TheTempest

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TheTempest
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William Shakespeares The Tempest

• Generally regarded as Shakespeares last play
  1611
• Performed for King James I and at the marriage
  festivities of his daughter Elizabeth
• Source William Stracheys account of the
  shipwreck of the Sea Venture in 1609

Paul Falconer Poole. A Scene from the Tempest,
1856.
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Prospero Antonio
Alonso Sebastian Duke of Milan
usurper King of Naples
Miranda
Ferdinand
Sycorax Ariel
Gonzalo, Counselor
Iris Trinculo,
Jester Ceres
Stephano, Butler
Juno Adrian, Francisco Caliban
Nymphs Shipmaster, Boatswain, etc.
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John William Waterhouse, Miranda-The Tempest, c.
1916
If by your art, my dearest father, you have put
the wild waters in this roar, allay them
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Themes

• Rulers and subjects
• Right relationship
• Responsibilities
• Master/Servant
• Revenge or mercy
• Sibling rivalry
• Commentary on European exploration of new lands
• Utopianism
• Colonialism
• Imperialism
• The Other
• Nature of indigenous peoples
• The role of the artist
• Autobiographical?

Prospero by Lisa Iris
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Post-Colonial Theory The Tempest

• During the 15th Century until the 19th Century
  (1400s-1800s) Europe began its first colonial
  wave.
• This was a common occurrence in Shakespeares
  time.
• The earth was being discovered and stories were
  coming back from distant lands. There were myths
  about the cannibals of the Carribean, of true
  Edens and distant utopias (an ideally perfect
  place)

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Post-Colonial Theory The Tempest

• With the character Caliban (whose name is roughly
  anagrammatic to Cannibal), Shakespeare may be
  offering an in-depth discussion into the morality
  of colonialism.
• Different views of this are found in the play,
  with examples including Gonzalos Utopia,
  Prosperos enslavement of Caliban, and Caliban's
  subsequent resentment.
• Caliban is also shown as one of the most natural
  characters in the play, being very much in touch
  with the natural world

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Post-Colonial Theory The Tempest

• From the mid 1950s more and more academics have
  studied The Tempest through a post-colonial lens.
  This new way of looking at the text explored the
  effect of the coloniser (Prospero) on the
  colonised (Ariel and Caliban).

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Post-colonial theory in The Tempest

• The Tempest explores many different aspects of
  colonialism
• Europeans appropriation of and exploitation of
  foreign territories
• Europeans subordination of indigenous
  populations (such as the different treatment of
  Caliban and Ariel)
• Europeans claims that they are colonizing to
  bring Christianity and civilization (
• Europeans use of colonialism as a way to let off
  pressure from their own social

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Post-colonial theory in The Tempest

• Caliban has been ensalved, as was the case of
  native people being "colonized" by conquering
  nations.  He suffers as a result, receiving
  alcohol and misunderstanding the "gift" and the
  giver because he is not accustomed to this
  culture.  He reacts by devising a plot, wanting
  Stephano to be leader of the island.  He
  struggles against his enslavement, but like so
  many colonies, he does not realize that his own
  choice of leader could be just as destructive. 

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The Other
Caliban by Edmund Dulac
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Colonising Caliban

• More important than the emphasis on the way in
  which Caliban seems to others more monster than
  man, is the way in which this scene dramatizes
  the initial encounter between an almost
  completely isolated, primitive culture and a
  foreign, civilized one. The reader discovers
  during Caliban and Prosperos confrontation in
  Act I, scene ii that Prospero initially made
  much of Caliban (II.ii.336) that he gave
  Caliban Water with berries int (II.ii.337)
  that Caliban showed him around the island and
  that Prospero later imprisoned Caliban, after he
  had taken all he could take from him. The reader
  can see these events in Act II, scene ii, with
  Trinculo and Stephano in the place of Prospero.
  Stephano calls Caliban a brave monster, as they
  set off singing around the island. In addition,
  Stephano and Trinculo give Caliban wine, which
  Caliban finds to be a celestial liquor
  (II.ii.109). Moreover, Caliban initially mistakes
  Stephano and Trinculo for Prosperos spirits, but
  alcohol convinces him that Stephano is a brave
  god and decides unconditionally to kneel to
  him (II.ii.109110). This scene shows the
  foreign, civilized culture as decadent and
  manipulative Stephano immediately plans to
  inherit the island (II.ii.167), using Caliban
  to show him all its virtues. 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.

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Gonzalos Idea of Governance

• Gonzalos fantasy about the plantation he would
  like to build on the island is a remarkable
  poetic evocation of a utopian society, in which
  no one would work, all people would be equal and
  live off the land, and all women would be
  innocent and pure. This vision indicates
  something of Gonzalos own innocence and purity.

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Stephanos Idea of Governance

• Stephano muses about the kind of island it would
  be if he ruled itI will kill this man
  Prospero. His daughter and I will be King and
  Queen . . . and Trinculo and thyself Caliban
  shall be viceroys (III.ii.101103)
• Stephano wants to employ a totalitarian type of
  regime. This contrasts significantly with
  Gonazalos vision.
• Totalitarian where an individual dictator
  monopolises political power and controls every
  element of society.

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Doubles A predominant technique.

• As we have seen, one of the ways in which The
  Tempest builds its rich aura of magical and
  mysterious implication is through the use of
  doubles scenes, characters, and speeches that
  mirror each other by either resemblance or
  contrast.
• Caliban/Stephano/Trimnculo double and parody what
  Prospero does throughout the play. The three
  wander aimlessly about the island, and Stephano
  muses about the kind of island it would be if he
  ruled it, just as Gonzalo had done while
  wandering with Antonio and Sebastian in Act II,
  scene i.
• 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, as
  Alonso and Antonio once were, simply another
  usurper.

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The Feminist Critique
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The Feminist Critique

• The Tempest has only one female character,
  Miranda. Other women, such as Caliban's mother
  Sycorax, Miranda's mother and Alonso's daughter
  Claribel, are only mentioned. Because of the
  small role women play in the story in comparison
  to other Shakespeare plays, The Tempest has not
  attracted much feminist criticism. Miranda is
  typically viewed as being completely deprived of
  freedom by her father. Her only duty in his eyes
  is to remain chaste. It has been argued that she
  is typical of women in a colonial atmosphere, has
  completely accepted the patriarchal order of
  things, thinking of herself as subordinate to her
  father.
• The less-prominent women mentioned in the play
  are subordinated as well, as they are only
  described through the men of the play. Most of
  what is said about Sycorax, for example, is said
  by Prospero. Prospero has never met Sycorax all
  he learned about her he learned from Ariel. It
  can be argued that Prospero's suspicion of women
  makes him an unreliable source of information.

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SHAKESPEARES RECURRING COMEDIC THEMES
INTERTEXTUAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER COMEDIES

• In this play are themes of love at first sight,
  magic as a controlling device, revenge,
  usurpation inordinate ambition.
• What other plays deal with these themes? To what
  extent are they similar? Discuss with a mate and
  feed back

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Love at First Sight Revenge Magic Usurpation and inordinate ambition
Tempest, Hear my soul speak. Of the very instant that I saw you, Did my heart fly at your service As You Like It (Orlando Rosaline) Who ever loved that loved not at first sight? Midsummer Nights Dream (Titania Bottom), Romeo Juliet Tempest Prospero seeks revenge against Sebastian and Alonso. Caliban seeks revenge against Prospero. Its used to correct behaviour. Midsummer Oberon seeks revenge against Titania and makes her fall in love with Bottom. Revenge is used to correct behaviour. Tempest Prospero, with the help of his books is able to use magic to seek his revenge, and to control Caliban. Midsummer There is a magical world in which the fairies exist. Tempest Antonio usurps Prosperos place as Duke of Milan. Sebastian attempts to usurp Alonsos place as King of Naples. As You Like It Also illustrates usurpation and ambition.
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Ariel confronting the three men of sin by
Edmund Dulac
Edward A. Wilson
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Aimé Césaire

• Born 1913 in Martinique, in the French Caribbean
• Active in politics, 1945-1993
• Poet and playwright
• 1968 Une Tempete
• A Tempest Adaptation for a Black Theatre

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Césaires A Tempest

• Differences in The Tempest and A Tempest
• Role of Caliban
• Relationship between Caliban and Ariel
• Role of Gonzalo
• Prosperos white magic
• Eshu

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Eshu

• Yoruban orisha
• Santeria Caribbean
• Candomble Brazil
• Trickster god
• Opener of ways
• Always called upon at the beginning of ceremonies

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Other Tempests
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Literary Adaptations of The Tempest

• Auden, W. H. "The Sea and the Mirror" (1944) on
  W.H. Auden http//www.kirjasto.sci.fi/whauden.ht
  m
• Barnes, Charlotte (Mary Sanford) The Forest
  Princess, or Two Centuries Ago (play, on-line)
  (1844)
• Brathwaite, Kamau (1930-). "Caliban" (poem) sites
  on Brathwaite
• Brough, William and Robert Brough. The Enchanted
  Isle. 1848.
• Browning, Robert (1812-1889). Caliban upon
  Setebos, or Natural Theology in the Island.
• Césaire, Aimé. A Tempest (Une Tempête, d'après La
  tempête de Shakespeare adaptation pour un
  théâtre nègre. Paris Seuil, 1969.) Bibliography
  and links to Césaire
• Davenant, William and John Dryden. The Tempest or
  the Enchanted Island. 1670. (play) ed. Jack
  Lynch. http//andromeda.rutgers.edu/jlynch/Texts
  /tempest.html
• Dryden, John, William Davenant and Thomas
  Shadwell. The Tempest. 1674. (opera) composers
  Henry Purcell, John Bannister, Pelham Humphrey,
  Pietro Reggio, James Hart, Matthew Locke.
• Duffet, Thomas. The Mock Tempest or the Enchanted
  Castle. 1675.
• Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. "Caliban". Ferlinghetti,
  biography, some poems
• Homolka, Kurt. Die Wunderinsel (1958) Oper mit
  Ballet. Libretto (arrangement of Schubert's
  Alfonso und Estrella)
• Hughes, Ted. (1930-1998) "Setebos". Ted Hughes
  Criticism page Johnson, Lemuel. Highlife for
  Caliban

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Literary Adaptations of The Tempest

• MacKaye, Percy. Caliban by the Yellow Sands.
  1916. (play)
• Malouf, David. Blood Relations. 1987. (play)
• Murrell, John. New World. 1985.(play)
• Nunez, Elizabeth, Prosperos Daughter A Novel.
  2006.
• Osment, Phillip. This Island's Mine. 1988. (play)
• Plath, Sylvia (1933-1963) "Ariel" (and other
  poems
• Popular novels and romances Boucher, Rita. The
  Would-Be Witch James, Deanna. Acts of Love
  Kelly, Carla. Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career
  Kidd, Elizabeth. My Lord Guardian, commented by
  Osborne, Laurie, Romancing the Bard
• Renan, Ernest. L'Eau de Jouvence. 1879.(play)
• Schmidt, Arno. Caliban über Setebos. (short
  story) über Arno Schmidt
• Schober, Franz von. Alfonso und Estrella.
  libretto (1821) (Franz Schubert)
• Shelley, Percy Bysshe. (1822) With a guitar, to
  Jane. aka. To a Lady, with a guitar. (Ariel to
  Miranda)
• Warner, Marina. Indigo. chapter 19 Indigo
  Mapping the waters interviews and articles
• Wells, H. G. The Island of Dr Moreau (1896) .

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Film Adaptations of The Tempest

• Bender, Jack. (dir.) The Tempest. (USA set in
  the Mississippi Bayous during the Civil War)
  1998
• Stangertz, Gören. (dir.) Stormen (Sweden, 1998)
• Sokolov, Stanislav. (dir.) The Tempest
  (Animation, Russia, 1992)
• Greenaway, Peter. (dir.) Prospero's Books (I,
  1991), John Gielgud as Prospero.
• Ählin, Per. (dir.) Resan till Melonia
  (Norw./Sweden 1989)
• Taymor, Julie. (dir.) The Tempest (USA, 1986)
• Woodman, William. (dir.) The Tempest (USA 1983)
• Mazurski, John. (dir.) The Tempest (USA, 1982)
• Stanley, Audrey. (dir.) The Tempest (USA, 1980)
• Gorrie, John. (dir.) The Tempest (BBC, 1980)
• Jarman, Derek. (dir.) The Tempest (UK, 1979)
• Coleman, Basil. (dir.) The Tempest (UK, 1968)
• Schaefer, George. (dir.) The Tempest (USA, 1960)
  Richard Burton as Caliban.
• Atkins, Robert. (dir.) The Tempest (UK, 1956)
• Wilcox, Fred M. (dir.) The Forbidden Planet
  (science fiction 1956)
• Wellman, William (dir.) Yellow Sky (Western, USA
  1948)
• Bower, Dallas. (dir.) The Tempest (UK, 1939)
• Thanhouser, Edwin (dir.) The Tempest (silent, USA
  1911)

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