And princess no worse issued. Finally, it may be concluded that The Tempest presents different instances of the struggle between the old and the new world, and that Shakespeare draws a strong parallelism with the issue of colonisation and the plot of the play. It might be also acknowledged that there is a final reconciliation between both worlds which is sealed by Miranda and Ferinand’s marriage.
Although this play was composed in the XVII century, there are several timeless topics that Shakespeare portrays like political usurpation, conspiracy and struggle for power, that occupy a first place in present day life. Bibliography Primary texts: Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare, ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974 Secondary texts: Free Tempest Essays: “Relevance of The Tempest Today” Retrieved February 26, 2012 from: http://www. 123HelpMe. com/view. asp? id=7486 Gibson, Rex. The Tempest. Cambridge Student Guides. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,2006.
Hamilton, Donna B. Virgil and The Tempest: The Politics of Imitation . Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1990. Montaigne, Michael de, The Complete Essays. London: Penguin,2003. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Gonzalo’s speech. (2. 1,123-32) [ 2 ]. Montagne, Michael de. The Complete Essays. Trans. M. A. Screech. London: Penguin, 2003 [ 3 ]. Prospero’s description of Caliban (4. 1,188-9) [ 4 ]. Caliban’s speech (1. 2,369-70) [ 5 ]. Prospero’s speech (1. 2,371-76) [ 6 ]. Caliban’s words (1. 2,334. 5) [ 7 ]. Prospero’s speech (1. 2,56-59)

The Tempest as a Power Struggle Between the New and the Old World

The Tempest Essay.
The differences between Prosper and Clinical in The Tempest and A Tempest As A Tempest is an adaptation of Shakespearean The Tempest that focus on a postcolonial perspective, the story is, obviously, a little different. In A Tempest, Mime Easier clearly shows his postcolonial perspective by changing Ariel from an airy spirit into a mulatto slave and Clinical into a black slave. However, in Act I Scene II, the two main characters that should be focused on are Prosper and Clinical.
In A Tempest, since it has a postcolonial perspective, the characters seem to be more aggressive. For example, in the Tempest, Prosper is more tolerant, and knows how to use people. Ariel also shows more respect to him while in A Tempest where Prosper is an ideal example of a white man in postcolonial perspective. He acts like he is the master of every life. If he wants something to be done, it must be done no matters how.
At the same time, Clinical stands for himself more strongly in A Tempest. He dares to shout and be so rude to his master. He talks back to Prosper and he would not surrender so easily. In The Tempest, Clinical does argue with his master, but in the end he surrenders. On the contrary, in A Tempest, Clinical shows that he would not be “a good slave” obeying everything anymore. He resists on saying a words in his native language even though Prosper forbids him to do so.

In my opinion, it symbolize that black people would not surrender to white people anymore, or at least, not so easily. They are ready to fight back and stand for themselves. In conclusion, even though the characters of Prosper and Clinical are similar in The Tempest and A Tempest, they also have a little difference. The characters are stronger and more aggressive which express the postcolonial perspective of the play. The tempest By demonstrativeness

The Tempest Essay

The Tempest and Adam & Eve.
Nature of Man In order to connect with his Christian dominated audience, all of Shakespeare’s plays contain important allusions to the bible. The Tempest is no exception. Throughout the play various allusions to the Genesis story of Adam & Eve are made. This serves to portray men in a state of nature which plants the question of whether men are intrinsically evil or good. In the play the island is described as a Utopia. This can be seen in Gonzalo’s speech in Act 2, Scene 1 “No kind of traffic would I admit; no name of magistrate; Letters should not be known, riches, poverty and use of service, bound of land none…
No occupation, all men idle, all, And women too, but innocent and pure (Shakespeare)”. Here Gonzalo describes the type of world he would create for himself if he was ruler of the island. The Utopia he ends up describing has many similarities to the Bible’s Garden of Eden. Gonzalo would reject from the island earthly possessions and inventions such as metal, wine and weapons. This would create a world with no possessions and weapons which would keep people in a state of nature where greediness and jealousy would not exist. When Gonzalo says “Letters” he really means “Learning”.
Banning learning is something very similar to what happened in the Garden of Eden where Adam & Eve were not allowed to eat form the Tree of Knowledge and share God’s wisdom. Having knowledge makes men independent as they will start to do things by themselves which distances them from God and make their own order. Here Shakespeare suggests that just as this was the downfall of Adam & Eve, it will also be the downfall of man. Sebastian comments that marriage would also not be allowed in Gonzalo’s Utopia. In the story of Adam & Eve, they don’t get married until after they had been banished from the Garden of Eve.

This suggests that marriage also distracts men and women from God as it makes them dependent on their partner rather than God. Marriage would also give people a sense of possession on another human which would not be in accordance to Gonzalo’s Utopia. Gonzalo also states that in his Utopia all men and women would be idle. This alludes to the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve did not have to work for food because the land was fruitful. It was not until Adam was expelled from Eden that God cursed the ground so Adam would have to work hard to eat.
Also while in the Garden of Eden, Eve was innocent and pure just as Gonzalo describes the women in his Utopia. Adam and Eve were innocent people fed by the abundance brought forth by nature in the Garden of Eve. This is exactly as how Gonzalo describes how he would feed the people in his Utopia. The story of Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban also portrays commentary on the nature of men. When Stephano and Trinculo arrive at the island they are not portrayed as evil but instead as drunken comic characters. While it would be inaccurate to describe them as good and innocent men, they definitely suffer a fall in character as the play progresses.
Their downfall is in direct correlation to Caliban’s bad influence. In the play, Caliban is portrayed as the devil who is a savage and deformed slave. In the time of Shakespeare, people believed there was a correlation between the outward appearance and someone inner self. In the play Caliban represents man’s worse nature and is the source temptation to Stephano and Trinculo. In the play, Caliban plants evil thoughts in the minds of the unsuspecting Stephano and Trinculo to kill Prospero; Caliban’s real master. This has resemblance to the serpent in the story of Adam & Eve.
In the story of the bible Adam & Eve were fooled by a serpent to eat from the Tree of Knowledge so they could gain the knowledge of God. In both The Tempest and the Bible, plan of the tempters (Caliban and the serpent) was only to undermine and overthrown their real masters. However, in both instances neither the serpent nor Caliban wanted to rule themselves. In the bible, Satan does not eat of the fruit himself and instead seems to want Adam & Eve to rule instead. By giving Adam & Eve power he wanted to cause disorder between humans and God so that he could rule indirectly.
Similarly, Caliban wanted Stephano to be ruler of the island as Act 3, Scene 2 says “Thou shalt be lord of it and I’ll serve thee (Shakespeare). ” Caliban only wanted to kill Prospero and not to rule himself. Here the dark side of the state of nature is shown. Caliban represents man’s greediness and want for power. Just as the serpent was the cause of the downfall of Adam & Eve, so will Caliban be the cause of downfall of Stephano and Trinculo. Shakespeare is portraying a state of nature of man similar to Hobbes view were humans are inherently evil. In both the story of Adam & Eve and The Tempest knowledge is the source of Godly power.
In The Tempest Caliban says that the only way to defeat Prospero is to take away his books as he says in Act 3 Scene 2 “Remember first to possess his books, for without them He’s but a sot, as I am, nor hath not one spirit to command. They all do hate him as rootedly as I. Burn but his books (Shakespeare). ” In the story of Adam & Eve, the serpent tells Eve that the only reason God is all powerful is because of his knowledge. Therefore, the serpent tells Eve that if she wants to be like God she simply has to eat from the Tree of Knowledge; Genesis 3:4 “You will not surely die.
For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. ” Here Shakespeare is suggesting that it is human nature to want to be like God. With every invention and scientific breakthrough humans will feel more powerful and therefore more God like. This will make humans less dependent on God and will therefore cause men to distance themselves from God. However, over time humans will get a false feeling of power and will try to overthrow God just like the drunk Stephano and Trinculo tried to do to Prospero.
In The Tempest Shakespeare explores human nature and its relation to religion. In the end he comes to a conclusion similar to that of Hobbes theory. Shakespeare suggests that as long as humans stay faithful to God they will do fine. However, Shakespeare states that human nature is to distance himself from God and this will in the end be its downfall. In today’s society the distancing from God is fairly obvious; however it still remains to be seen if this will be the downfall of the human race.

The Tempest and Adam & Eve

Human Nature In Literature.
Nature is something that encompasses a wide range of human behaviors, for it is thought that is ruled by nature. Tendency for action is also said live under the dominion of human nature. Whether the action is positive or negative depends on the state of mind of the being, as well as the inner nature of the heart. Monstrosity lives within each person, morals however, create an internal struggle between two opposing forces. One hand is the behavior that is known to be wrong, and is looked upon as monstrous, and on the other there is what is known (based on personal belief system) to be wrong.
The results of this conflict is dependent upon the rounding world. Specifically relating to the ideas presented by the playwright and philosopher Aristotle, in his work titled The Poetics, as well as the world illustrated in one essay of a collection titled The Anatomy Of Criticism by Northrop Frye. Clinical a major character in Shakespearean play The Tempest represents the internal struggle humans confront daily, as well as the way basic nature and environment shape behavior and thought patterns.
Tragic are the lives of humans, struggling to get by. Lives our finite, making each second of every life valuable to the nth degree. Minimization of life and happiness is achieved by accomplishing self set goals, studying the beauty of the substantial world, as well as the beauty created by humans. Art is the exact expression of human beauty, starting as raw creativity, then expressed into some tangible form. Whether it be song or portrait, for many rotators exist. According to Aristotle, art is the ultimate imitation of the world.

Essentially each art form is the same, the only varying factors are the modes of 2 imitation, as in what is to be imitated, and the instrument used to animate the art. (Aristotle 627) Specifically speaking on the point of an art born in the days of Aristotle myself, Tragedy. Tragedy is the imitation of serious thoughts and emotions, in order to create this “tragic world” upon a stage, only one component of tragedy is needed. Plot, the series of events that unfold upon the stage, creating the tragic world.
The sequencing of these events must be in a logical order, meaning the beginning does not have to follow any action, but all consequential unveiling of the plot should evoke some thought like “Ah that makes sense. ” This does not mean the plot must be predictable, Just sensible when viewed macroscopically. (Aristotle 632) Imitation of action, as well as the consequences of said action, is the ultimate goal of tragedy. For in the action lies the essential beauty that the artist is trying to capture, human emotion. “Tragedy is essentially an imitation not of persons but of action and life, of happiness and misery.
All human happiness or misery takes the form of action. ” (Aristotle 632) Day to day it is the “action” of our lives that produces sadness or happiness, getting a promotion produces feelings of Joy in a human of any nature, the underlying term being success, to imitate success should produce Joy in the spectators. Vice versa for the imitation of actions regarded with negative emotion. Slavery, an extinct practice, is not a situation easily comprehended by the modern person. What is relatable however, is the emotion propagated under the oppressive The Tempest By mammary atmosphere to a servant to master relationship.
Slavery is wrong, therefore pitied should be the one called slave. With the introduction of Clinical Shakespeare intends for his state to be regarded with such feelings exactly, his 3 life is dominated by the seemingly evil mage Prosper. “This island’s mine by Accords, my mother, Which thou tasks from me. When thou cam’s first Thou stroke me and made much of me, wouldst give me Water with berries in t, and teach me how To name the bigger light and how less, That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee… In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me The rest o the island. ” (1. 2. 96-411) Clinical Oh Clinical the life of a slave does not suit the gentle heart which gives, all the bounty of the island, rendering unto Prosper the wealth with which was held by the current slave. According to Aristotle however, it is impossible to evoke the true emotion in the audience, Clinical is presented in a state of slavery, the process from inning to slave occurred outside of the happenings on stage. “it does not appeal either to the human feelings in us, or to our pity, or to our fears. ” Shakespeare creates action outside of the play, with which is unrepeatable to the audience.
Upon learning that Clinical was enslaved because of the attempted rape upon Prospered daughter Miranda, however this discoveries holds no sway to the audience, rather it is a seasonal progression to the understanding of the current situation. While Shakespearean approach does not follow Aristotle convent, the development is still seasonal. (1. 2. 12-418) The crossroads 4 presented here is whether to feel for Scallion’s state, or to applaud Prosper as the savior, for it was he alone who entrapped this beast. Shakespeare meant for this to be a difficult decision, he evinces to us in the offstage action the theme of restoration.
Never permitted to forget the bestial potential of Clinical and his ambiguous nature, however, it is forcefully shown his ability to act with kindness, to act in a human manner. Parallel to the way Prospered humanity is forced into the scene, before Prosper was a master to Clinical, he was a mentor to the beast. (Manner) The alright is contrasting between a beast who can act humane and a human driven to impose the degradation of slavery upon another. Without argument Clinical has been the root of his own succession on the island, with the attempted rape it was ceded that his movements must not be of his own will.
The action rooted from a want, or better put, urge. Humans control their urges by weighing the consequence of enacting said urge, Clinical has lived on the island for an undetermined number of years with only the company of Accords. Clinical is the incarnate of human desire, without the deep rooted sense of morality, more inclined to act on his urges. The attempted rape was not malicious in nature, (through the eyes of Clinical at least) but it served to satiate his lust. The punishment imposed by Prosper is undeniably outrageous from Scallion’s viewpoint.
Speaking only on Scallion’s look on the situation it can be parallel to being enslaved and tortured for taking an apple from a tree in order to satiate hunger. Robert West firmly believes in the symbolism of each character, he states “The Tempest is the poignancy of man’s insubstantial pageant of 5 human happiness… Against the shadow of mortality. (Shakespeare For Students 14) Nothing truer could be stated, Clinical is imprisoned due to a lack of moral understanding, there is however an aspect of goodness, Clinical is Just as a child learning from his environment.
Under the dominion of Prosper he is treated as beast, therefore assumes to be nothing but a monster. “His spirits hear me… Sometimes am I all wound with adders, who with cloven tongues do hiss me into madness. Lo, now, 10! Here comes a spirit of his to torment me. ” (2. 2. 3-16) Clinical lives under a constant dominion of fear, the prospect of torture is right around the ornery, this is where the audience begins to feel true pity for Clinical and his existential situation. Consider this, a child always adopts the accent of it’s peers, not from the parents.
This holds true for all children, Clinical could be regarded as a “wild baby’ that is trying to learn about the world and fit into society in some way. In order to fit in and understand society it is necessary to socialize, to define socializing it is the ability to uphold similar or the same morals as the specified society. (Harris 9) Clinical was in mid process of this process, even coming far as learning Prospered poke language, his affinity for beauty is existent without doubt. As humans parade about with different accepted attitudes in different environments Clinical does the same.
When confronted with the a human far from the likes of his odious master a different side of Clinical emerges, one which appreciates beauty in a profound and meaningful way. ” I private, let me bring thee where crabs grow, 6 And I with my long nails will dig thee pigpens, Show thee a Jays nest, and instruct thee how To snare the nimblest marmoset. I’ll bring thee to clustering filberts, and sometimes I’ll get thee Young camels from the rock. Wilt thou go with me? ” (2. 2. 173-178) Clinical wants to live free, he wants share the beauty of this island, wicked by nature no he is not.
However unwished he is the existence of his lust for desire is strong, his mind is one unable to combat the moral struggle of desire and moral. Introduced into a positive society however has produced within Clinical a temperament of benevolence. In a tragic world the hero is undermined by his one great flaw, however much Shakespearean play adheres to the rules of a tragic world it is of another nature. Comedy is very similar to tragedy, the key differences are as follows. In a comedy there is absurdity, the world starts off by introducing this absurd figure, or law which opposes our the main characters want or need.
This old world must fall, in order for a new one to hold. This is called the crystallization moment. Once the new society is crystallized a theme of inclusion is at hand. (Frye) As everyone goes their separate ways in Joy the story of The Tempest is concluded with all members of the old world at peace. Should this have been a tragedy, Scallion’s role would have Shiites to something alien trot what was seen in the comic world . Due to the tact hat his monstrous action led to the crystallizing point, in a tragic world Clinical would have been the center of all pity, perhaps even the tragic hero.
Works Cited Aristotle. De Poetic. Trans. Ingram Batter Frye, Northrop. “Northrop Frye On Comedy (from the anatomy of criticism). ” Faculty. Headrace. Org. N. P.. Web. 20 Jan 2014. Harris, Judith. The Nature Assumption: Why Children Turn Out The Way They Do. Simon and Schuster, 2011. EBook. . Mbabane, John S. “Magic as Love and Faith: Shakespearean The Tempest. ” Renaissance Magic and the Return of the Golden Age: The Occult Tradition and Marlowe, Johnson, and Shakespeare.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989. 174-199. Rapt. In Shakespearean Criticism. Deed. Michelle Lee. Volvo. 84. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. Document URL http://go. Colleague. Com/as/I. Do? Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. New York: Simon ; Schuster Paperbacks, 1994. Print. “The Tempest. ” Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespearean Plays and Poetry. Deed. Anne Marie. 2nd deed. Volvo. 3. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 863-890. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2. 2013.

Human Nature In Literature

Prosper and Clinical In The Tempest.
The differences between Prosper and Clinical in The Tempest and A Tempest As A Tempest is an adaptation of Shakespearean The Tempest that focus on a postcolonial perspective, the story is, obviously, a little different. In A Tempest, Mime Easier clearly shows his postcolonial perspective by changing Ariel from an airy spirit into a mulatto slave and Clinical into a black slave. However, in Act I Scene II, the two main characters that should be focused on are Prosper and Clinical.
In A Tempest, since it has a postcolonial perspective, the characters seem to be more aggressive. For example, in the Tempest, Prosper is more tolerant, and knows how to use people. Ariel also shows more respect to him while in A Tempest where Prosper is an ideal example of a white man in postcolonial perspective. He acts like he is the master of every life. If he wants something to be done, it must be done no matters how.
At the same time, Clinical stands for himself more strongly in A Tempest. He dares to shout and be so rude to his master. He talks back to Prosper and he would not surrender so easily. In The Tempest, Clinical does argue with his master, but in the end he surrenders. On the contrary, in A Tempest, Clinical shows that he would not be “a good slave” obeying everything anymore. He resists on saying a words in his native language even though Prosper forbids him to do so.

In my opinion, it symbolize that black people would not surrender to white people anymore, or at least, not so easily. They are ready to fight back and stand for themselves. In conclusion, even though the characters of Prosper and Clinical are similar in The Tempest and A Tempest, they also have a little difference. The characters are stronger and more aggressive which express the postcolonial perspective of the play. The tempest By demonstrativeness

Prosper and Clinical In The Tempest

The Tempest Themes.
The Tempest, is sometimes known to be the last major play written by the Bard of Avon. This is a rather complicated play with many different themes. And like many of his other plays, could be performed with many different interpretation. This story follows Prosper, the rightful ruler of Milan, and his daughter Miranda whom have both been sent away by Prosperous own brother on a battered up boat, to fortunately land on an island where they survived for 12 years. The usurper himself, his followers, and Alonso, the man who helped, the usurper to get rid of Prosper, hyperlinked onto the island Prosper lived on.
They were separated into 3 groups at first, but ended up finding their way to each other. This is when Prosper forgave both his brother and Alonso. In the end, they all returned to Naples where Miranda married Ferdinand, the son of Alonso. There are many themes in this play, and several different types of love is of of them. The first type of love, is romantic love. The most obvious, and perhaps the most commonly seen theme in the works of Shakespeare. In this case, this love is seen teen Miranda and Ferdinand.
They first meet in Act 1 Scene II. It was love at first sight. Even before Miranda had her first conversation with Ferdinand, she said, “l might call him/ A thing divine, for nothing natural/ I ever saw so noble” (l, it, 420-422). Miranda is praising Ferdinand, and calling him a good man even though she doesn’t know him at all, yet alone, enough to Judge his character. A little further on in the story, Miranda challenges her father’s decision of making Ferdinand do hard labor when Prosper accused Ferdinand to be a spy.

We know by now that Prosper can become rather intimidating when his orders are defied. From this we can understand just how strong this love (at first sight) was. Parental love is another form of love that which we can observe in this play. Most of the parental love is seen between Prosper and Miranda. One of the many heart warming line is spoken by Alonso in act four. “Have given you here a third of mine own life,] Or that for which I live; who once again/ I tender to thy hand,. All thy vexations” (VI, I, 3-5).
Alonso treasures three things in his life: his study, Milan, and Miranda. This line continues to say that all of the trouble Ferdinand was put through was merely a test Prosper did to make sure he was the right man for his beloved daughter. He loved Miranda so much, that he needed to make sure, by using extreme measures, that the attraction between Miranda and Ferdinand was more than Just a part of Alonso ‘art’. Ferdinand and Alonso have moments in which we can observe said theme. Majority of the love between them appear in the form of mourning.
This is because both father and son believes that the other did not survive the shipwreck. For example, during Ferdinand first conversation with Alonso, he said “Who with mind eyes, en’ ere since at ebb, behold/ The King my father wracked” (l, I’, 428-439). Ferdinand is saying that he has not stopped crying since the shipwreck that took his father’s life. Fraternal love is something we rarely see in this play. In the beginning when Prosper finally opens up to Miranda about his past, he said, “Of all the world I loved,
The Tempest Themes By Billy-Patterson and to him put ” (l, ii, 69) This may be the one and only time in which Prosper speaks of Antonio so dearly. He loved, and therefore trusted Antonio to take good care of his dukedom. However this brotherly bond was ruined when Antonio decided to betray Prosper and usurped the latter’s position as the duke of Milan. Prosper himself described this betray as ‘perfidious’ and called him a ‘false uncle’ which can be translated to become ‘a corrupt uncle’.
It is quite devastating to understand the act that the special bond between the brothers had turned into something that is filled with distaste and resentment. In conclusion, this play has talked about numerous aspects of love. Romantic love, specifically love at first sight, between Ferdinand and Miranda. Parental love between Alonso and Ferdinand, and Prosper and Miranda. And finally fraternal love between Ferdinand and Antonio. The Tempest touches on many different themes throughout the play, but it still brings light to the many different existing aspects of love.

The Tempest Themes

The Tempest- Comparison and Contrast of Ferdinand.
Shakespearean The Tempest includes a variety of character personality such as the drunk, determined, evil-minded, love-stricken, and intentionally good. Though at first it may not seem so apparent, most of the characters’ attributes parallel each other in some aspect. Hidden in the story, though present, some of Prosperous qualities compare to Scallion’s. More obviously though, were the traits of the two that contrasted.
Although there are a few things that link Ferdinand and Clinical in imprison, their attitudes on each concept differ greatly. To begin with, Prosper holds one thing that each character desires. Ferdinand has the fancy for Prosperous daughter, Miranda. Clinical wants his island, which he believes he has the rightful claim to, back. Neither one of them can, easily, get what they want from Prosper because of his great powers. When Prosper sees that Ferdinand will take care of Miranda and is convinced the two are in love, he gives his blessing to the two lovers [under the one condition that Ferdinand is not to break
Marinara’s “virginity knot” until the wedding has been solemnizes (Act IV scene l. )] Clinical is granted his island back after Prosper gives up his magic and returns to Milan to uphold his rightful spot as Duke. Ferdinand and Clinical both carry wood for Prosper around Act II scene ii and Act Ill scene I. Ferdinand carries on a different attitude than Clinical, however. Clinical curses Prosper and they way the spirits torture him by pinching and biting. Ferdinand, on the contrary, transmits wood for Prosper because he doing it out of respect.

He understands his work is serving the new love of his life, Miranda and on day maybe her father will allow them to Join in marriage. One of the largest comparisons we see between Ferdinand and Clinical is their desire to untie Marinara’s “virgin knot. ” But, unlike Ferdinand, Clinical wants to rape Miranda. Clinical wishes to force sex onto Miranda to populate the island with more “Sicilians. ” Ferdinand love is pure. He has fallen in love with Miranda and has promised her father, Prosper, she would not lose her virginity until after they were deed.
This would prove to be another comparison between the two characters with different motives for each of them. Ferdinand and Clinical are two very different beings, physically and mentally. But one can spot out the comparisons that are mixed in with the dissimilarities. Great writer’s do everything for a reason and Shakespeare, “one of the greatest writers of all time”, definitely included the subtle similarities among the evident disparities to make the reader capture the sense that two opposite creatures can, in fact, have some erne encase.

The Tempest- Comparison and Contrast of Ferdinand