Tempest context

aristolian unities

claimed all tragedies (but expanded to plays) should have:
Unity of action- no irrelevant subplots
Unity if time- a perfect tragedy should focus on one day
Unity of place- should exist in a single physical location

Shakespearean comedy

‘Diverse though they are in content and in effect, these are essentially romantic plays. They concern themselves, by and large, with love and marriage. They show characters passing through a series of obstacles to a more or less happy resolution of their problems’ – Stanley Wells 

 

-united by a wedding, or several weddings, at the end of the play.

-not all of the fourteen plays classified as comedies are particularly light-hearted or humorous, all end with at least one marriage.

-Other features of Shakespearean comedy include

• disguises, usually in the form of cross-dressing

• thwarted lovers

• wordplay

• preposterously complicated plots

• uncertain or imagined settings

• music and song.

-Unlike tragedies, whose events have lasting negative consequence for the protagonists and society at large, the conflicts in comedies are reconciled before serious harm can come to anyone.

>Because the audience knows the discord is only temporary, we don’t take the foibles and misfortunes of the characters seriously

- Aristotle said that while tragedies concern characters who are more admirable than the average audience member, comedies concern characters who, because of their exaggerated flaws, such as buffoonish self-importance, are less admirable than the audience.

-In ridiculing these cartoonish characters, comedies satirise the pretensions of society. 

James I’s path to ascension

-James had been King of Scotland since 1567 (aged 1)

-coming into his majority in 1578

-gaining full control of his government in 1583.

-1603, the year Elizabeth died and James acceded to the English throne

-From 1604 King James struggled with Parliament over his attempt to bring together his two kingdoms of Scotland and England in an act of union

>1607 he eventually admitted defeat. 

Divine right of kings v scotland

The divine right of kings is the absolutist idea that a monarch’s authority to rule comes directly from God and that he or she is not subject to any earthly authority.

This is in contrast to the idea, popular with the Scottish kirk or church and espoused by James’s childhood tutor George Buchanan, that a monarch rules in accordance with some form of social contract with their people. 

Comedy of those who are ill fit/not born for the role aspiring (Steph+Trn)

Machiavelli

-The Prince, put forward the controversial idea that a successful ruler would sometimes have to commit immoral acts

>deception or ruthless killing, in order to maintain his rule and the stability of his kingdom. 

- influenced the development of the Elizabethan stage Machiavel

>combined elements of the Vice character (the comic villain from medieval morality drama) with a negative caricature of Machiavellian ideology as godless, scheming and self interested

- Christopher Marlowe was particularly well known for his Machiavels eg Faustus 

+Shakespearean examples include Iago, Edmund and Richard, Duke of Gloucester. 

-many Elizabethan and Jacobean writers did not just know Machiavelli in this reductive framework; they would also have been familiar with his actual writings

>leaned heavily towards republicanism.

>Writers switched between caricatured presentations of the Machiavel and serious engagement with Machiavelli’s ideas

Hobbes

-To protect us from inevitable anarchy, Thomas Hobbes argued, we need a leader and protector, whose position is governed by a contract with the people. 

>philosopher and royalist

-Hobbes proposed that the natural basic state of humankind is one of anarchy, with the strong dominating the weak.

-In order to remove that basic fear between individuals or groups, Hobbes suggested that people should 'contract' with a protector as their sovereign.

>Under this social contract individuals give up all rights, while those of the protector are absolute. He did not, though, believe in divine right.

>Hobbes's key point was that any protector was there by specific agreement with their subjects. 

Ficino/ renaissance thinkers on magic

Ficino and other occult thinkers (e.g., Pico della Mirandola, Agrippa, Dee, Bruno) claimed that human beings, through divine grace, could transcend fallen nature and reshape the world.

• Magic symbolized the pinnacle of human creative potential, blending science, religion, and art.

• Magic stood at the crossroads of inspiration and damnation, embodying the tension between faith in human potential and the theological warnings against overreaching.

BUT

• Critics of this view (e.g., Henry Holland, Jean Bodin, James VI and I) condemned occult practices as sinful, equating them with hubristic pride and demonic deception.

Bulger on MxF NEW

‘utopian’

Mebane on Faustus v Prospero

-Mebane argues that both Dr. Faustus and The Tempest use magic as a metaphor for human artistic and intellectual ambition

>rooted in Renaissance Neoplatonism and Hermetic traditions.

>exalted human creativity as a reflection of divine power, suggesting that purified souls could become agents of God through the arts

-Mebane contends that Marlowe and Shakespeare consciously embed this intellectual and moral tension within the structure of their plays using metadramatic devices:

• Dr. Faustus:

  • Faustus’s conjuring reflects the ambitious, overreaching artist, seeking to dominate nature through knowledge and illusion- illusory and morally dangerous, drawing parallels between Faustus’s necromancy and the deceptive nature of theatrical art itself.

  • cautionary tale of pride and downfall.

• The Tempest:

  • Prospero’s magic represents a more benevolent, harmonious form of control—a visionary imagination that restores order.

  • Unlike Faustus, Prospero renounces magic, acknowledging its limits and choosing reconciliation and humanity over domination.

Both plays, Mebane argues, dramatize the complex moral and metaphysical implications of art and magic.

>whether human beings, through art and intellect, can become godlike creators—or whether such aspirations inevitably lead to illusion and hubris.

Humanism

is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings as the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. 

The True Law of Free Monarchies  

-1598, King James VI of Scotland first published his essay on the theory of kingship

-James wrote this tract based on his experience ruling Scotland, but also with the knowledge that he was heir to the English throne and that Elizabeth was in her 60s. 

-James uses metaphysical arguments based on scripture to outline the mutual duty between monarch and subjects and to justify the theory of the divine right of kings.

>in contrast to the idea, popular with the Scottish kirk or church and espoused by James’s childhood tutor George Buchanan, that a monarch rules in accordance with some form of social contract with their people. 

Basilikon Doron  

-In 1599, King James VI of Scotland published Basilikon Doron (The King’s Gift)

>a letter to his young son Henry (1594–1612)

-drawing on his own experience as king to offer advice on how to be an effective ruler.

>only seven copies of the published text were printed at the time, suggesting that it was intended for a select private readership of family and nobility.

-Throughout 1603, the year Elizabeth died and James acceded to the English throne, a revised text was widely printed.

-The book is in three sections covering a monarch’s duty to God, his duties of office, and advice on his daily behaviour.

-upholds the theory of the divine right of kings – the absolutist idea that a monarch’s authority to rule comes directly from God and that he or she is not subject to any earthly authority.

-it warns against the threat of both Catholics and Puritans. 

-emphasizes the importance of union and the dangers of the division of a kingdom.

>From 1604 King James struggled with Parliament over his attempt to bring together his two kingdoms of Scotland and England in an act of union.

what does James view as a good king

-In the second book of the Basilikon Doron James encouraged his son to be a good king, as opposed to a tyrant, by establishing and executing laws as well as governing with justice and equality

• A good monarch must be well acquainted with his subjects and so it would be wise to visit each of the kingdoms every three years. 

• During war, he should choose old but good captains to lead an army of young and agile soldiers. 

• In the court and the household, he should carefully select loyal gentlemen and servants to surround him. When the time came to choose a wife, it would be best if she were of the same religion and had a generous estate. However, she must not meddle with governmental politics but perform her domestic duties. 

• As for inheritance, to ensure stability, the kingdom should be left to the eldest son, not divided among all children. 

• Lastly, it is most important to James that his son would know well his own craft, which is to properly govern over his subjects. To do so, he must study the laws of his kingdom and actively participate in the Council. 

• Furthermore, he must be acquainted with mathematics, military purposes and world history for foreign policy. 

Shakespearean Tragedy

‘exceptional suffering and calamity…affecting the hero and…generally extending far and wide beyond him’ – AC Bradley 

 

-The play fits a set of dramatic conventions established by the ancient Greeks

>Aristotle claimed all tragedies have Unity of action- no irrelevant subplots
Unity if time- a perfect tragedy should focus on one day
Unity of place- should exist in a single physical location

eg  Lear is a tragedy because he is an admirable character of high birth who makes a terrible mistake (Lear gives his kingdom to the wrong heirs.)

>By the time he realises his mistake many characters are dead, and Lear dies of grief.

-The ancient Greeks believed tragedy was useful because the audience experienced catharsis, or emotional release, through the hero’s suffering.

-Protagonists suffer a hamartia (an error) which is often contributed to by  hubris, or the arrogant belief that they are immune to negative consequences for their actions, Fate also often plays a role in the hero’s actions: many tragedies explore the tension between the role of fate versus free will. 

Shakespearean Romance

-The late romances are a grouping of William Shakespeare's last plays

>comprising Pericles, Prince of Tyre; Cymbeline; The Winter's Tale; and The Tempest

>coined by Dowden

-Shakespeare's plays cannot be precisely dated, but it is generally agreed that these comedies followed a series of tragedies including Othello, King Lear and Macbeth.

-Shakespeare's late romances were influenced by the development of tragicomedy and the extreme elaboration of the courtly masque 

>The subjects and style of these plays were also influenced by the preference of the monarch, by Shakespeare's ageing company and by their more upper-class audiences. 

-The romances call for spectacular effects to be shown onstage

eg including storms at sea, opulent interior and exterior scenery, dream settings and the illusion of time passing.

-Scholars have argued that the late plays deal with faith and redemption, and are variations on themes of rewarding virtue over vice. 

-While these plays following the comedic conventions they are more complex than Shakespeare’s earlier comedies, and contain tragic elements as well.

>also feature mystical elements and special effects, such as the storm at sea that opens The Tempest. 

>While characters do fall in love and marry, these romantic relationships don’t drive the plot, as is the case in the comedies.  

WHY?

-The category of Shakespearean romance arises from a desire among critics for the late plays to be recognised as a more complex kind of comedy

>Condell listed The Tempest and The Winter's Tale as comedies,

> Dowden argued that Shakespeare's late comedies should be called "romances," he did so because they resemble late medieval and early modern "romances," a genre in which stories were set across the immensity of space and time.

-The romances are Shakespearean tragedies that end happily, instead of a moment of danger that moves rapidly to a solution. They also focus on the relationships between father and daughter. 

>Hartwig ‘begin where the tragedy begins’

>In ‘Hamlet’, revenge leads to multiple deaths. In ‘The Tempest’ revenge gives way to forgiveness, reconciliation and regeneration in the form of marriage.

>a duke is usurped by his brother and banished to a natural environment where he sees his daughter married and manages to regain his old life. This could describe the comedy ‘As You Like It’ and of course the romance ‘The Tempest’.  

Sam Brunner on romances

-Sam Brunner argues that Shakespeare’s Romances—The Tempest, Cymbeline, Pericles, and The Winter’s Tale—move beyond classical comedy and tragedy to present a redemptive vision rooted in human error, repentance, and divine providence.

-These plays combine elements of fantasy and dysfunction—such as Leontes’ “jealous tyrant” rage (The Winter’s Tale, III.ii.132)—with miraculous restoration and reconciliation rather than tragic finality.

>Unlike tragedies, where characters are trapped by irreversible choices ("What's done cannot be undone"), the Romances present time as a regenerative force: “Time brings joy as well as terror.”

-Characters endure suffering and are eventually rewarded through patience and faith in higher powers.

>The sea, dreams, and visions often guide the action, symbolizing divine orchestration. Endings emphasize forgiveness and harmony

>in Cymbeline: “The fingers of the powers above do tune / The harmony of this peace” (V.v.467–468). Ultimately, the plays transcend tragedy by showing not destruction, but the possibility of renewal through time and grace.

How was Shakespeare affected by the rulers

-The popular drama during the Renaissance was subject to external influences, specifically what the ruler wanted to see. 

>Elizabeth I enjoyed watching what the people liked, which were the tragedies.

> James I succeeded her, and he preferred the romances.  

The KIngs men+performances of Shakespeare

-They would put on as many as two new plays a week.

-Many plays had only a few performances, and there was no director: actors were expected to know fairly standard blocking patterns.  

-Audiences at the Blackfriars were generally upper class, as the cost of admission was so high that the lower classes were unlikely to attend many performances. 

>Because of the sophistication of the audience, the romances leaned more toward aesthetics and culture. 

Tempest context (related to Shakespeare)

William Shakespeare (1564–1616),

>Despite limited formal education, he achieved fame, wealth, and royal favor

-The Tempest, likely written in 1610–1611, is considered his last solo play

>features an original plot inspired by colonial travel narratives and Montaigne’s essay “Of the Cannibals.”

>It explores themes of power, colonization, and illusion.

>The play blends minimal stage settings with elaborate effects, creating a dreamlike atmosphere akin to a courtly masque.

-Although sometimes viewed as Shakespeare’s farewell to the stage, he co-wrote two more plays afterward, including Henry VIII, during a performance of which the Globe Theatre famously burned down.

Act 1 scene 1

-A violent storm rages around a small ship at sea. The master of the ship calls for his boatswain to rouse the mariners to action and prevent the ship from being run aground by the tempest.

>later find out that they have just come from Tunis, in Africa, where Alonso’s daughter, Claribel, has been married to the prince.

-The Boatswain tells the courtiers to get below-decks. Gonzalo reminds the Boatswain that one of the passengers is of some importance, but the Boatswain is unmoved.

>He will do what he has to in order to save the ship, regardless of who is aboard.

-Sebastian and Antonio curse the Boatswain in his labors, masking their fear with profanity.

ANALYSIS

-in the early seventeenth century when the play was written, special effects were largely left to the audience’s imagination.

>Shakespeare’s stage would have been almost entirely bare, without many physical signs that the actors were supposed to be on a ship

>Cries from off-stage create the illusion of a space below-decks.

1.1 ‘[a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard]

• The sound of the tempest is often played throughout to symbolise the tempest within Prospero and the desire for vengeance in many others 

• Shakespearean audience were trained for greater suspension of disbelief as they had limited sets > much like Prospero Shakespeare uses his writing to conjure a ship

• Thunder and lightening was associated with satanic, divine, and otherwise supernatural influence

• Suspense for the audience of the fate of the characters until the shipwreck’s illusory nature is revealed

-motif of master-servant relationships. The characters on the boat are divided into nobles, such as Antonio and Gonzalo, and servants or professionals, such as the Boatswain.

>The mortal danger of the storm upsets the usual balance between these two groups, and the Boatswain, attempting to save the ship, comes into direct conflict with the hapless nobles (exposes the lack of correlation between virtue and authority)

Thomas Bulger ‘The turmoil in the natural world mirrors the psychological and political turbulence in the human world[...] individuals because of the life-threatening circumstances of the storm no longer feel obligated to traditional social conventions and hierarchies [...] harmony needs to be (re)established on the personal, social and cosmic levels.’

1.1 Boatswain “What cares these roarers for the name of king?”

• Juxtaposes the terrifying elements in nature- 'roarers'  harsh consonant and vowel sounds- with the arbitrary 'name' -the lighter vowel sound and the monosyllable serving to lend a lameness to the word

• In this life-and-death context, a name and a king are mere appellations, made-up things; a vast wave will kill you (though in reality he is safe AN)

• The boatswain + courtiers (usually in verse) use of proseat a time of existential threat, flowery, elevated language and social signifiers is also useless. 

• DEATH AS THE GREAT LEVELLER (nobles are not immune)

1.1 Boatswain [a cry from within] “a plague upon this howling. They are louder than the weather”

• The noblemen, who are supposedly strong and masculine, appear effeminate and weak against the Boatswains true strength and the power of nature

• Social superior is are disruptive and emotional (critique of hierarchy) Antonio is later hypocritical ‘insolent noisemaker’

• Some versions have a dash post plague, some believe it was to insert a prophanity as he is later called ‘blasphemous’ and Prospero remembers he utilises harsh language

• His judgement and humour suggests his authority 

• DEATH AS THE GREAT LEVELLER (nobles are not immune)

1.1 Boatswain ‘but none that I love more than myself’ ‘if you command the elements to silence […] use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks’ to Gonzalo

• Shakespearean ideas on social Degree/hierarchy is a reflection of the Great Chain of Being (extended to animal kingdom, believed to be put in place by God)

• But in this instance the lower degrees have the power in this situation

• It criticises the hierarchy by positioning it as unnatural (degree is no match for the natural phenomena, then it is about experiance

• The short phrases and exclamatories build tension, and he is comfortable with ship jargon and commands, but speaks in prose due to his class and urgency (nautical terminology creates illusions of the ship and conveys his experiance)

• Could be argued to parallel a Christ story, here the royals must submit themselves to this lower 

• He directly challenges royal authority by claiming he will work well not to serve them but out of love for himself (loyalty and obedience in the face of death is to the self, not to those in power,veneer of politeness less important than survival)

• His instructions also convey dire situation

• The boatswain + courtiers (usually in verse) use of proseat a time of existential threat, flowery, elevated language and social signifiers is also useless> DEATH AS THE GREAT LEVELLER (nobles are not immune)

>The characters in the scene are never named outright; they are only referred to in terms that indicate their social stations: “Boatswain,” “Master,” “King,” and “Prince”, emphasising hierarchy

>Gonzalo presented as naive (focusing on hierarchy)

1.1 Gonzalo “I have great comfort for this fellow//Methinks he has no drowning mark upon him”

• References a Shakespearean proverb that assured that as we fated we could avoid alternate fate (drowning or hanging)

• Here he uses it sarcastically to feign assurance, claims they will be safe as the Boatswain seems fated for hanging

• The boatswain + courtiers (usually in verse) use of proseat a time of existential threat, flowery, elevated language and social signifiers is also useless. 

• Suggests his diplomatic nature, enforced later

• Introduces the theme of fate > playwright/magicians divine power

1.1 Gonzalo ‘remember whom thou hast on board’ “The King and Prince’s at prayers, lets assist them”

• Sign of Gonzalo’s goodness early on

-irony here is that the storm is not natural at all, but is in fact a product of another kind of power: Prospero’s magic

1.1 Gonzalo “The wills above be done, but i would fain die a dry death”

• The tragicomedy conveyed here hints there will be no deaths

• The line from the Lord’s Prayer encouraging humility (a trait of Gonzalo) adds to the theme of God v magic (prospero will save him) and the comedy

• In retrospect this comment positions Prospero as a God

-Royal Exchange Theatre 1992

Storm scene was played out in Prospero's book-lined study, with Prospero seated at his desk throughout (the permanent set, neatly matching Prospero's former chosen isolation in his library in Milan)

-Frank Davidson (1963) – ‘the title of the play is not so much concerned with the sea storm Prospero raises as with the passions he stirs in his guests and in himself’

-Orgel 1.1 is a discussion of man’s position in the universe (can we control the elements)

>to the sailors the storm represents ‘the helplessness of humanity in the face of nature’ whereas to Prospero and Miranda it is an ‘illusion’ and magic is a method for ‘reason and control’

>BUT If we view magic as a fantasy then control is a fantasy (the threat of usurpation adds to this), but if it is science then there is the possibility for salvation (a negative or positive paradigm can be read)

Act 1 scene 2 (Part 1- Miranda+Ariel)

-Prospero and Miranda stand on the shore of the island, having just witnessed the shipwreck.

>Miranda entreats her father to see that no one on board comes to any harm.

1.2 Miranda “Oh I have suffered// with those who suffer”

• At the heart of usurpation attempts is a lack of empathy- the one quality Prospero cannot induce (as seen in end of play- cannot force redemption)

Miranda is an embalm of female qualities and empathy

-Prospero assures her that no one was harmed and tells her that it’s time she learned who she is and where she comes from.

1.2 “you have often// began to tell me what I am but stopped”

• Her ignorance is a convenient dramatic device, facilitating exposition naturally and allowing her to be a mouthpiece for the audience

>he asks her three times if she is listening to him.

-Prospero tells Miranda that he was once Duke of Milan and famous for his great intelligence, he neglected his duties in favour of studying

1.2 Prospero “That a brother should be so perfidious- he, whom” “he thinks me now incapable”

• His disconnected discourse- interrupting himself and redirecting- reflects the strength of his emotions whilst recounting the tale

• he uses present tense to add to the immediacy of the pain

1.2 “and rapt in secret studies” ”my library// was dukedom large enough for me”

• Here it is suggested he was enraptured (root word rapare- seized) by the metaphysical/occult, removing him from reality and rationality

• Reflects the significance of his learning to his, but is shown to be ultimately false as he acts with the aim (and ultimately regains) his dukedom and rescinds magic (may have changed his thought process)

• (Unlike Faustus it is not too late and he has achieved good with his magic). 

• Links to king James’ writings in which he promoted learning for the sake of enforcing his dukedom

1.2 Prospero “the ivy which had hid my princely trunk// and sucked my verdure” 

• Though vine covered trees are commonly thought of as nourishing each other the ivy is parasitic and extracts the trees vitality, by covering the trees source of sunlight (preventing access to kingship- sun is often a royal symbol- and bringing in darkness- treachery) 

• The tree has connotations of solidity (trunk) and royalty (especially oak trees are connected to royalty) v the vines creepin

• The natural imagery highlights the natural bond they do lack

>Working in concert with the King of Naples, Antonio usurped Prospero of his dukedom. Antonio arranged for the King of Naples to pay him an annual tribute and do him homage as duke.

>Gonzalo, an honest Neapolitan, provided them with food and clothing, as well as books from Prospero’s library.

>sheer good luck has brought his former enemies to the island. Miranda suddenly grows very sleepy (magic)

1.2 Prospero the wind “did us but loving wrong”

• He personifies the wind

• Nature is shown to be in harmony with a good man (mirroring his feeling, pathetic fallacy)

• Nature thought to be under God’s providence, the fact that the wind ushered him to the island reflects divine desire for his safety- play debates the link between the two as fate brings his enemies to him which he capitalises on

• The crafted figurative language and the abandonment of realism and probability separates the island from the ordinary world (a magical implication, not just distant)

1.2 Prospero to M “a chérubin” “smile// infused with a fortitude from heaven”

• Inversion of the natural parent child hierarchy- Miranda protecting him, she holds a divine power

• He displays an awareness of the flexibility of hierarchy

-Prospero calls forth his spirit, Ariel, they were responsible for the storm

1.2 Ariel “I flamed amazement. Sometime I'ld divide, 

And burn in many places; […]Jove's lightnings”

• Creates an illusion of lightning with the connotation of a vengeful purpose (as Jove used it) and his references shows a lack of association to the judeochristian scheme

• Ariel’s control over nature is a continuation of nature working in harmony with the forces (:eg when being taken to the island)

• Idea that he can divide his self or fire is unclear adding to chaos

• ‘Flamed amazement’ a typical contracted phrase as a result of his excitement and uncontrollable element whilst the jagged rhythm reflects his actions franticness(missing ‘causing’), the same his conveyed by his enjambement 

1.2 Prospero “But are they, Ariel, safe?”

>Prospero thanks Ariel for his service, and Ariel takes this moment to remind Prospero of his promise to take one year off of his agreed time of servitude if Ariel performs his services without complaint.

>he chastises Ariel for his impudence, reminds him of Sycorax, and threatens to imprison him for twelve years if he does not stop complaining, promises to free him in 2 days if he obeys

Ariel 1.2 “Remember I have done thee worthy service[…[ Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise.”

• Alliteration and assonance has an emphatic quality suggesting Ariel would’ve had a right to do either

• Prospero responds to Ariel’s pleas to ‘remember’ by accusing him of ‘forget[ing]’- both weaponise memory (Prospero uses his memory to hold his grudges- for him memory is active, reliving his memories eg the usurpation)

1.2 Prospero “Dost thou forget

From what a torment I did free thee?.”

• Uses a paternalistic tone to justify his control 

• He continues- as he does with Miranda- to ignore when Ariel assures he hasn’t forgotten “No” and contradicts him “thou dost”

• He manipulates Ariel and quashes rebellion by forcing him to relive the past and guilt tripping him

>jhe must go make himself like a nymph of the sea and be invisible to all but Prospero

>M wakes up

ANALYSIS

-Prospero is the center of power, controlling events throughout the play through magic and manipulation.

>Prospero’s retellings of past events shows how he controls others through magic, charisma, and rhetoric.

>speaking retrospectively allows the play to follow the Aristatolean unity of time

-controlling history enables one to control the present—that is, that one can control others by controlling how they understand the past.

>Prospero thus tells his story with a highly rhetorical emphasis on his own good deeds, the bad deeds of others toward him, and the ingratitude of those he has protected from the evils of others.

>repeatedly asks Miranda, “Dost thou attend me?” Through his questioning, he commands her attention almost hypnotically as he tells her his one-sided version of the story.

-Prospero himself does not seem blameless- he also failed in his responsibilities as a ruler

>Machiavelli claimed rulers should rely on shrewd judgement and ruthlessness to maintain power, not divine appointin

-With Ariel Prospero goes to even greater lengths to justify himself.

>He treats Ariel as a combination of a pet, whom he can praise and blame as he chooses, and a pupil, demanding that the spirit recite answers to questions about the past that Prospero has taught him.

1.2 Prospero “And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate

To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,”

• Ariel is shown to be essentially good in this image and later- acting as Prospero’s conscience

• Sycorax has sufficient power to invoke and trap Ariel but cannot force him to do as she commands- he retains free will- conversely Prospero- as a more benign version of Sycorax- will will characters to act (cruelly, usurp, to meet, to marry) but they do ultimately retain free will (he can only establish proper circumstances)

• In this was magic is a parallel force to fate 

• >Though Ariel must know the story well, Prospero says that he must “once in a month” recount Ariel’s history with Sycorax (servants fickle nature may become disloyal)

>He forces Ariel to recall the misery he suffered while trapped in the pine tree (“thy groans / Did make wolves howl,” I.ii.289–290). He then positions himself as the good savior who overthrew Sycorax’s evil AND displays his physical power (threatens to imprison him)

Act 1 scene 2 (part 2 Caliban)

-Caliban appears at Prospero’s call and begins cursing.

>Prospero promises to punish him by giving him cramps at night

> Caliban responds by chiding Prospero for imprisoning him on the island that once belonged to him alone- he showed him around when he first arrived.

]and then I loved thee,// and showed thee all the qualities o’th’ isle”

• This once affectionate relationship reflects the dynamic between colonists and indigenous people- using them for their information before betrayal

• If you believe it to be linked to the Bermuda account it may hold a sinister connotation- fermentation

-Prospero calls Caliban a “lying slave” and reminds him of the effort he made to educate him- Caliban’s hereditary nature makes him unfit to live among civilized people

>Prospero then sends him away, telling him to fetch more firewood and threatening him with more cramps and aches if he refuses

ANALYSIS

-Unlike Ariel and Miranda Caliban attempts to use language as a weapon against Prospero just as Prospero uses it

>he speaks in sophisticated, measured verse (contrasts rough prose of Trin Steph)- implicitly problematises the assertion that he is fully beastly

>he challenges Prospero as the rightful ruler ‘i am all the subjects that you have, which first was mine own king’ (parallels Ant’s usurpation)

>admits that he once tried to rape Miranda, but wishes he would have been able to finish the deed, so that he could have “peopled . . . / This isle with Calibans”

1.2 Prospero “Thou most lying slave, […]till thou didst seek to violate//The honour of my child.”

• There are flaws to Caliban’s presentation as a wronged, noble man

• The rape could be viewed as an attempt to enforce/restore lineage in the face of his inheritance removable- as well as a display of power and an attempt to reclaim it

• The rape’s failure mitigates his responsibility (though he does express no remorse and does admit it)

• Shakespeare choses to focus on retelling of the story, part of the theme of storytelling

>is his behaviour (like his cursing) taught?

1.2 Miranda “I pitied thee,//Took pains to make thee speak, […] but wouldst gabble like[…] But thy vile race”

• This speech was often reassigned to Prospero to maintain the decorum of her femininity- though its removal does flatten her character, she does often imitate Propspero’s style of speech, and she does express pity for him

• Reflects the colonial ignorance of other cultures- ‘gabble’ suggests his language to be less sophisticated

• She attributes his issues to his vile race - though he is capable of learning there is something inherent to him- Rousseau’s question of are we born or taught morality

1.2 Caliban “unwholesome fen// Drop on you both”

• Nature has been characterised as benign and in aid of Prospero but here Caliban uses it to curse

• Perverts beauty of nature

1.2 Caliban “You taught me language; and my profit on’t//Is, I know how to curse”

• Caliban is given room enough to combat them

• Though language is supposed to empower it merely gave him consciousness of what he was lacking (could name what he was not able to do>tantalising)

• Positions his ability to speech as functionally useless

-Prospero’s control over Caliban rests on his ability to master him through words

>the closer Caliban comes to outdoing Prospero in their cursing-match, the closer Caliban comes to achieving his freedom (he only relents because he fears Prospero’s magic, which, he says, is so powerful that it would make a slave of his witch-mother’s god, Setebos)

-Ariel creates an immediate contrast between Prospero’s two servants

> Caliban is coarse, resentful, and brutish, described as a “[h]ag-seed” a “poisonous” “most lying slave” and as “earth”

1.2 Prospero “Save for the son that she did litter here”

• Establishes his animalism(Caliban’s) being equivalent to a litter of animals (Caliban is the product of an unholy unity)

• The European mythologisation and zoomorphism of indigenous people is linked to by their perceptions of him (though Shakespeare will ultimately question European’s inherent civility)

• Caliban is made to do manual labour- earth and fire combating Ariel as air and water- Prospero “he does make our fire,// Fetch in our wood and serves in offices”

>Ariel is delicate, refined, and gracious, described in the Dramatis personae as an “airy spirit”, serves the magician somewhat willingly, in return for his freedom

1.2 Prospero “Thou poisonous slave, got by devil” v “Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel!”

• Clear contrast between his address of the spirits is clear in his address (clearer due to them being together)

• Character was linked to birth, ‘got’ suggests to the audience his character- modern post colonial readings often separate the two

• Prospero curses at Caliban

>In a sense Prospero enslaved Caliban and freed Ariel, imprisoning the dark, earthy “monster” and releasing the bright, airy spirit.

>could be read to represent the disruptive effect of European colonization on native societies.

Act 1 scene 2 (Part 3 Ferdinand x Miranda)

-Ariel, playing music and singing, enters and leads in Ferdinand. Prospero tells Miranda to look upon Ferdinand

1.2 Ariel “Full fathom five thy father lies;//Of his bones are coral made;//Those are pearls that were his eyes,:” Spirit “Ding-dong”

• The alternating rhyme scheme mirroring the reoccurring nature of grief/the idea of something that was once there now being gone

• though a realistic view would recognise the reality of decay, in Ariel’s vision of resurrection the body transforms to be subsumed by nature’s beauty (suggests a natural continuity of life)  (eg pearls very expensive and rare, he is becoming more precious and more permenant and purity- transience of flesh made hard and beautiful)- it reflects the earthy bodies transformation to a heavenly one (meta theatrical dimension, the actors transformed to characters, mirrored also in the language being transformed to song) > HARMONIOUS (reflected in harmonious song) COEXISTENCE between humans and natural world controlled by the supernatural (God parallel) DQ

• It is reminiscent of an elegy not shying from the morbiddness but retaining a comforting quality- added to by the lightness of the fricative phrase- encourages him to be in the right spiritual state to meet Miranda (he has an emotional gap that Miranda can fill)

• It is interesting that Prospero seeks to reassure him (some compassion) but does not inform him that his father is alive- audience response, wonders what their purpose for him is (Prospero’s hope for Miranda’s future ties to Ferdinand’s hopeful state)

1.2 Prospero “the fringed curtains of thine eye advance”

• Τhe eyelash metaphor has meta theatrical connotations

• The artificiality of the figurative language suggests a ritualised nature of the meeting- a lot is riding on this 

• The deliberately artificial image of Miranda’s eyelashes being lifted to ‘see’ Ferdinand suggests a curtain in a theatre or window, which is removed to reveal a spectacle or new perspective on the world.

• Link the ‘curtain’ metaphor and the ceremonial first meeting of the lovers to the idea of the island/theatre as a magical transformative space, which can improve the lives of audiences (learning is what transforms us, Bates suggests)

• Motif of sight reflections the illusions and deceptions within the lay which will be opened to reveal the truth (slowly revealing truth to Miranda)

>they are both smitten

1.2 Miranda “it carries a brave form” “‘tis a spirit” “a thing divine, for nothing natural // I ever saw so noble”

• Emphasis on the aesthetic with a comical sense without devolving into lust- though she recognises him as attractive she notes a spiritual beauty

• Her naivety is highlighted here as she assumed Ferdinand must be a spirit

• Religious diction is used by Shakespeare to capture a sense of wonder at this first encounter, and even to imply that their meeting is fated 

• Shows the danger of loves transformative power, being able to alter our perceptions too easily 

• We are invited to trust their instincts (as they are well matched) and the sincerity of their feelings, though there is a comical element to their delusions caused by love- which has the potential to be dangerous

1.2 Ferdinand “most sure the goddess” “(o, you wonder!)// if you be maid or not”

• Ferdinand matches Mirandes armure and passion by framing Miranda as supernatural as well (he is equally fanciful and picks up on her religious diction)

• He anticipates her name- wonder being linked to her names entomological meaning- his intuition signals their compatibility 

• The humility he expresses differentiates him from the other nobles

• Comedy is created in the double meaning of maid - both not a goddess and a virgin- by creating an early on obsession with virginity

• religious diction is used by Shakespeare to capture a sense of wonder at this first encounter, and even to imply that their meeting is fated – with Ferdinand’s exclamatory address, ‘O you wonder!’ virtually anticipating the meaning of Miranda’s name.

• The lovers directness in language reflects the sincerity of their feeling (contrasts with Prospero’s artificiality and the undermining wordplay of the courtiers) 

>Prospero decides that the two must not fall in love too quickly, and so he accuses Ferdinand of merely pretending to be the prince of Naples.

1.2 Prospero “I must uneasy make, lest too light winning//, make the prize light”

• There is a danger in having the task be too easy for F- he could disvalue Miranda

• Some have argued attempting to win her over will enhance his affection as part of the chivalric layer

>When he tells Ferdinand he is going to imprison him, Ferdinand draws his sword, but Prospero charms him so that he cannot move.

>Miranda attempts to persuade her father to have mercy,

1.2 Miranda “Pity move my father// to be inclined in my way”

• Miranda refuses to take her fathers perspective- they traditional expectation- she clearly possesses a rebellious instinct that many critics overlook

• Hilight how this stems from society as opposed to nature 

• Her rhetorical question suggests the absurdity of her father’s action and love overcoming her

• Her pity is key

• Anne Barton points out, ‘The severity of his attitude, however, has the effect of crystallizing her feelings with regard to Ferdinand and of dividing her from himself [Prospero] within a necessarily brief space of time.’

ANALYSIS

-Prospero’s treatment of Ferdinand at the end of this scene re-emphasizes his power (position as patriarch) and his willingness to manipulate others to achieve his own ends.

-This willingness to deceive even his beloved daughter draws attention to the moral and psychological ambiguities

-The Tempest is often viewed as an allegory about creativity (magic=art) BUT others find Prospero’s apparently narcissistic moral sense disturbing.

>Prospero seems to think that his own sense of justice and goodness is so well-honed and accurate that, if any other character disagrees with him, that character is wrong simply by virtue of the disagreement.

>He also seems to think that his objective in restoring his political power is so important that it justifies any means he chooses to use

Act 2 scene 1

-Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, and other shipwrecked lords search for Ferd on another part of the island.

>Alonso is quite despondent and unreceptive to the good-natured Gonzalo’s attempts to cheer him up.

>Gonzalo meets resistance from Antonio and Sebastian as well (mock his suggestion that the island is a good place to be and that they are all lucky to have survived)

>Alonso openly expresses regret at having married away his daughter in Tunis (Sebastian agrees, she shouldve married EU)

-Gonzalo to change the subject discusses what he would do as leader of the island

>Antonio and Sebastian mock his utopian vision.

-Ariel enters, playing “solemn music” and gradually all but Sebastian and Antonio fall asleep.

-Antonio tries to persuade Sebastian to kill his brother.

>He rationalizes this scheme by explaining that Claribel (daughter) is too far from Naples to inherit and Sebastian would be the heir to the throne.

>Sebastian wonders aloud whether he will be afflicted by conscience, but Antonio dismisses this out of hand.

>the two men draw their swords. Sebastian, however, seems to have second thoughts at the last moment and stops.

-Ariel in Gonzalo’s ear that a conspiracy is under way and that he should “Awake, awake!” Gonzalo wakes and shouts “Preserve the King!” which wakes everyone else

> Sebastian concocts a story about hearing a loud noise that caused him and Antonio to draw their swords. Gonzalo is obviously suspicious but does not challenge the lords. The group continues its search for Ferdinand.

ANALYSIS

-Shakespeare creates a convincing illusion of the island, described in poetry of great imagistic richness

>descriptions do differ

Adrian finds it to be of “subtle, tender, and delicate temperance,” where “the air breathes upon us . . . most sweetly”

Gonzalo says that the grass is “lush and lusty” and “green” (sees the good)

Antonio and Sebastian that the air smells “as ’twere perfumed by a fen” (swamp) and that the ground “indeed is tawny” (brown) (sees only its faults)

>could be easily discounted as mere grumpiness BUT Gonzalo and Adrian do seem at times to be stretching the truth (Adrian remarks “Though this island seem to be desert . . . Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible”)

>the bareness of the stage allows the beauty and other qualities of the island to be largely a matter of perspective. The island may be a paradise, but only if one chooses to see it that way.

-The reference to Claribel’s marriage explores interracial relations

>instead of dominating a primitive foreign kingdom as Prospero does, the ‘fair soul’ is the possession of a dark-skinned African king

>inversion of cultural stereotypes

-Gonzalo’s fantasy about the plantation/utopia (no one would work, all people would be equal and live off the land, and all women would be “innocent and pure”) indicates his innocence and purity.

>Shakespeare treats it as a lovely dream, in which the frustrations and obstructions of life (magistrates, wealth, power) would be removed and all could live naturally and authentically.

>Though Gonzalo’s idea is not presented as practical it contrasts the power-obsessed ideas of others including Prospero.

>draws from Montaigne’s ‘Of the Cannibals’, agreeing that civilisation (trade division of land etc) are not superior than living by natural laws

• Gonzalo is positive and his commonwealth id s desirable alternator to Prospero’s rule (led to admire his idealism)

• His ideas are fundemenatally contradictory + incompatible with the Tempest’s presentation of human nature

•  His ideas are an extension of his good nature > Kott Gonzalo is ‘loyal and honest’ helping Prospero and providing him with 'rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessities' + concerned with protecting the king ’Good angels preserve the king!’ 

• However, he did ultimately still serve the usurper, he did not prioritise the greater good 

Gonzalo ‘riches and poverty’ will be abandoned and no one will be in ‘service’ 

• Everyone can achieve greater happiness

•  His ideas are an extension of his good nature > Kott Gonzalo is ‘loyal and honest’ 

• Lees-Jeffnes he seems to be ‘imagining a return to a kind of golden age’ in which people have great freedom

• Encouraged to recognise his idealism as positive and in good faith

• His plan is ineffective trial as he proposes no plan to overthrow the current leaders or brings about a golden age

Gonzalo ‘no sovereignty’ in his ‘commonwealth’

• He describes it in contradictions (it will be an upside down place) (no rulers a, business, magistrates, booklearning, riches, poverty, and on the extreme mon agriculture talith or wine- Prospero demands all of these things- demand service, acts as a magistrate, etc)

• Imagines a return to the golden ages- Paradise before Fall (wont work, evil is already amongst them)

• Despite this he refers to the people possessively as ‘my’ reflecting a belief in himself as a ruler

• Douden an attempt to realise such a society lands us in ‘absurdities and self contradictions’

• The usurpation plotlines Shakespeare presents suggests human nature is opposed to G’s idealism (tendency to strive for greater power as opposed to the greater good)

-The mockery by Antonio and Sebastian reveals their cynicism and lack of feeling.

>Gonzalo is simply grateful and optimistic about having survived the shipwreck, Antonio and Sebastian seem mainly to be annoyed by it (Gonzalo says that they are simply loudmouthed jokers, who “would lift the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without changing” (II.i.179–181))

>By conspiring against the king they reveal themselves as more sinister and greedier than Gonzalo recognizes, using their verbal wit to cover up their darker and more wicked impulses.

>As they attempt to cover their treachery with the story of the “bellowing / Like bulls, or rather lions” (II.i.307–308), it seems hard to believe that Antonio ever could have risen successfully against his brother.

>The absurdly aggressive behavior of Antonio and Sebastian makes Prospero’s exercise of power in the previous and following scenes seem necessary.

Antonio ‘the latter end of his suggested commonwealth forgets the beginning’

• Suggest Gonzalo's Utopia is fundamentally impossible and contradictory

• He claims the commonwealth would require a leader which would prevent it from being egalitarian

• Colridge shows a ‘tendency in bad men to indulge in scorn’ in order to resolve their feelings of ‘inferiority to the good’ 

• But though he attributes the criticism to bad men they are not wrong- his ideas are contradictory

-It parallels Prospero’s usurpation (as does Calinan’s/Trin’s)

>on the island natural order has disintergrated and man’s instinct for power causes issues

>puts Alonso in a sympathetic position. He is a potential victim of the duo’s treachery, a fact that helps the audience believe his conversion when he reconciles with Prospero at the end.

Act 2 Scene 2

-Caliban enters with a load of wood, and thunder sounds in the background.

>curses and describes the torments that Prospero’s spirits subject him to: they pinch, bite, and prick him, especially when he curses.

>Caliban sees Trinculo and imagines him to be one of the spirits. Hoping to avoid pinching, he lies down and covers himself with his cloak.

>Trinculo hears the thunder and looks about for some cover from the storm- the cloak-covered Caliban on the ground.

>He is not so much repulsed by Caliban as curious- cannot decide whether Caliban is a “man or a fish”

>He thinks of a time when he traveled to England and witnessed freak-shows there. Caliban, he thinks, would bring him a lot of money in England.

-Stephano enters singing and drinking. He hears Caliban cry out to Trinculo, “Do not torment me! O!”

>Stephano thinks the two men are a four-legged monster with a fever. He decides to relieve this fever with a drink.

>Caliban continues to resist Trinculo, whom he still thinks is a spirit tormenting him.

>Trinculo recognizes Stephano’s voice and says so. Stephano, assumes for a moment that the monster has two heads, and he promises to pour liquor in both mouths.

>Trinculo now calls out , Stephano pulls his friend out from under the cloak.

>Caliban enjoys the liquor and begs to worship Stephano. The men take full advantage of Caliban’s drunkenness, mocking him as a “most ridiculous monster” (II.ii.157) as he promises to lead them around and show them the isle.

ANALYSIS

-Trinculo and Stephano are the last new characters to be introduced in the play. They act as comic foils to the main action

>specific parodies of Antonio and Sebastian.

-They make it clear that Europeans view Caliban as less than human (though they treat him more humanely)

>Prospero calls Caliban a “slave”, “thou earth”, “Filth” and “Hag-seed” . Stephano and Trinculo’s epithet of choice is “monster.”

-dramatizes the initial encounter between an almost completely isolated, “primitive” culture and a foreign, “civilized” one.

>Prospero initially “made much of” Caliban, gave Caliban “Water with berries in’t”, was shown around the island him and later imprisoned Caliban, after he had taken all he could take from him.

>Trinculo and Stephano parody this in the place of Prospero. Stephano calls Caliban a “brave monster” (mooncald, puppy-headed, devil, a man or a fish)

>give Caliban wine, which Caliban finds to be a “celestial liquor”

>Caliban initially mistakes Stephano and Trinculo for Prospero’s spirits, but alcohol convinces him that Stephano is a “brave god” and decides unconditionally to “kneel to him”

>shows the foreign, civilized culture as decadent and manipulative:

>Stephano and Trinculo are a grotesque, parodic version of Prospero upon his arrival twelve years ago. Godlike in the eyes of the native, they slash and burn their way to power

-The religious diction shows alcohol becoming an alternative deity

>C ‘hast thou not dropped from heaven’, S tells him to ‘kiss the book’ (book=bottle, alcohol treated as a holy text) ‘i prithee be my god’ (equally directed at drink and S’

-The alcohol creates an alternative reality for them

>they lose inhibitions and fantasise about their futures (Stephano as king, Caliban free of Prospero’s enslavement)

-Caliban has begun to resemble a parody of himself

> he would “gabble like / A thing most brutish” (I.ii.359–360) upon Prospero’s arrival, because he did not know language, he now is willfully inarticulate in his drunkenness. I

>Caliban puts his trust in them for all the wrong reasons.

>we expect him to know better after Prospero

Act 3 Scene 2

-at Prospero’s cell, Ferdinand takes over Caliban’s duties and carries wood for Prospero.

>Unlike Caliban Ferdinand has no desire to curse. Instead, he enjoys his labors because they serve the woman he loves

>she enters and unseen by either lover, Prospero enters.

>Miranda tells Ferdinand to take a break from his work, or to let her work for him, thinking that her father is away. Ferdinand refuses to let her work for him but does rest from his work and asks Miranda her name.

>Ferdinand’s speech plays on the etymology: “Admired Miranda! / Indeed the top of admiration, worth / What’s dearest to the world!”

>Ferdinand flatters her, she is modest, pointing out that she has no idea of any woman’s face but her own. She goes on to praise Ferdinand’s face, but then stops herself, remembering her father’s instructions that she should not speak to Ferdinand.

>Ferdinand assures Miranda that he is a prince and probably a king now, though he prays his father is not dead. Miranda seems unconcerned with Ferdinand’s title, and asks only if he loves her. Ferdinand replies enthusiastically that he does, and his response emboldens Miranda to propose marriage.

>Ferdinand accepts and the two leave each other.

>Prospero comes forth, subdued in his happiness, for he has known that this would happen. He then hastens to his book of magic in order to prepare for his remaining business.

ANALYSIS

-This scene revolves around different images of servitude. >Ferdinand is literally in service to Prospero, but in order to make his labor more pleasant, he sees Miranda as his taskmaster.

> Ferdinand sees the love he has had for other women in comparison to his love for Miranda, as an enforced servitude: “Full many a lady / I have eyed with the best regard, and many a time / Th’ harmony of their tongues hath into bondage / Brought my too diligent ear”

>he claims as a royal he “would no more endure / This wooden slavery [carrying logs] than to suffer / The flesh-fly blow my mouth” but this slavery is made tolerable by his willing slavery to his love “The very instant that I saw you did / My heart fly to your service; there resides, / To make me slave to it”

>unlike Caliban who acts begrudgingly (though both are magically compelled to) F is willing and passes the love test

>in her proposal Miranda takes up the theme of servitude. “I am your wife if you will marry me; / If not, I’ll die your maid. . . . / You may deny me; but I’ll be your servant / Whether you will or no”

-The opposition between their traditional roles and what they are willing to do for love (Miranda has become more masculine to serve love) shows how heir relationship is based on equality as opposed to hierarchy (they both change equally)

>The hierarchal society would have found it amusing

-Miranda has began to rebel against her father

>her rite of passage to adulthood, facilitating marriage, is encouraged by Prospero’s performed tyranny

>the audience may have been uncomfortable with her rebellion had it not been for P’s presance

-They speak in the register of courtly love (metaphirs and hyperboles used to suggest the depths of their love)

>Miranda’s speech and aims are abrupt and clear- she aims to marry him and conveys this directly- maintains her purity, she is not flirtatious and able to love on first sight THEIR LOVE IS PURE AND IDEAL

>he appreciates her purity aking to pray for her and speaking of his ‘soul’ and wishing ‘heaven’ to witness his love declerations

>She reaches love as it speaks to her and her innocent imagination whereas he does it based off experiance
-Some critics argue P’s presance is sinsiter but it was common for fathers to negotiate their daughters marriages

>her unawareness provides her the illusion of rebellion and total free will (he doesnt interfere)

Act 3 Scene 2

-Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano continue to drink and wander about the island.

>Stephano refers to Caliban as “servant monster” and repeatedly orders him to drink. Caliban seems happy to obey.

>Stephano has now assumed the title of Lord of the Island and he promises to hang Trinculo if Trinculo should mock his servant monster.

-Ariel, invisible, enters just as Caliban is telling the men that he is “subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island” Ariel begins to stir up trouble, calling out, “Thou liest” Caliban accuses and threatens Trinculo (S orders him to be quiet)

>Caliban tells them of his desire to get revenge against Prospero.

>Ariel continues to interrupt “Thou liest.” Ariel’s ventriloquizing ultimately results in Stephano hitting Trinculo

>C describes M’s beauty

-Caliban tells them that they must take his magic books, before killing him

>Stephano will become king of the island and Miranda will be his queen.

-Ariel plays a tune on his flute and tabor-drum. Stephano and Trinculo wonder at this noise, but Caliban tells them it is nothing to fear.

>Stephano relishes the thought of possessing this island kingdom “where I shall have my music for nothing” Then the men decide to follow the music and afterward to kill Prospero.

ANALYSIS

-Several characters accustomed to servitude devise a new hierarchy bewteen them

>Caliban has forgotten his dream of becoming ‘mine own king’ and is satisfied to becoming someone elses’ subject (opressed for so long he is a tragic figre who cant enjoy hiw on freedom?)

-The comic elements are emphasised by the interjections spurring violence

-This scene is an example of doubling: almost everything in it echoes 2.1

>Stephano muses about the kind of island it would be if he ruled it—“I will kill this man [Prospero]. His daughter and I will be King and Queen . . . and Trinculo and thyself [Caliban] shall be viceroys” —just as Gonzalo had done

>Ariel enters, invisible, and causes strife among the group, first with his voice and then with music, leading the men astray

>the power-hungry servants Stephano and Trinculo thus become rough parodies of the power-hungry courtiers Antonio and Sebastian.

>All four men are now essentially equated with Caliban, who is another usurper.

-Reassuring the others not to worry about Ariel’s piping, Caliban speaks on the island

>he is more than a simple usurper and is more sophisticated than the men

>we are reminded of Caliban’s very close connection to the island—a connection we have seen previously only in his speeches about showing Prospero or Stephano which streams to drink from and which berries to pick

>Caliban is a symbolic “native” in the colonial allegory of the play and an actual native of the island, having been born there after his mother Sycorax fled there.

>This monologue is ennobling because there is no servility in it, only a profound understanding of the magic of the island (providing Caliban with a moment of freedom from Prospero and even from his drunkenness)

>In his anger and sadness, Caliban seems for a moment to have risen above his wretched role as Stephano’s fool

>Shakespeare of briefly giving the monster a voice. Because of this short speech, Caliban becomes a more understandable character, and even, for the moment at least, a sympathetic one.

Act 3 Scene 3

-Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, and their companion lords become exhausted, and Alonso gives up all hope of finding his son.

>Antonio, still hoping to kill Alonso, whispers to Sebastian that Alonso’s exhaustion and desperation will provide them with the perfect opportunity to kill the king later that evening.

-“solemn and strange music” fills the stage and a procession of spirits in “several strange shapes” enters, bringing a banquet of food

>The spirits dance about the table, invite the king and his party to eat, and then dance away.

>Prospero enters at this time as well, having rendered himself magically invisible to everyone but the audience.

>The men disagree at first about whether to eat, but Gonzalo persuades them it will be all right, noting that travelers are returning every day with stories of unbelievable but true events.

-Just as the men are about to eat a noise of thunder erupts, and Ariel enters in the shape of a harpy.

>He claps his wings upon the table and the banquet vanishes. Ariel mocks the men for attempting to draw their swords, which magically have been made to feel heavy.

>Calling himself an instrument of Fate and Destiny, he goes on to accuse ASA of driving Prospero from Milan and leaving him and his child at the mercy of the sea.

>For this sin, he tells them, the powers of nature and the sea have exacted revenge on Alonso by taking Ferdinand.

>He vanishes, and the procession of spirits enters again and removes the banquet table.

-Alonso runs to drown himself. Sebastian and Antonio, meanwhile, decide to pursue and fight with the spirits.

>Gonzalo tells the other, younger lords to run after Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso and to make sure that none of the three does anything rash.

ANALYSIS

-Although Prosper'o’s magic has been used benignly, the darker side is now apparent

>references to ‘devils’ and ‘perdition’ juxtapose with ‘something holy’ (positive perception)

-Ariel’s appearance as an avenging harpy represents the climax of Prospero’s revenge, as Antonio, Alonso, and the other lords are confronted with their crimes and threatened with punishment.

>Prospero’s perspective, the disguised Ariel represents justice and the powers of nature.

>the audience knows that Ariel is not an angel or representative of a higher moral power, but merely a mouthpiece for Prospero- the vision of justice presented in this scene is artificial and staged.

>A+P are in danger of hubriis by assuming powers usually reserved for deities (reminds us that magic is bad and Prospero can only return to his rightful place by denouncing it)

-Ariel’s display has less to do with fate or justice than with Prospero’s ability to manipulate the thoughts and feelings of others.

>Just as his frequent recitations of history to Ariel, Miranda, and Caliban are designed to govern their thinking by imposing his own rhetoric upon it

>Prospero’s decision to use Ariel as an illusory instrument of “fate” is designed to govern the thinking of the nobles at the table by imposing his own ideas of justice and right action upon their minds.

>for Ariel to present Prospero’s case in this fashion makes it seem like the inevitable natural order of the universe—even though Prospero himself is behind everything Ariel says.

-The play seems to present Prospero’s notion of justice as the only viable one

> it simultaneously undercuts Prospero’s notion of justice by presenting the artificiality of his method of obtaining justice.

>We are left to wonder if justice really exists when it appears that only a sorcerer can bring about justice.

-Prospero’s manipulations may put us in mind of what playwrights do when they arrange events into meaningful patterns, rewarding the good and punishing the bad.

Act 4 Scene 1

-Prospero gives his blessing to Ferdinand and Miranda, warning Ferdinand only that he take care not to break Miranda’s “virgin-knot” before the wedding has been solemnized

-Prospero then calls in Ariel and asks him to summon spirits to perform a masque for Ferdinand and Miranda.

>three spirits appear in the shapes of the mythological figures of Juno, Iris, and Ceres (goddess of agriculture). This trio performs a masque celebrating the lovers’ engagement.

> Iris enters and asks Ceres to appear at Juno’s wish, to celebrate “a contract of true love.”

>Juno and Ceres together bless the couple, with Juno wishing them honor and riches, and Ceres wishing them natural prosperity and plenty.

-The spectacle awes Ferdinand and he says that he would like to live on the island forever, with Prospero as his father and Miranda as his wife.

-Just as this dance begins, however, Prospero startles suddenly and then sends the spirits away.

>Prospero, who had forgotten about Caliban’s plot against him, suddenly remembers that the hour nearly has come for Caliban and the conspirators to make their attempt on his life.

-Prospero’s apparent anger alarms Ferdinand and Miranda, but Prospero assures them that his consternation is largely a result of his age; he says that a walk will soothe him.

-Prospero makes a short speech about the masque, saying that the world itself is as insubstantial as a play, and that human beings are “such stuff / As dreams are made on.”

-Ferdinand and Miranda leave Prospero who summons Ariel tells him of the men’s drunken scheme to steal Prospero’s book and kill him.

-On a clothesline in Prospero’s cell, Prospero and Ariel hang an array of fine apparel for the men to attempt to steal, after which they render themselves invisible.

>Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano enter, wet from the filthy pond. The fine clothing immediately distracts Stephano and Trinculo. They want to steal it, despite the protests of Caliban, who wants to stick to the plan and kill Prospero.

-Spirits in the shape of hunting hounds are set who chase them away

ANALYSIS

-Prospero praises his daughter but claims his words are insufficient

>she has been put on a pedestal of feminine virtye

>she is advertised as a valuable assset- referred to as ‘my gift, and thine own acquisition/worthily purchased’

-explores marriage from several different angles.

>Prospero and Ferdinand’s surprisingly coarse discussion of Miranda’s virginity emphasises the disparity in knowledge and experience between Miranda and her future husband.

>Ferdinand’s vulgar description of the pleasures of the wedding-bed reminds the audience, and Prospero, that the end of Miranda’s innocence is now imminent.

> Prospero seems affected by Miranda's transition into womanhood- making unprecedented comments on the transitory nature of life and on his own old age. Very likely, the prospect of Miranda’s marriage and growing up calls these ideas to his mind.

>the masque moves the exploration of marriage to the somewhat more comfortable realms of society and family (popular forms of entertainment in England- masked actors performing allegorical, often highly ritualized stories drawn from mythology and folklore) The united blessing of the union by Juno and Ceres is a blessing on the couple that wishes them prosperity and wealth while explicitly tying their marriage to notions of social propriety (Juno wishes them “honor”) and harmony with the Earth. marriage is subtly glorified as both the foundation of society and as part of the natural order of things, given the accord between marriage and nature in Ceres’ speech.

>Juno and Ceres de-emphasize the role of love, personal feeling, and sexuality in marriage, choosing instead to focus on marriage’s place in the social and natural orders (Ceres wonders to Iris where Venus and Cupid, the deities of love and sex, are, she says that she hopes not to see them because their lustful powers caused Pluto, god of the underworld, to kidnap Persephone, Ceres’s daughter- they had hoped to foil the purity of the impending union, “but in vain”)

>through the masque Prospero is trying to suppress entirely the lasciviousness of Ferdinand’s tone when he discusses Miranda’s virginity.

-In most of his comedies marriage is used as a symbol of a harmonious and healthy social order- though the tempest is a romance it is concerned with the social order, both in terms of the explicit conflict of the play (Prospero’s struggle to regain his place as duke) and in terms of the play’s constant exploration of the master-servant dynamic,

>Shakespeare creates a sense that, even though the play’s major conflict is still unresolved, the world of the play is beginning to heal itself.

>nothing to do with the charactes themselves (F seems coars, M a threatened innocent, P weary and sad) but the fact of marriage

-The masque is a play within a play which celebrates their union while preserving her chastity ‘that no bed right shall be paid/till Hymen’s torch be lighted’

>it reminds us that we are watchng a theatricla illusion

-the culmination of Caliban’s plot against Prospero occurs merely as a moment of comic relief, exposing the weaknesses of Stephano and Trinculo

>Caliban’s behavior has been vicious and degraded, but also because Prospero has become more appealing- C is less sympathetic?

>Prospero has come to seem more fully human because of his poignant feelings for his daughter and his discussion of his old age.

-That S lost his bottle (the symbol/source of his power) in the swamp reflects how he is no longer in a position to command C+T

-His self destructive obsession with P’s clothes underlines the dangers of sybmitting to the desire for wealth

Act 5 Scene 1

-Ariel tells Prospero that the day has reached its “sixth hour” (6 p.m.), when Ariel is allowed to stop working.

-Prospero acknowledges Ariel’s request and asks how the king and his followers are faring.

>Ariel tells him that they are currently imprisoned, as Prospero ordered, in a grove. Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian are mad with fear; and Gonzalo cries constantly.

>Prospero tells Ariel to go release the men

-now alone on stage, delivers his famous soliloquy in which he gives up magic. He says he will perform his last task and then break his staff and drown his magic book.

-Ariel now enters with Alonso and his companions, who have been charmed and obediently stand in a circle.

>Prospero speaks to them in their charmed state, praising Gonzalo for his loyalty and chiding the others for their treachery.

>He then sends Ariel to his cell to fetch the clothes he once wore as Duke of Milan.

-Prospero releases Alonso and his companions from their spell and speaks with them.

>He forgives Antonio but demands that Antonio return his dukedom.

>Alonso now tells Prospero of the missing Ferdinand. Prospero tells Alonso that he, too, has lost a child in this last tempest—his daughter.

>Prospero then draws aside a curtain, revealing behind it Ferdinand and Miranda, who are playing a game of chess.

>Alonso is ecstatic at the discovery.

>the sight of more humans impresses Miranda.

-Alonso embraces his son and daughter-in-law to be and begs Miranda’s forgiveness for the treacheries of twelve years ago. Prospero silences Alonso’s apologies, insisting that the reconciliation is complete.

-After arriving with the Boatswain and mariners, Ariel is sent to fetch Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano, which he speedily does.

-Prospero then invites Alonso and his company to stay the night. He will tell them the tale of his last twelve years, and in the morning, they can all set out for Naples (where he will reflect on his death)

-The last charge Prospero gives to Ariel before setting him free is to make sure the trip home is made on “calm seas” with “auspicious gales” (V.i.318).

ANALYSIS

-Prospero controls all the enterances and ecxits (via Ariel) assuming the role of playwright

-He is at times God-like, appearing to resurrect Ferd and Mir (Sebastian accuses him of being a satanic appirition )

>his forgiving mood dissuades accusations

-all of the play’s characters are brought on stage together for the first time.

-Prospero repeatedly says that he is relinquishing his magic, but its presence pervades the scene.

>He enters in his magic robes.

>He brings Alonso and the others into a charmed circle

>Once he releases them from the spell, he makes the magician-like spectacle of unveiling Miranda and Ferdinand behind a curtain, playing chess

>His last words of the play proper are a command to Ariel to ensure for him a safe voyage home.

>Only in the epilogue, when he is alone on-stage, does Prospero announce definitively that his charms are “all o’erthrown” (V.i.1).

-When Prospero passes judgment on his enemies in the final scene, we are no longer put off by his power

>his love for Miranda has humanized him to a great extent, and also because we now can see that, over the course of the play, his judgments generally have been justified + he no longer holds Ariel and Caliban as slaves or dominating Miranda (going to F)

>Gonzalo is an “honourable man” Alonso did treat Prospero “[m]ost cruelly” and Antonio is an “[u]nnatural” brother

Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, led in sheepishly in their stolen apparel at line 258, are so foolish as to deserve punishment, and Prospero’s command that they “trim” his cell “handsomely” in preparation for the evening’s revels seems mild.

(unclear if Caliban will come with the, or be king of the island)

>Accusing his enemies neither more nor less than they deserve, and forgiving them instantly once he has been restored to his dukedom he appears judicious rather than arbitrary in his use of power.

- Miranda’s last line “O wonder!” “How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world / That has such people in’t!”

>From Miranda’s innocent perspective, such a remark seems genuine and even true. But from the audience’s perspective, it must seem somewhat ridiculous. After all, Antonio and Sebastian are still surly and impudent; Alonso has repented only after believing his son to be dead; and Trinculo and Stephano are drunken, petty thieves.

>She is merely delighted by the spectacle of all these people.

>Miranda's innocence may be shared to some extent by the playwright, who takes delight in creating and presenting a vast array of humanity- after all, Prospero is another stand-in for the playwright, and he forgives all the wrongdoers at the end of the play.

>There is an element in the conclusion of The Tempest that celebrates the multiplicity and variety of human life, which, while it may result in complication and ambiguity, also creates humor, surprise, and love.

Epilogue

-The other characters exit and Prospero delivers the epilogue.

-He describes the loss of his magical powers (“Now my charms are all o’erthrown”) and says that, as he imprisoned Ariel and Caliban, the audience has now imprisoned him on the stage.

-He says that the audience can only release him by applauding, and asks them to remember that his only desire was to please them.

-He says that, as his listeners would like to have their own crimes forgiven, they should forgive him.

ANALYSIS

-Prospero gradually moves his sense of justice from his own mind into the outside world, gradually applying it to everyone around him until the audience believes it, too.

>persuasion characterizes the entire play, which seeks to enthrall audiences with its words and magic as surely as Prospero sought to enthrall Ariel.

>And because the audience decides whether it believes in the play—whether to applaud, as Prospero asks them to do—the real power lies not with the playwright, but with the viewer

>The power wielded by Prospero, which seemed unsettling at first, is actually the source of all of our pleasure in the drama. In fact, it is the reason we came to the theater in the first place.

ORGEL  

• Although Prospero claims that his spells are ‘o’erthrown’ he can still invest his magical powers in the audience, they are ours as we have become enabling factors in the fiction.  

• We are, his master – directing his movement and yet his servants as he has made us into these controllers

• This sense of unfinished business is finally the life of the play – ‘Prospero is a story for which Shakespeare provides no ending’.  

Caliban’s speech on the island (to trinculo and stephano)

3.2 Caliban “Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, 

 
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. 

 
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments 

 
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices 

 
That, if I then had waked after long sleep”

-The audience has already seen Caliban’s sensitive appreciation for the island’s ecology

>he has previously spoken warmly of the indigenous flora (berries, pignuts) and fauna (‘nimble marmoset’)

-In this speech, Caliban’s receptivity to the beauty of the island’s music is emphasised

>through Caliban’s eyes (and ears), we encounter the island as a magical, enchanted space.

>he speaks in verse (unlike base comedic counterparts TS who speak in prose)

-his appreciation recalls the concept of the noble savage (indeed,

>2019 production of Carnegy noted that Kani’s Caliban was yet every inch the noble savage, hymning the delights of the isle with gravely touching eloquence.’).

>The melodious iambic pentameter and the feminine line endings in this speech soften the reading and lull us into a poetic rhythm which enacts the rhythms of the island’s music.

-musicality created through the use of sibilance, echoing the ‘sweet airs’ being described + the onomatopoeia ‘twangling’, creates a, reverberating sound.

-the sounds are benign – they ‘hurt not’ (an implicit reminder of the bullying, even torture, Caliban has been subjected to); instead, they induce the soothing lure of sleep.

-The pattern of waking, sleeping and dreaming suggests a liminality, a music-induced hypnosis, reinforced by the soft alliterative ‘w’ sound (will; would; when; waked).

-clear that Caliban has derived more ‘profit’ from learning language that learning ‘how to curse’

>perhaps, Shakespeare suggest, this particular European export has inculcated an aesthetic sensibility in Caliban

-Reassuring the others not to worry about Ariel’s piping, Caliban speaks on the island

>we are reminded of Caliban’s very close connection to the island—a connection we have seen previously only in his speeches about showing Prospero or Stephano which streams to drink from and which berries to pick

>Caliban is a symbolic “native” in the colonial allegory of the play and an actual native of the island, having been born there after his mother Sycorax fled there.

>This monologue is ennobling because there is no servility in it, only a profound understanding of the magic of the island (providing Caliban with a moment of freedom from Prospero and even from his drunkenness)

>In his anger and sadness, Caliban seems for a moment to have risen above his wretched role as Stephano’s fool

>Shakespeare of briefly giving the monster a voice. Because of this short speech, Caliban becomes a more understandable character, and even, for the moment at least, a sympathetic one.

The island

>descriptions do differ

Adrian finds it to be of “subtle, tender, and delicate temperance,” where “the air breathes upon us . . . most sweetly” (v ‘rotten;)

Gonzalo says that the grass is “lush and lusty” and “green”

Antonio and Sebastian that the air smells “as ’twere perfumed by a fen” (swamp) and that the ground “indeed is tawny” (brown)

>could be easily discounted as mere grumpiness BUT Gonzalo and Adrian do seem at times to be stretching the truth

>(Adrian, for example, begins his remarks about the island’s beauty by saying, “Though this island seem to be desert . . . Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible”)

>the bareness of the stage allows the beauty and other qualities of the island to be largely a matter of perspective. The island may be a paradise, but only if one chooses to see it that way.

-this ambiguous setting to heightens the sense of wonder and mystery that surrounds the magical island

gives the audience member a great deal of freedom to imagine the island

enables the island to work as a reflection of character

eg the dark, sensitive Caliban can find it both a place of terror (frightened and overworked in 2.2)—and of great beauty—as in his “the isle is full of noises” speech (3.2)

Gonzalo+Trinculo colonially minded, are so easily able to imagine it as the site of their own utopian societies.

Portrayal of Ariel

-Can be emphasised as a ‘malignant thing’ who acts begrudgingly

OR a willing assistant who shows genuine gratitude

Orgel on Prospero’s view of renunciation

• Prospero believes that the resolution of the play depends on his willingness to perform these acts of renunciation

  >his forgiving of Alonso and his freeing of Ariel

  >the chief amongst these is his abandonment of magic.  

• Apart from the storm at the start of the play, Prospero’s power is over people; the continual manipulation of those around him – control of Miranda, enslavement of Caliban power over Ariel ect.  

Use of Prospero’s Magic (Orgel)

• The link between Prospero’s magic and Jacobean science would have been made by those who watched the original performances

  >link between Prospero’s grand theatricality and illusions to control people’s minds.  

• Orgel argues that the magic Prospero uses is not only to produce these illusions and these impressive spectacles – eg the masque, the harpies, the banquet ect.

  >also serves as a representation of the empirical and scientific way of bringing about repentance and reconciliation – for which the entire play is the evidence.  

  EVIDENCE – In the final act of the play Prospero expresses how his magic has brought repentance and resolution to the characters

  ‘PROSPERO: They are being pertinent … The sole drift of my purpose doth extend // Not a frown further’

  >the rage and vengeance that have characterised most of his actions and his tone is absent

  >his assertion opens with this conditional clause whose conditions are not met

  >Alonso shows signs of his guilt and sorrow, but the chief villain, the usurping younger brother Antonio remains stubborn and refuses to change his point of view.  

  >if Prospero is attempting to teach himself a lesson through his ‘abandoning of dark magic’ surely he has also failed

  »he manipulates Alonso through lying about dead children

  »still categorises Caliban as a ‘thing of darkness’ which is by no means an acknowledgement of his enslavement of those on the island or that his quest for revenge was wrong and misled.

  How can Prospero be satisfied with this conclusion – Antonio hasn’t learned a thing! 

  • There is this strong sense of ‘displacement’ here, ‘a sense that the demand for repentance has been deflected from Antonio to Alonso’

    >it is clear that not even Prospero’s magic can redeem Antonio from his quintessential badness

    >‘You brother, mine, that entertained ambition… I do forgive thee’ then Prospero contradicts himself as he goes on to say – ‘most wicked sir whom to call brother // Would even infect my mouth’ – shows how Prospero might not have yet truly forgiven his brother.

    >he relinquishes the dukedom unwillinglly- an opportunity to repent, but he doesn’t – he isn’t ALLOWED.  

  • Could it be that Shakespeare wants us to focus on how Prospero’s magic cannot be as powerful as it may seem? Or contrastingly it shows how Prospero doesn’t want to have control over Antonio’s response any more?

  • Could (Ariel sending Gonzalo+Alonso to sleep, facilitating conspiracy) be Prospero casting spells to make Antonio act this way or is it just his true nature that Prospero knows so well.  

  • through the marriage he ‘excludes Antonio from any future claim on the ducal throne’.  

  • Orgel argues that Antonio’s ‘defeat’ is essential because it means that the play has a happy ending that is realistic – defeated rather than forgiven.

  • ‘Every third thought shall be my grave’     

Why does Prospero give up his magic?  

• Orgel argues that this is a too simple answer (that he doesnt need it any more)bfor Shakespeare, as the play isn’t necessarily cantered around reconciliation, repentance and harmony.  

  >should be questioning why did Prospero need his magic in the first place?

  >Is magic a strength of Prospero’s or a weakness? – to say that Prospero no longer needs magic is to say that his character changes for the better – and he is finally able to become human. – ‘This rough magic // I here abjure; and when I have required // Some heavenly music’ – heavily links the use of magic with hell and humanity with heaven.  

• To renounce magic is to renounce vindictiveness and vengeance but this isn’t exactly what happens at the end of the play

  >as Prospero is a magician without his powers he must also let go of his hold that he has over Miranda by letting her go and marry and be off of the island, however this is a way of ‘satisfying himself’.

  >Claribel’s marriage to the King of Tunis acts as a Foil to Miranda’s own marriage. Claribel’s marriage was made to please her father as is Prospero’s.  

• The link between Prospero’s speech regarding his giving up of magic – ‘Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves’ and Ovid’s ‘Medea’ suggest his magic is far more evil than we thought.

  >Prospero can still be regarded as a manipulative man because he acts with evil in his heart even though he has given up the very magic that made him evil.  

Epilogue  

• Orgel claims that Prospero states he is ‘himself not an actor in a play, but a character in a fiction… beyond the limits of drama’.  

• Although Prospero claims that his spells are ‘o’erthrown’ he can still invest his magical powers in the audience, they are ours as we have become enabling factors in the fiction.  

• Our breath and imagination sends him back to Italy, ‘We must forgive his faults as a higher power forgives ours’.  

• We are, his master – directing his movement and yet his servants as he has made us into these controllers whilst also acting as the (literal) playwright of the play if you chose to see the epilogue as Shakespeare himself, as well as Prospero’s character dictating the actions of the characters that surround him throughout.  

• This sense of unfinished business is finally the life of the play – ‘Prospero is a story for which Shakespeare provides no ending’.  

Genre

-Romances often make use of supernatural elements to suggest the fictional world is separate from every day life

>the island is also physically removed, and magic is not brought to the mainland

>usually a vehicle to provide a moral message (love and morality explored in an idealised setting)

-The tempest was initially categorised as a comedy before being termed a romance (with Winters Tale and others) and grouped as a late play

>P’s final speech often viewed as a veiled farewell to the stage from Shakespeare

>moved from tragedy to themes of forgiveness and humitity (theme of reconciliation also seen with Hermione in WT)

Appearance

-External appearance though to reflect what lay within

>manifestation of the humours

eg Caliban is ‘thing of darkness’

eg Ferdinand (M) ‘a thing divine’

1.2 Miranda “If the ill spirit have so fair a house,// Good things will strive to dwell”

• Miranda expresses a Neoplatonic idea, believing his physical beauty will reflect his spiritual beauty (Caliban)

• This contrasts with the reality of court life which is strife with deception (eg Μa Beth or Antonio)

-Appearances are often decieving and manipulated by P

eg banquet the "strange shapes" are spirits under Prospero's control, and their appearance is both alluring and unsettling- their description as shapes emphasises an amorphous, inhuman appearance

>The spirits’ dance is a form of enchantment, further drawing the characters into Prospero’s illusion.

>plays on the theme of appearances versus reality—a banquet appears to offer sustenance and comfort, but in the magical context of the island, it is merely a tool for manipulation.

> Prospero’s orchestration of this scene demonstrates his control over the other characters and the island itself. By manipulating their senses and emotions, he asserts his dominance and steers the narrative according to his will. The scene is a microcosm of the broader power dynamics at play in the play,

Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) 2016

Projections so as to make the appearance of Ariel and the spectacle of the masque and opening scene as bold as possible 

-The masque - fancy dress dancers

Vaugh+Vaughn ‘’The language of the court masque was highly stylised and artificial’ >the artificiality refects court life, suggests his prosperity

-challenges the boundaries between illusion and reality, blurring the lines between actors and audiences, as well as between the island world and our own.

>Prospero's final words, urging the audience's indulgence to set him free, erase the distinction between actor and audience, highlighting the interconnectedness of all individuals in the shared experience of theater.

Christian v Machiavellian Virtue

Christian virtue

-Conducting your life according to the principles of morality.
>Paul’s theological virtues: faith hope and love (charity). Love/Charity, for Paul, is the greatest of all the virtues.

-Cox disagrees with Orgel’s crude materialism
>‘If vindictive punishment were Prospero's aim, then his sparing of his enemies makes little sense’ surely he would have destroyed them and taken their ship?

>’if punitive vindication were his real aim, it is difficult to see why he would choose such an awkward and imperfect way of going about it. This is not the choice of a Machiavellian prince.’

>’to ascribe merely political motives to Prospero s forgiveness is to miss the moral significance of what he does when possessed with virtual omnipotence.’

>‘He literally embodies, in fact, the fantastic vision of kingly power that was repeatedly presented as a flattering image to King James in court masques’

Machiavellian Virtu

-Machiavelli insisted that when it came to political leadership half was virtu, by which he meant action oriented towards power and glory, and half was  fortuna, or luck, which Machiavelli summarised as a “blind bitch goddess”, and Harold MacMillan as “events dear boy, events”.
>Virtu, for Machiavelli, was the political skill to turn circumstances that you did not choose and events that you could not predict to your advantage. 

>Fortuna is a condition of politics, there are always things happening which you cannot control, and without virtu you can never escape its constraints.

eg

-Actor Ellis-Tolaydo describes how he played a vengeful Prospero from start to finish.

>Unlike in more conventional endings which have focused on the magus’ eventual forgiveness, Prospero’s ‘rarer act’ is an exercise not Christian virtue but in Machiavellian Virtu

-Orgel sought to undermine more traditional (Christian) readings of Prospero’s renunciation of magic and his forgiveness of his enemies.

>suggests that Prospero’s motives are Machiavellian, ensuring both his return to power and the perpetuation of that restored power through Miranda’s marriage to Ferdinand.rtu with its focus on power, glory and the skill to turn circumstances to one’s advantage.

Cox on Prospero’s virtue

-Cox disagrees with Orgel’s crude materialism
>‘If vindictive punishment were Prospero's aim, then his sparing of his enemies makes little sense[…] the most obvious course would be to destroy them in the tempest while still magically preserving the ship, thus providing himself not only with the means of returning to Naples’

>’Preserving Antonio is far messier for Prospero than destroying him outright’

>’if punitive vindication were his real aim, it is difficult to see why he would choose such an awkward and imperfect way of going about it. This is not the choice of a Machiavellian prince.’

>’to ascribe merely political motives to Prospero s forgiveness is to miss the moral significance of what he does when possessed with virtual omnipotence.’

>’he has worked long and hard to gain control of the natural elements […] and in general to learn how to preserve as he wishes and destroy as he wishes.’

‘He literally embodies, in fact, the fantastic vision of kingly power that was repeatedly presented as a flattering image to King James in court masques’

Discovering new worlds

-Written against a backdrop of nautical adventure, discovery, and growing imperialism

-They were in a golden age of discovery

>play is influenced by these voyages

>Columbus had sparked excitement around foreign trips and fortunes could be made by trading exotic commodities

-Tempest reflects some colonial attitudes

Columbus writes of friendly indigenous people, facinated by European clothes, he assumes innate superiority

>they ‘would be good servants’ not allies

>they were ‘heathens’ requiring education on religion

>mutual mistrust grew

>led to great opression over tme

Alchemy

-Supposedly scientific study of turning base metals (eg lead) into gold

>Johnson a contemporary wrote a play, The Alchemist, satirising those who though they could profit from it

-Some thought they could create new substances and gain godlike power (felt like they were changing the fabric of tyhe world)

-P’s rel with Caliban carries overtones of alchemy, trying to turn a base man civilised and evil characters good

>suggests hubris

Caliban’s portrayal over time

Suggested as humanoid

>Trinc ‘deboshed fish’ (aquatic aspects sometimes highlighted), ‘puppyheaded’ (has been taken literally) or apelike in the wake of darwin

>usuallt represents minorities eg Native Americans, Africans, or Namojoshi conveyed a lesbian

COLONIAL

-Montaigne's essay "Of Cannibals" provides context for understanding Caliban

> presents indigenous peoples as possessing virtues and customs that challenge European notions of civilization and barbarism, echoing themes present in "The Tempest."

-During colonial times, Caliban was often portrayed as a primitive and bestial figure

>representing the colonized Other and serving as a justification for European domination and exploitation of indigenous peoples.

>suggested to be inherently inferior to his European masters. 

-reflecting Darwinian ideas of evolution and the concept of the "missing link."

>a transitional stage between humans and animals, reflecting colonialist attitudes of racial superiority and dehumanization.

>Actors like Alec Clunes and Canada Lee portrayed Caliban in a primitive and animalistic manner, emphasizing his physicality and otherness compared to Prospero.

-The trope of the "noble savage," was popularized during the Enlightenment era

>idealized indigenous peoples as living in harmony with nature and possessing innate virtues untainted by civilization- suggests his sensibility stems from a colonial perspective.

>eg we feel some empathy for Caliban who is the outsider and not tempted by material finery (objecting to their plans) but by the prospect of political conflict (noble savage)

Jonathan Bate (2009) ‘Caliban is at once the lowest and the highest human, the rebel and the man with music in his soul.’ 

POSTCOLONIAL

-Postcolonial scholars like Aime Cesaire reimagine Caliban as a symbol of resistance and indigenous pride in his play "A Tempest."

>highlighted Caliban's status as a native inhabitant of the island and his resistance to Prospero's control as evidence of his agency and autonomy, as well as his appreciation of the island signaling sensibility.

>Caliban is seen as a complex character whose actions are motivated by a desire for freedom and self-determination.

-Slave of European colonialism, enslaved and subjugated by Prospero, the European colonizer

>emphasizes Caliban's status as an indigenous inhabitant of the island who is exploited and oppressed. 

>Emphasize his marginalisation and exploitation at the hands of Prospero, portraying him as a victim of colonial violence rather than a villain.

>His relationship with Prospero is often seen as representative of the broader dynamics of colonialism

directors like Jonathan Miller and Ron Daniels explored the colonial themes of the play, depicting Caliban as a symbol of oppressed indigenous peoples.

>the distinction between Ariel and Caliban reflects broader themes of colonization and subjugation, with Ariel representing compliant servitude and Caliban representing resistance and defiance.

>Peter Brook's experimental production delve into the psychological depths of the characters, with Caliban representing repressed desires and Ariel symbolizing the creative imagination.

Role of women

-Insistence on female chastity- security of society was dependent on womens virginity before marriage (bargaining for father, faithfulness to husband-inheritance passed down the male line, must be his, cuckholding humiliating)

>F implies he cant marry her if she isnt ‘a maid’

-Shakesperean only children girls are more rebellious- take on an inherently masc role in the absence of a male hair (eg Liz I)- she breaks his commandment not to tell F her name and raises marriage instead of waiting

>she is also atypical because she has been raised free from public scrutiny

1.2 Miranda “Pity move my father// to be inclined in my way”

• Miranda refuses to take her fathers perspective- they traditional expectation- she clearly possesses a rebellious instinct that many critics overlook

• Hilight how this stems from society as opposed to nature 

• Her rhetorical question suggests the absurdity of her father’s action and love overcoming her

• Her pity is key

Coleridge (1811) – ‘She possesses all the delicacy of innocence, yet with all the powers of her mind unweakened by the combats of life.’

-Women were possessions (from father to husband)

>prospero is controlling of her, orchestrating MF and giving her stern lectures on conduct- but no reason to doubt that he has ‘done nothing but care for thee’

1.2 Prospero to M “Be collected;// no more amazement”

• Τone of serene control (will later become disconnected)

• Reminiscent of a father/magician/playwright

• But the command words and instructions enforce his controlling side

Machiavelli

-He advocated self-interest as a means of political advancement

>recommends ruthless eradication of one’s enemies

>adopted by Antonio+Sebastian

>eschewing christian morals is justified (end justifies means, guilt is weak)

-Prospero rejects such behaviour (naive or magnanimous)

Jan Kott ‘Prospero’s account [of his usurpation] is a summary of Machiavelli’s treatise, The Prince.’ 

Courtly love

-This form of romance is represented in Ferdinand and Miranda

>F is chivalrous, (unlike Caliban) is glad to carry wood so he can spend time with M, she is compassionate offering to share the load

>M swears loyalty to him (whether or not they marry) which is conventional

>expected rivals unconventionally reflected by Stephano (wishes her to be his queen) and Caliban

Great chain of being

-idea of a hierarchy from God

>used to explain women’s innate inferiority

>the tempest questions what a man is and the chain' itself

>men are often reduced to animal states by being giverned by appetite and instinct (Caliban a reasonable monster v monstrous humans)

Dowden (1875) – Antonio and Sebastian are ‘monsters more ignoble than Caliban.’

and he later renounces the bottle and the ‘dull fool’ who he followed under its influe

eg Gonzalo’s utopic vision introduction of progressive concepts (trade, law, land division) arent nec improvements

>mouthpiece for relativism, no perfect view

Jan Kott Gonzalo ‘is loyal and honest, but simple-minded and ridiculous at the same time.’ 

Gonzalo ‘no sovereignty’ in his ‘commonwealth’

• He describes it in contradictions (it will be an upside down place) (no rulers a, business, magistrates, booklearning, riches, poverty, and on the extreme mon agriculture talith or wine- Prospero demands all of these things- demand service, acts as a magistrate, etc)

• This passage draws heavily on Montaigne’s ‘on cannibals’ (where Brazilian natives are described as living with no traffic magistrate or political superiority or riches- he suggests they are living in utopia and the Europeans are the true barbarians)

• Imagines a return to the golden ages- Paradise before Fall (wont work, evil is already amongst them)

• Despite this he refers to the people possessively as ‘my’ reflecting a belief in himself as a ruler

• Douden an attempt to realise such a society lands us in ‘absurdities and self contradictions’

• The usurpation plotlines Shakespeare presents suggests human nature is opposed to G’s idealism (tendency to strive for greater power as opposed to the greater good)

Draws on Rousseau and the complaints from them nobles were also posed against him

eg Caliban who speaks with greater dignity than steph/trinc (he speaks verse, they prose)

Jan Kott ‘Caliban is a man, not a monster.

Jan Kott ’ ‘Stephano and Trinculo are only grotesque characters, but Caliban is both grotesque and tragic. He is a ruler, a monster and a man[…]He is tragic, as he cannot be satisfied with his state, he does not want and cannot accept his fate – that of a fool and a slave.’ 

eg Boatswain who suggests hierarchy is irrelevant when faced with true challenges

1.1 Boatswain ‘if you command the elements to silence […] use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks’ to Gonzalo

• Shakespearean ideas on social Degree/hierarchy is a reflection of the Great Chain of Being (extended to animal kingdom, believed to be put in place by God)

• But in this instance the lower degrees have the power in this situation

• It criticises the hierarchy by positioning it as unnatural (degree is no match for the natural phenomena, then it is about experiance

• The boatswain + courtiers (usually in verse) use of proseat a time of existential threat, flowery, elevated language and social signifiers is also useless> DEATH AS THE GREAT LEVELLER (nobles are not immune)

1.1 Boatswain “What cares these roarers for the name of king?”

• Juxtaposes the terrifying elements in nature- 'roarers'  harsh consonant and vowel sounds- with the arbitrary 'name' -the lighter vowel sound and the monosyllable serving to lend a lameness to the word

• In this life-and-death context, a name and a king are mere appellations, made-up things; a vast wave will kill you (though in reality he is safe AN)

• The boatswain + courtiers (usually in verse) use of proseat a time of existential threat, flowery, elevated language and social signifiers is also useless.

Nature

-Two aspects: benevolent and harmonious v wild and violent (like God)

>Gonzalo naively claims ‘nature should bring forth’ his utopia, which condemns how the Europeans live separated from nature

Anne Barton ‘the sea and wind are partners in lamentation’, when Prospero and his child are cast out of Milan.

>Shakespeare represents a reciprocal process between suffering Man and compassionate Nature.

>Miranda comes to embody these qualities of pity, compassion, and the willingness to share the sufferer’s burden. Her pity and compassion transform both herself and the sufferer

Shakespearean play structure

Shakespeare's plays have a 5 act structure
Exposition- in which the playwright sets forth the problem and introduces the chatracters
Complication- in which entanglement or conflict is developed
Climax- the action takes a turning point and crisis occurs
Falling action- this signals the beginning of the plays end
Catastrophe- the act brings closure to the play and resolution to the conflict
K

Orgel on shakespeare’s magic

• The link between Prospero’s magic and Jacobean science would have been made by those who watched the original performances

  >link between Prospero’s grand theatricality and illusions to control people’s minds.  

• Orgel argues that the magic Prospero uses is not only to produce these illusions and these impressive spectacles – eg the masque, the harpies, the banquet ect.

  >also serves as a representation of the empirical and scientific way of bringing about repentance and reconciliation – for which the entire play is the evidence.  

  EVIDENCE – In the final act of the play Prospero expresses how his magic has brought repentance and resolution to the characters

  ‘PROSPERO: They are being pertinent … The sole drift of my purpose doth extend // Not a frown further’

  >the rage and vengeance that have characterised most of his actions and his tone is absent

  >his assertion opens with this conditional clause whose conditions are not met

  >Alonso shows signs of his guilt and sorrow, but the chief villain, the usurping younger brother Antonio remains stubborn and refuses to change his point of view.  

  >if Prospero is attempting to teach himself a lesson through his ‘abandoning of dark magic’ surely he has also failed

  »he manipulates Alonso through lying about dead children

  »still categorises Caliban as a ‘thing of darkness’ which is by no means an acknowledgement of his enslavement of those on the island or that his quest for revenge was wrong and misled.

Orgel on Prospero x Antonio

• How can Prospero be satisfied with this conclusion – Antonio hasn’t learned a thing! 

  • There is this strong sense of ‘displacement’ here, ‘a sense that the demand for repentance has been deflected from Antonio to Alonso’

    >it is clear that not even Prospero’s magic can redeem Antonio from his quintessential badness

    >‘You brother, mine, that entertained ambition… I do forgive thee’ then Prospero contradicts himself as he goes on to say – ‘most wicked sir whom to call brother // Would even infect my mouth’ – shows how Prospero might not have yet truly forgiven his brother.

    >he relinquishes the dukedom unwillinglly- an opportunity to repent, but he doesn’t – he isn’t ALLOWED.  

  • Could it be that Shakespeare wants us to focus on how Prospero’s magic cannot be as powerful as it may seem? Or contrastingly it shows how Prospero doesn’t want to have control over Antonio’s response any more?

  • Could (Ariel sending Gonzalo+Alonso to sleep, facilitating conspiracy) be Prospero casting spells to make Antonio act this way or is it just his true nature that Prospero knows so well.  

  • through the marriage he ‘excludes Antonio from any future claim on the ducal throne’.  

  • Orgel argues that Antonio’s ‘defeat’ is essential because it means that the play has a happy ending that is realistic – defeated rather than forgiven.

  • ‘Every third thought shall be my grave’     

Orgel on Claribel

• Claribel’s marriage to the King of Tunis acts as a Foil to Miranda’s own marriage. Claribel’s marriage was made to please her father as is Prospero’s.  

Orgel on why Prospero gives up his magic

Why does Prospero give up his magic?  

• Orgel argues that this is a too simple answer (that he doesnt need it any more)bfor Shakespeare, as the play isn’t necessarily cantered around reconciliation, repentance and harmony.  

  >should be questioning why did Prospero need his magic in the first place?

  >Is magic a strength of Prospero’s or a weakness? – to say that Prospero no longer needs magic is to say that his character changes for the better – and he is finally able to become human. – ‘This rough magic // I here abjure; and when I have required // Some heavenly music’ – heavily links the use of magic with hell and humanity with heaven.  

• To renounce magic is to renounce vindictiveness and vengeance but this isn’t exactly what happens at the end of the play

  >as Prospero is a magician without his powers he must also let go of his hold that he has over Miranda by letting her go and marry and be off of the island, however this is a way of ‘satisfying himself’.

  >Claribel’s marriage to the King of Tunis acts as a Foil to Miranda’s own marriage. Claribel’s marriage was made to please her father as is Prospero’s.  

• The link between Prospero’s speech regarding his giving up of magic – ‘Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves’ and Ovid’s ‘Medea’ suggest his magic is far more evil than we thought.

  >Prospero can still be regarded as a manipulative man because he acts with evil in his heart even though he has given up the very magic that made him evil.  

Politics in Italy

-During the Renaissance Italy was a collection of city states with own ruler
> increasing conflict and rivalry (eg Romeo Juliet) (open warfare, or economic and
artistic competition)
-At the time The Tempest was written, the Spanish ruled Naples.

The Principal Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries of the English Nation

-Richard Hakluyt (1552-1616) published The Principal Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries of the English Nation
-Stories of sailors and explorers' interactions with indigenous people

-Miranda's naïve (audience understands their flaws) phrase 'O brave new world' (5.1.183), has come to symbolise the mix of promises (wonder) and disappointments in Europe's discovery of the Americas.

The courtly masque

-Masques were hugely popular as extravagant courtly entertainments in the reign of James I - VI
-They were performed only once
-Their content was allegorical or mythological, with characters representing virtues and vices, gods and goddesses.
-Members of the royal court has starring roles in the masques (chance to show off)
-Adds to sense of theatricality and the power of magic

-The Tempest incorporates a formal masque-like scene involving classical, fertility goddesses to celebrate the love of 4.1
-Elements of masque in the theatrical illusions staged by Prospero and Ariel, 3.3

Renaissance Magus

-Prospero is sometimes compared to a Renaissance Magus.
-Someone who devotes himself to the pursuit of wisdom and magic (transcending reality through knowledge)
-His wisdom gives him the power to act
-The virtuous Magus assists in God's work, and is thus a force for good (eg heal or use astrological knowledge to calculate harvest. John Dee was consulted on the most

Good and Bad magic

GOOD
-'Good' magic of this kind is magia, or theurgy.
-The virtuous Magus assists in God's work, and is thus a force for good (eg heal or use astrological knowledge to calculate harvest.
-John Dee helped decide date for Liz I's coronation.
(Ariel’s illusions appear good, presenting. luxury meal)

BAD
-The powers of a Magus might equally lead him into bad magic, or goetia
-Church was suspicious of studies that seemed to suggest humans could alter nature as God has ordered it (one scholar instructed calling spirits to animate statues, personal gain, the Occult or black arts)

-Eg philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 on charges of dealing with the Occult
-Prot England was generally suspicious of magic for its associations with Cath practices and teachings (relics held miraculous powers)
-King James I was highly suspicious of magical activities (warning about witchcraft)
-John Dee himself was forced to prove that his practices were in harmony with the divine

TEMPEST
-Some critics regard it as white or beneficial magic, others that it is at best ambiguous, used selfishly
-Ariel is a spirit whom Prospero uses to carry out his bidding.
-Bad magic is represented by Caliban's mother, Sycorax.

-Orgel claims the link between Prospero’s magic and Jacobean science would have been made by those who watched the original performances

>link between Prospero’s grand theatricality and illusions to control people’s minds.  

>serves as a representation of the empirical and scientific way of bringing about repentance and reconciliation – for which the entire play is the evidence.  

Montaigne's essay 'Of the Cannibals'

-Wrote of his travels to Brazil

>more openminded, didnt view them as inherintly inferior

>formed the basis of the noble savage (not exposed to Western civilsing power but possesses the nobility of man)

-Gonzalo (the good courtiers) idea of an ideal world borrows ideas from this essay (presented as unworkable much like the constant usurping but aspirational)
-A utopia with shared authority as opposed to autocracy

-Comment on attitudes to race, questions of how to judge disparities and the potential for education + where violence comes from
Shakespeare shows through Caliban that it is possible to progress

>invited to question whether cruelty is taught or inherited

Renaissance Humanism

-We should learn for learnings sake not purely to be brought closer to God
-Prospero represents an argument that not all pursuit of knowledge should be to honour God
BUT
-Prosperos love of knowledge prohibited his role as a leader
a virtuous magus assists in Gods work
James encouraged his son to learn with the purpose of improving his leadership

Who cast black actors as Ariel and Caliban

Jonathon Miller

1970s

Influenced our view of it as a metaphor for colonialism

Cape Town Production

-Janice Hoenyman’s production

-Influenced by Jonathon Millers understanding of the plays colonial metaphor (in South Africa, not abstract, looking for forgiveness from their lived experience of apatrides and an attempt to reconcile)

-associate forgiveness with Christianity in the west

-Make liberal use of African mythology eg the storm is represented by a serpant from Zulu cosmology

-Prospero is presented as exploitative desiring domination over all (including his daughter and her husband), suggestion that he is attracted to Ariel out of guilt for enslaving him

-Caliban is left undeniably in supreme charge of the island

Cry for forgiveness for his colonial history and an appeal to reconciliation

Metatheatrical themes in the tempest

• Some believe Prospero’s direct address is Shakespeare saying goodbye- theme of the power of theatre as a form of magic (theatre transports you to an imaginary world of possibilities and makes you believe in the impossible)

• Argued to be like a director, controlling the events and has the powers of a playwright (controls what people are involved in what scenes- does he interfere too much with other characters autonomy?) Prospero seems to be blind to the suffering he causes on the path to restitution. Believes that by suffering we learn to recognise sins (Christian concept)

• Shakespeare and his contemporaries love to ref life being like a play and including plays within plays (Iago, Macbeth) 

• Courtly Masque comes under the spectacle of theatre 

• Tempest could be viewed as a fable of art and creation, with Prospero representing Shakespeare, and Prospero's renunciation of magic signalling Shakespeare's farewell to the stage, to interpretations that consider it an allegory of Europeans colonising foreign lands

Utopias

• An ideal society must be ‘at least to some measure attainable’ Peterson, not totally fantastical

• Before these positive changes can be contemplated the ‘old order of things must be temporarily suspended, spatially removed or both’ Bulger

• The island facilitates these discussions, not subject to social or natural physical rules

• The play explores the impossibility of utopic visions- both for the moral reasons of humans greed, and for the logistical issue of leadership and equality (to organise this hierarchy is necessary)- though it is aspirational

• The bounty of Nature – linking flora/fauna in the external world (generous natural reserves) to HUMAN nature: if trust exists in human dealings, perhaps humans will revert to their natural state of goodness/morality, which is reflected in the beauty, generosity and order of external Nature, all around them. We would then not need magistrates and laws to regulate our behaviour (NSBF)

  BUT Original Sin. Adam and Eve betrayed God’s trust While Nature WAS generous and forthcoming in the prelapsarian state, and in Ovid’s ‘golden age’, ‘spade’ and ‘plough’ ARE now needed by Adam to till the soil.

• Gonzalo is positive and his commonwealth is a desirable alternator to Prospero’s rule (led to admire his idealism)

•  His ideas are an extension of his good nature > Kott Gonzalo is ‘loyal and honest’ helping Prospero and providing him with 'rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessities' + concerned with protecting the king ’Good angels preserve the king!’ 

• This passage draws heavily on Montaigne’s ‘on cannibals’ (where Brazilian natives are described as living with no traffic magistrate or political superiority or riches- he suggests they are living in utopia and the Europeans are the true barbarians) + relates to utopian texts (eg Thomas More’s ‘Utopia’)

• Gonzalo presents such a world (his idealism is sincere and admirable, a clear improvement)

BUT

• it is internally contradictory (no leader but he is one), seems impossible with the presentation of human nature (usurpation plot), and has no plans to implement it

• The world he presents echoes a golden age which is no longer achievable postfall

  Douden an attempt to realise such a society lands us in ‘absurdities and self contradictions’

  BUT Colridge dismisses the criticism Shakespeare shows a ‘tendency in bad men to indulge in scorn’ in order to resolve their feelings of ‘inferiority to the good’ 

does the tempest have a progressive collonial attitude

-The elizabethan attitude to colonialism is alluded to in Seb’s chastising of Alonso for letting his daughter marry the king of Tunis

• Links between discovery of the new world at this time period and the island

• Caliban may be viewed as a parallel for indigenous people on these islands

• Traditionally, critics viewed "The Tempest" as an allegory about artistic creation- privileged Prospero's power and benevolence

• BUT post-colonial readings began to shift the focus onto Caliban and his resistance to Prospero's control

  Writers like Aimé Césaire reimagined the play from Caliban's perspective, questioning Prospero's claims to the island and portraying Caliban as a defiant subject resisting European colonialism.

• Critics argue that Prospero's treatment of Caliban mirrors the paternalistic and exploitative nature of European colonization, challenging the notion of Prospero's benevolence.

• The figure of Caliban merges with the image of the cannibal, a stereotype used to justify European imperialism and the civilizing mission.

YES

• SHakespeare seems to anticipate post colonial attitudes- having the courtiers acting sinfully and unrefined (alcohol was used against indigenous communities which can render one bestial)- their usurpation, alcohol usage, and sexual instincts reflect a bestial incline, unconcerned with morality+social ideals > apart from FM’s equal self sacrificing relationship (F willing to debase self like a courtly lover)

• Caliban’s inmate love of the island and appreciation of nature suggests he was twisted to behave as he does (YTML KHTC) -his sensitive side is clear from his poetic speech on it

  Bate CABOAPHPTBOH baseness TRATMWMIHS rebel

• the assumption of it as a monster reflects the colonial tendency to create horrific illustrations (Shakespeare demystifies the monstrous)

• Theme of need for TRUST in human dealings (C’s claim that P broke the trust by enslaving him – but also to P’s counter-claim that it was C who broke the trust when he attempted to rape M)

  Knotts SDNBIGS savages CIAMNAM CTIASTPATODHHSOTI (Caliban’s treachery)

  Kermode HIAMOTISOTWOABAAMOIC

No

• Caliban doesn’t want to rule himself- suggests there is something innate in him that he is aware of making him feel he requires a master, he just desires another one

  OR Caliban’s desire for sovereignty of the island mirrors the lust for power that motivated Antonio+ his later plot with StephTrinc is very similar

• Modern readers may recoil at Prospero’s treatment of Caliban, paternalism towards Miranda, and his slave Ariel’s obsequiousness

• Trust also underpins the relationship between Ariel and P – from the master’s POV, Ariel should simply TRUST that freedom will eventually be granted. The narrative does show this trust rewarded. 

• Portrayal of Caliban as a savage reflects prominence of racism- presented as inclined to sexual violence and an uncontrollable beast- both contributes to and subverts racist tropes (linguistic sophistication v essential bestiality)

• Some past productions present him as a savage who is lucky to be influenced by the Europeans, he relates directly to treatment of colonies (eg natives aiding colonists initially for fair trade)

• Colonialists often claimed they were freeing the people from incorrect religions, Prospero freeing Ariel from a dark magic reminds of this (also conveys the possibility for dark magic)

• Led to relate to the colonisers who speak of him derogatorily eg as an animal or slave (P SFTSTSDLH Litter)

  Dryden PIMAHUTPOUL

BUT

post colonial stand point offers an alternate perspective. He is shown to have a poetic sensibility  despite his status as a savage

Doesnt propose overthrowing Prospero so he can rule but because he views him as cruel, criticises the underlying justification for colonisation- this belief that some cultural capital or profitable quality you bring justifies your involvement

Caliban believes his violence stems from being taught it as opposed to being in his nature (plays into questions from Montange in The Cannibals)

What is Shakespeares belief on hierarchy

• There was a belief that social status reflected inner nobility (an innate moral worth) which Shake does sometimes support (eg Winters Tale Perdita, unaware of her royal parentage, acts noble despite being raised by shepards, or Fernando) but the opening questions this (equally as vulnerable to storm but the lack of correlation between virtue and authority is exposed) DEATH AS THE GREAT LEVELLER (nobles are not immune)

• Humanist theme of celebrating humanity not for its connection to God but in its own right

fate

• Alonso wishing his daughter had never married- the connection of human decisions and providence/fate

• Prospero’s magic is reliant on fate- eg Ariel plays music to put all to sleep but Sebastian and Alonso- and contributes to his presentation as a playwright 

Is Prospero’s magic good

GOOD

• The search for knowledge (as done in magic) is essentially good v occult forms of magic'Good' magic of this kind is magia, or theurgy.

• Prospero is sometimes compared to a Renaissance Magus (devotes himself to the pursuit of wisdom and magic (transcending reality through knowledge)) assists in God's work, and is thus a force for good

• The virtuous Magus assists in God's work, and is thus a force for good (eg heal or use astrological knowledge to calculate harvest.
  eg John Dee helped decide date for Liz I's coronation.

BAD

• he uses it to control those around him

• The powers of a Magus might equally lead him into bad magic, or goetia

• Church was suspicious of studies that seemed to suggest humans could alter nature as God has ordered it (one scholar instructed calling spirits to animate statues, personal gain, the Occult or black arts)

• Eg philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 on charges of dealing with the Occult

• Prot England was generally suspicious of magic for its associations with Cath practices and teachings (relics held miraculous powers)

• King James I was highly suspicious of magical activities (warning about witchcraft)

• John Dee himself was forced to prove that his practices were in harmony with the divine

Is Prospero symathetic?

• Ariel teaches Prospero to be human and sympathise

NO

• Prospero almost expresses the opposite of idealism, encouraging beings to regress and express their bestial side

• His manipulation of those around him (To M BCNMA, To A DTFFWTIFT)+his willingness to cause suffering

• His cruelness to those he has enslaved (To C PS)

  Bate PHPTBOH (baseness)

  Prospero issues many threats in The Tempest, demonstrating his innate violence and cruelty, “I’ll rack thee with old cramps” “If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak / And peg thee in his knotty entrails”- echoes the tree prison the witch Sycorax had placed Ariel in, threats link him to other tyrannical figures.

• It was his actions that led to the usurpation (NWE[…]AAENAMT, MLWDEFM) Frye ATHBARIROM

  Wilson ATOM

  Grindlay TODBPASIOOG (Sycorax)

  Bate he pursues PNW and uses his knowledge for SC

  Knott SDNBIGS or GK

YES

• He shows concern for those he manipulates (To A BATS)

• If P is a godlike figure, perhaps this indicates we should put our trust in God not man; however, we are clearly led to consider that P’s use of his magic/power are dubious/ambiguous until the very end.

• Prospero emerges as a more likable and sympathetic figure in the final two acts of the play- his love for Miranda (IHDNBICOT), his forgiveness of his enemies, and the legitimately happy ending his scheme creates a

  Tilyard THDSTIPOHAARFVTM

• Though some view renuncieation of magic as a display of guilt we see how he has progressed and is now ready to rule

  Hebron ANSTRHWD

  Coleridge SCTTOABPWTOS[…]TLSOTBG (Sycorax Ariel)

  Murray PIAMIWTBIMHWTB

The nobles

• Antonio+Sebastian are written as vice characters (found in Mediaeval Mystery plays+ Morality plays)- they would be recognised as the 2dimensional villains whose psychology was not to be questioned

• We are encouraged to judge the scrupules of the nobles who mock Gonzalo though we are meant to agree the system he proposes is impossibly idealistic

Theme of trust

• Theme of need for TRUST in human dealings (C’s claim that P broke the trust by enslaving him – but also to P’s counter-claim that it was C who broke the trust when he attempted to rape M)

• Trust also underpins relationship between Ariel and P – from the master’s POV, Ariel should simply TRUST that freedom will eventually be granted. The narrative does show this trust rewarded. 

• If P is a godlike figure, perhaps this indicates we should put our trust in God not man; however, we are clearly led to consider that P’s use of his magic/power are dubious/ambiguous until the very end.

• The bounty of Nature – linking flora/fauna in the external world (generous natural reserves) to HUMAN nature: if trust exists in human dealings, perhaps humans will revert to their natural state of goodness/morality, which is reflected in the beauty, generosity and order of external Nature, all around them. We would then not need magistrates and laws to regulate our behaviour. This utopian idea, however, does not take account of the idea of Original Sin. Adam and Eve betrayed God’s trust While Nature WAS generous and forthcoming in the prelapsarian state, and in Ovid’s ‘golden age’, ‘spade’ and ‘plough’ ARE now needed by Adam to till the soil.

Pace of the play

• Prospero has already alerted Miranda (and the audience) at the start of I.ii to the need to deal promptly and even urgently with his enemies, now brought providentially to his island

• His powers are now at their ‘zenith’ or high point, due to a ‘[m]ost auspicious star’

• Later in the scene, Miranda and Ferdinand fall in love at first sight, which further speeds up the ensuing action

Miranda and Ferdinand’s relationship

• The harmonious love (a spirit v the goddess) between Ferdinand and Miranda counteracts, and compensates for, the quarrel that separated their fathers.

• Unlike the courtiers they are willing to sacrifice power and status (F imprisoned reduced to C to earn P’s approval and finds emotional freedom within it ‘space enough/have I in such a prison’ as long as he beholds her, M aids him despite gender+position)

  >both adopt a chivalrous role (comedy)

• MF relationship presents a model of equality, self sacrifice, harmony with prospects of fertility+political union> international stability

• Embody admirable traits (M compassion for F’s grief and suffering echo her concern for her father and the sailors)

• Love transforms F grief (as M did for her fathers thou wast that did preserve)+facilitates M’s maturation (challenges father+gains independence) Murray ‘Miranda is a new creature; but Ferdinand must be made new.’ ’

• Their love ends the pattern of sin, vengeance, division and transforms them to forgiveness and reunion

BUT suggestion that no marriage is perfect in competitive chess

Controlled by prosper (TFCOTEA)

BUT still encouraged to hope in their marriage and the ideals within them (shouldn’t overstate the importance of game, but does suggest marriage will have moments of competition)

Prospero can only hope to stimulate feelings, it was still ultimately their choice

Usurpation

• While Prospero was focused on learning he gave his brother more and more power, awakening a darker instinct in him

• a failure of lead ship encourages rebellion eg James gunpowder plot, being a leader in this period was dangerous

• P’s repetition and reenactment of his usurpation from a modern psychological perspective we understand the tendency to repeat cycles in order to improve it

• P’s aim to be reinstated as Duke+pol union are successfully realised

• This island is an ideal microchasm where order and harmony prevail- separate from the courtly corruption, facilitating considerations for utopias BB

• Miranda emblam of hope- usurpation caused by a lack of empathy IHSWTTISS

BUT chess suggests usurpation plots will continue (kill king)

The court corruption is ultimately brought to the island and usurpation plots are rife (presence of competition), and even before his presence there was torture on the island- there isn’t a clear division between idyllic island and corrupt court

• Gonzalo’s visions support P’s justice NS

• The freeing of Caliban+ariel is a Christian act of good governance

BUT after long colonisation and mistreatment

BUT whilst Gonzalo seems fascinated by a utopia P seems fascinated by the effects of brutality+betrayal (retells from pers of victim)

Is Miranda passive?

• Miranda is a gentle and compassionate, but also relatively passive, heroine.

• her first lines she displays meek and emotional nature. IHSWTISS

• Miranda to a degree does not choose her own husband, Prospero sets up the circumstance

  Findlay MIRPE (prelapasarian) PWTCOTATP (Protected)

  BUT he cannot control their reactions only attempt to stimulate it, we see he is happy it has happened

• We see she does have the capacity for rebellion when necessary (part of human nature) scolding Caliban (TAVSIDNLTLO, WG)(surprises editors)

• She proposes to F “I am your wife, if you will marry me; / If not, I’ll die your maid” (after P forbids conversation with F)

  Kermode MIIBNN (naive)

woman

Who does Caliban contrast with?

Mirrors+Contrasts

Ariel

• “an airy spirit,” v of ‘thou earth thou”

• Ariel maintains his dignity and his freedom by serving Prospero willingly, Caliban achieves a different kind of dignity by refusing

Ferdinand

• Caliban enters “with a burden of wood,” and Ferdinand enters in Act III, scene i “bearing a log.”

• Both Caliban and Ferdinand profess an interest in untying Miranda’s “virgin knot.”

  BUT Ferdinand plans to marry her, while Caliban has attempted to rape her.

  The romantic, ethereal love of FM contrasts with Caliban’s desire to impregnate Miranda and people the island with Calibans.

Gonzalo

• Gonzalo serves as a counselor to Alonso, the King of Naples

• helped Prospero and Miranda escape Milan giving them food, clothing, and prized books-indicates an innate kindness and compassion

• Gonzalo chastises Sebastian for blaming the shipwreck on Alonso. “You rub the sore / When you should bring the plaster” -articulates his philosophy that kindness is always more productive harshness.

• He’s also somewhat naïve

  eg to Alonso “Beseech you, sir, be merry” who believes he’s just lost his son to the sea

• Gonzalo’s naïveté is mocked by Antonio and Sebastian

• Ultimately, with the reconciliation that concludes the play, Gonzalo’s kindness wins out over his companions’ cynicism.

• Gonzalo recognises and appreciates the fertility of the island

  >recognises that something beyond the normal has occurred (presence of providence)

• Gonzalo is positive and his commonwealth is desirable alternator to Prospero’s rule (led to admire his idealism)

•  His ideas are an extension of his good nature > Kott Gonzalo is ‘loyal and honest’ helping Prospero and providing him with 'rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessities' + concerned with protecting the king ’Good angels preserve the king!’ 

  BUT

• His ideas are fundamentally contradictory + incompatible with the Tempest’s presentation of human nature

• did ultimately still serve the usurper, he did not prioritise the greater good 

16thc Utopia’s

In Shakespeare’s day, many writers were conceiving of similar ‘utopias’.

The geographical+scientific discoveries of the age + social conflicts > desire to concieve a new world and more diversity in experiance

Early modern utopias rarely offered ‘simple’ solutions to the problems that they confronted> writers often used these books to emphasise the issues 

Utopia (1516), Thomas More introduced into the word

>analysis of the shortcomings of his own society, a realistic suggestion for an alternative mode of social organisation, and a satire on unrealistic idealism. 

Although Shakespeare may not have read Thomas More’s Utopia itself, he would certainly have been familiar with the ideas expressed in the text. More was one of a number of 16^th C thinkers who thought deeply about Utopian possibilities.  

How Stable is Prospero’s position?

Prospero stands at the top of this hierarchy.

At some point, however, each of these subjects disobeys him.

Antonio disobeyed him as duke of Milan but P takes partial responsibility for this (political+brotherly betrayal)

“awakes an evil nature”

Caliban disobeys Prospero+refuses him+swears his allegiance to Stephano+plots treason

Knott ‘Caliban’s treachery is a surprise to Prospero, and the only defeat he has suffered on the island.’ 

Miranda believes she disobeys her father by pursuing romance with Ferdinand. But her actions are actually in line with her father’s wishes (treats F harshly so that Miranda will take pity on him and fall in love)

Ariel has proven himself a faithful servant, yet Prospero considers him disobedient when he asks for his freedom.

“Dost thou forget// From what a torment I did free thee?.”

These complexities ultimately suggest that the island’s hierarchy of power is less stable than it appears.

The Difficulty of Distinguishing “Men” from “Monsters”

• Upon seeing Ferdinand for the first time, Miranda says that he is “the third man that e’er I saw” BUT MP dont seem to consider Caliban to be human

• he gave Caliban “human care” and Caliban’s exact nature continues to be slightly ambiguous later.

• Miranda and Prospero both have contradictory views of Caliban’s humanity- their education of him has lifted him from his formerly brutish status but he is inherently brutish. His devilish nature can never be overcome by nurture

• Caliban claims that he was kind to Prospero, and that Prospero repaid that kindness by imprisoning him but Prospero claims that he stopped being kind to Caliban once Caliban had tried to rape Miranda

  >depends on if Caliban is viewed as inherently brutish, or as made brutish by oppression.

The theme of Justice

• The usurpation of Prospero’s throne by his brother, and Prospero’s quest to re-establish justice by restoring himself to power.

• the idea of justice that the play works toward seems highly subjective, since this idea represents the view of one character who controls the fate of all the others

• Though Prospero presents himself as a victim of injustice his idea of justice and injustice is somewhat hypocritical no qualms about enslaving Ariel and Caliban to achieve his ends.

• Because the play offers no notion of higher order or justice to supersede Prospero’s interpretation of events, the play is morally ambiguous.

• Prospero’s role begins to mirror more explicitly the role of an author (surrogate for Shakespeare)+seeks justice in an authorial manner

• Prospero forgives his enemies, releases his slaves, and relinquishes his magic power, so that, at the end of the play, he is only an old man whose work has been responsible for all the audience’s pleasure.

• The establishment of Prospero’s idea of justice becomes less a commentary on justice in life than on the nature of morality in art. Happy endings are possible because of the imagination of the artist.

The value of virginity (and impact of the convo)

-Earlier in the play, Prospero describes Miranda as a ‘prize’, a metaphor which objectifies her as his property and assigns a certain value to her. 

>Grindlay ‘His orchestration of her match to Ferdinand makes his daughter a pawn in a game to gain ultimate control over those who have wronged him’

>common law known as the femme couvert denied a woman independence by making her a moveable possession, to be passed from father to husband. Prospero’s actions are a subtle evocation of this exchange. 

-On another level, Miranda is a ‘prize’ because she is a virgin. Ferdinand overtly references this ‘If you be maid, or no?’ (wondering both if shes human and chaste)

> Miranda uses the metaphor ‘the jewel in my dower’ which indicates her full knowledge of the cultural and ideological worth of her sexual purity

>in spite of her status as the play’s ingénue, she is acutely aware of the material value of the physically intact body that Caliban has failed to violate. 

BUT

-Allusions to Miranda’s unspoilt female body do not mar the overall joyful tone of this sweet little scene. 

>The imprisonment of Ferdinand is really just a game, and the young lovers ultimately come out of it emotionally unscathed.

>her consciousness of the importance of virginity underlines an innate connection to a more sophisticated wider world.

It allows the audience to accept the life that exists for her beyond the island, one which will take her to the very top of the social hierarchy. 

women

Miranda and Ferdinand’s language

Grindlay 3.1 is ‘the romantic heart of The Tempest’

-The scene’s form subtly reveals ‘that the differences between Ferdinand and Miranda are really as illusory as one of Prospero’s spirits’.

>Though M is direct she speaks in blank verse (for all its setting on a savage and isolated island, Miranda and Ferdinand’s courtship is one of equals in terms of class) 

>Not only do the lovers speak in verse, but they also frequently share lines. 

>their imagery fuses F ‘heres my hand’ M ‘and mine, with my heart int’ (she is beginning to absorb Ferdinand’s courtly style of speech; the touching metaphor of her heart within her hand is not unlike Ferdinand’s earlier descriptions of his heart flying to her service)

>she also absorbs his imagery of enslavement

new world expansion

 

-Drake, who in 1577 had set out to circumnavigate the globe.  

-1584 Hakluyt prepared a ‘Discourse on Western Planting’ for Ralegh to present to the Queen, arguing that Spain’s domination of the New World was limited

>there was space enough for English colonies there, which could increase foreign trade but also provide useful repositories for the idle and criminal surplus population

-Miranda’s naïve but resonant phrase, ‘O brave new world’ (5.1.183), has come to symbolise the mix of promises and disappointments in Europe’s discovery of the Americas.  

ADD

Moore’s utopia

-In Shakespeare’s day, many writers were conceiving of similar ‘utopias’.

-The geographical and scientific discoveries of the age provided a context in which ideas about the ideal with representations of ‘other’ fictitious communities fused

-early modern utopias rarely offered ‘simple’ solutions to the problems that they confronted. T

-Utopia (1516), Thomas More introduced into the English language the word

>new way of thinking about the gulf between what ought to be and what is.

>analysis of the shortcomings of his own society, a realistic suggestion for an alternative mode of social organisation, and a satire on unrealistic idealism. 

-Shakespeare would certainly have been familiar with the ideas expressed in the text.

noble savage

-remarked that Caliban is an embodiment of the noble savage, a man of nature uncorrupted by civilisation.  

>OED defines the noble savage as such: “A representative of primitive mankind as idealized in Romantic literature, symbolizing the innate goodness of humanity when free from the corrupting influence of civilization”. 

-Shakespeare would have been familiar with Montaigne’s essay ‘Of Cannibals’ which celebrates the idea of the noble savage.  

-The trope of the "noble savage," was popularized during the Enlightenment era

>idealized indigenous peoples as living in harmony with nature and possessing innate virtues untainted by civilization-

>suggests his sensibility stems from a colonial perspective.

>eg we feel some empathy for Caliban who is the outsider and not tempted by material finery (objecting to their plans) but by the prospect of political conflict (noble savage)

Jonathan Bate (2009) ‘Caliban is at once the lowest and the highest human, the rebel and the man with music in his soul.

ISLAND SPEECH

-2.2 in conversation with Stephano and Trinculo, Caliban has shown a deep sympathy for the natural world he inhabits, which reinforces that idea

> he has previously spoken warmly of the indigenous flora (berries, pignuts) and fauna (‘nimble marmoset’).

>receptivity to the beauty of the island’s music- through Caliban’s eyes (and ears), we encounter the island as a magical, enchanted space.

>Unlike his base and comedic counterparts, Caliban speaks in verse.

> feminine line endings in this speech serve to soften the reading and lull us into a poetic rhythm which enacts the rhythms of the island’s music.

>trinculo takes on the comic role of Propsero, inspiring Caliban to make ‘much of’ (shows him the island as he once did for P)

- Caliban has derived more ‘profit’ from learning language that learning ‘how to curse’: perhaps, Shakespeare suggest, this particular European export has inculcated an aesthetic sensibility in Caliban

2019 production of ‘The Tempest’, Patrick Carnegy noted that Caliban was yet every inch the noble savage, hymning the delights of the isle with gravely touching eloquence.

sub plot

-many consider it a subplot

>The sub-plot was a convention in Renaissance drama- used to mirror key themes in the main plot.

>usually parodied through comedy the tragic themes that occurred in the main plot.

>Low-born characters more suited to comedy and farce were often preferred to high-born characters who featured in the main plot.

2.2 Jester Butler Beast

-many consider it a subplot

>The sub-plot was a convention in Renaissance drama- used to mirror key themes in the main plot.

>usually parodied through comedy the tragic themes that occurred in the main plot.

>Low-born characters more suited to comedy and farce were often preferred to high-born characters who featured in the main plot.

>presents the conspirators as inept (puns, slapstick)

>a foil for prospero

Mendes ‘The presence of Caliban in the Stephano/Trinculo scenes allows Shakespeare to use the murder sub-plot to reinforce the dark, conspiratorial world of the play, and emphasise the important themes of the master-servant relationship and the elusive nature of power and freedom.’

>Caliban treated seriously though he others are mocked (unsympathetic, comic the abruptness of their arrival)

2.2 ELLA HAS ARMS!!

-Caliban enters complaining that ‘for every trifle’ Prospero sends his spirits to attack him.

>fears Trinculo is a spirit sent ‘to torment me / For bringing wood in slowly’, he hides under his cloak.

>‘Here’s neither bush nor shrub to bear off any weather at all, and another storm brewing’

>he thinks, would bring him a lot of money in England. Stephano enters.

>Seeing Caliban and Trinculo under the cloak he thinks ‘this is some monster of the isle with four legs’.

>He pours wine into Caliban’s mouth

>Caliban has never tasted wine before, he quickly becomes drunk.

>Trinculo recognises Stephano’s voice and they are joyfully reunited, ‘two Neopolitans ‘scaped!’

>Caliban thinks Stephano is ‘a brave god, and bears celestial liquor’ and offers to serve him as his new master.

»plan an exploitation (colonial instinct) led to sympathise with Caliban (following these men under a misunderstanding) and being stripped of humanity

-Caliban receives the following insults:

‘what have we here, a man or a fish? Dead or Alive? A fish: he smells like a fish…a strange fish’

‘[In England] would this monster make a man; any strange beast there makes a man’

>question who is the real monster, is it european civilisation\

>joke, they are italianate and thus joke that the english are so monstrous they would struggle to differentiat

Caliban and Trinculo under the cloak: ‘some monster of the isle, with four legs’

‘poor credulous monster’

‘A most scurvy monster. I could find in my heart to beat him’

>scurvy being a human illness

>companies have grappled with presnting him- half devil, half fish, more human, innately eviul, aquatic

>his animal nbature is revealed and exposed (propsero’s is disguised in humanity,, use Caliban as a foil?)

-The similarity, socially and perhaps physically as well, between Trinculo and Caliban is further emphasized when Stephano, drunk, initially mistakes the two for a single monster: “This is some monster of the isle with four legs”

Jesters

Trinculo – the jester

-A jester was historically an entertainer during the medieval and Renaissance eras who was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain him and his guests

>worn brightly coloured clothes and eccentric hats in a motley pattern and their modern counterparts usually mimic this costume.

-Shakespearean fools are usually clever peasants or commoners who use their wits to outdo people of higher social standing

>characteristics are greatly heightened for theatrical effect.