William Shakespeare and Existentialism One may find it ridiculous to contrast between Shakespeare and existentialism in its 20th century form, however one must keep in mind, that existentialism does not appear as a single philosophical system. It is more an attitude of life, a general vision - existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre is known to have stated that existentialism was never invented, it has always existed as the ultimate foundation. Upon that light, why not seek the foundations from the work of the forefather of all dramatists? It is above all nave to claim Prosperos Epilogue in Shakespeares play The Tempest a mere conventional appeal for applause or the stripping of the imaginary glamour built up by the plays magic. Even the greatest of artists would rather give away his life than surrender his art to be judged solely by the public. Art for an artistic genius is practised for its own sake; art for the purpose of art. Existence for the sake of existence itself - stripped of meaning, of value and of subjective interpretation. In its bear meaningless form, something still remains: the necessary Natural Law, a philosophical concept considered the basis of human well-being, a system of the values that determine human existence. Throughout The Tempest Prosperos character portrays an image of a nearly Nietzchean superhuman capable of disclaiming authority, killing God. He is in control of every situation and event as if the chain of causes and effects would be a conductible melody waiting for an artists touch. On the other hand he is very human: a wronged duke and a father, a symbiosis which Shakespeare displayed with the use of Prosperos garment as a theatrical tool. An artist is the creator, the maker of realities yet he remains human, an animal with feelings and urges, ties only waiting to be cut. The view implied is not far from the ideologies that emerged from the great suffering of the second world war: a man is capable of constructing himself a framework of personal and social meaning, but his true animal nature remains unchanged. In the heart of existence, life has no predefined meaning, it is a mere passage of survival from necessary birth to necessary death. Prospero's and his daughter's situation on the island was hopeless, however Prospero had chosen a function for his life - revenge. Prospero created a meaning for his life, built a synthetic reality to keep him sane on the path towards the finality of human death. Early existentialism begins to appear. The literatory image behind The Epilogue of The Tempest greatly involves the attitude and interpretation of art. Having constructed a window or more or less a door to an imaginary world for the audience, Shakespeare has succeeded in fusing art and reality. Upon that light it is incomprehensible to assume his need to address the subjective yet neutral third party, the audience - shatter the synthetic reality. However, The Epilogue is a beautiful and humble ending to a story filled with strong magical elements - the control is given to the audience, they are given Prosperos magical garment. The passive third party is given a choice of interaction, chance to rise beyond spectatorship. An interesting aspect to The Epilogue of The Tempest is the fact that it was Shakespeares last play - the final words of a great artist. Due to the lack of historically trustworthy biographical information of Shakespeares character, it is difficult if not impossible to determine the effect of his life situation to the message itself. Whether justified or not, The Epilogue seems like a farewell - a humble artist handing over his life to the audience to which he has dedicated his entire life. When examining The Epilogue with the restriction of intertextuality, one is forced to focus on the character of Prospero. Why does he leave a farewell, why does he become the ultimate link from the world of the play to the world of the third party, the audience. His importance as the narrator of The Epilogue creates a third dimension to his character traits, he becomes the God-figure that seems limited to living on a island yet he can perform metaphysical leaps between dimensions. The person speaking is the author himself, for in his art he has become God. Rhythmically and structurally The Epilogue follows the same style and pattern as the entire play; rich in rhyme and in wording. The passage can be more or less distinctly separated into three equal parts. However every detail gives space for wide interpretation. Now my charms are all o'erthrown, / And what strength I have's mine own, Whish is most faint: now, 'tis true, / I must be here confin'd by you, Or sent to Naples. Let me not, / Since I have my dukedom got, The main structure of The Epilogue can be interpreted as the passage of a life. First the narrator enters the game of existence, appears from the womb: "And what strength I have's my own." As strongly claimed by Jean-Paul Sartre's metaphysics, birth to a person is a subjectively chosen process, emerged from the "charms" that are now, after birth "all o'erthrown". Using the presented division birth is followed by life itself, a search for a meaning and true freedom: "But release me from my bands." The narrator realises his situation on the island of life, in the world derived of meaning and purpose. He wants to be released from his misery - the only way he can achieve that is making his life worthwhile - giving up life would be a crime against Natural Law. And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell / In this bear island by your spell; But release me from my bands / With the help of your good hands: The last segment of The Epilogue requests freedom by final death. The narrator has realised the purpose he has constructed for his life has been fully fulfilled. He wants to die with peace - he seeks acknowledgement for his life's successful passage. " As you from crimes would pardon'd be, / Let your indulgence set me free. " Gentle breathe of yours my sails / Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want / Spirits to enforce, Art to enchant; And my ending in despair, / Unless I be reliev'd by prayer, Which pierces so, that it assaults / Mercy itself, and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardon'd be, / Let your indulgence set me free. One view The Epilogue can be examined upon is the fact that the artist, be it Shakespeare or Prospero as his creation declares himself detached from moral ties directed to towards the third party and, with refrence to Prosperos use of power, the other characters of the play. This is a very important aspect in both the general basis of human nature and as the driving force of the artist, in this case Shakespeare. The Epilogue clearly claims that the cause-effect event-chain created by the artist was built free of ties - therefore to be judged with the appropriate honesty and freedom of attitude. One may question the necessity for such a statement, but considering the importance of theatre during Shakespeares era it has a certain logicality. Just as a true human, the human of the Natural Laws, is justified to assume a superhuman position, an artist, the creator, is justified to practice unconditional freedom. Freedom is and element of the Natural Law - the system of necessities to justify a meaningful existence. However as the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre stated, freedom necessarily involves the property of responsibility. Man has unconditional freedom and self-defined moral ties yet he is responsible for following his own will with regard to his own value system. If responsibility is not utilized, man takes s step towards animal qualities, he does not fulfil the Natural Law. A similar pattern of freedom and responsibilities is presented in The Epilogue. Shakespeare has utilized unconditional freedom not only in his art but also in giving respect to the audience as the object of amusement: "Gentle breathe of yours my sails / Must fill, or else my project fails, / which was to please. Now I want / Spirits to enforce, Art to enchant ."
I don't think no one thought much of Ed. He was real quite like. You know? Kinda kept to himself. I didn't pay much attention to him until that day. I guess it was round ‘bout November of ‘57. Early one morning I thou...
This essay deals with the figure of Prospero as master of Shakespeare's “The Tempest”, illustrating his power in all its expressions and explaining how it is based on knowledge. The first paragraph explains the context in which Prospero's power arises through the play and introduces his background and other main characters. In the second paragraph I discuss the relationship between Prospero and Caliban, a creature found in the island and submitted by the protagonist that attempts to civilize him. The third paragraph is about Miranda, Prospero's daughter. She grew up only with her father after the shipwreck, so he is the only example she can follow and he decides everything for her. In the forth paragraph I analyze two different levels of power that in my opinion we can recognize in the play: a practical level that presents us Prospero as master of the island, its inhabitants and nature, and a higher one, that illustrates us a kind of god, the real leader of all the situation.
In the Shakespeare play The Tempest, a lasting response is developed with the happy ending through a moral reconciliation. Knowing that evil is correcting itself, without the death of a higher person or interference of something great, leaves the reader with the feeling that good can conquer all, and that evil will be defeated. The literary thought of the great chain of being helps us realize that balance can be restored if a king is put back in place. This happy ending is even more comforting because it develops a sense of all is restored to what it should be, with a rightful ruler, instead of a ruler who comes to power with what was thought to be murder and corruption. The Tempest leaves the reader feeling comforted through a happy ending through the reestablishment of the balance in the great chain of being with the rightful and good king back in power, the union of two people who are truly in love, and the fall of the plans of all those with evil intentions in the play, and their spiritual reassessment when they return to good. All these fortunate events help Prospero come to the realization that he doesn’t need magic to live out the rest of his life happily, and can instead be assured that he can die at peace and all will be right with his world.
...believe that Shakespeare’s main belief is that an artist, while observing and respecting the greatness and richness of the Classics, should not be limited or obligated to the Classical standards. The artist’s obligation is to create his or her own standards which best enable him or her to wield and use the poetic imagination, the same way in which Prospero uses Ariel to put forth his project.
In William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero lives with his daughter Miranda on a deserted island. On the surface, he appears to be a benevolent leader doing his best to protect and care for the inhabitants of the island, especially for Miranda. On closer inspection, however, Prospero plays God, controlling and creating each individual to fit the mold he desires. He takes advantage of his authority over the people and situations he encounters while wearing a facade of integrity and compassion to disguise his wily intentions and to retain love and respect.
In summary, this paper’s business and economics of development of new space vehicles for future space tourism. It will address how different corporations are positioned to succeed in this market segment, both from a financial and technical point of view. The core material of the paper will be looking at the state of the aerospace industry in the area of spacecraft vehicle manufacturers for space tourism.
Shakespeare wrote many plays, and his morals seemed to fit with that of the time period - “faith in human reason was unshakeable”, and they preferred an “empirical and analytical approach” to issues (Dewald, et. al., vol 4: 460-461). “The Tempest was intended as Shakespeare’s farewell to the theatre” (“William Shakespeare”), and many scholars interpret the character of Prospero as being Shakespeare himself, as “He behaves like a dramatist in charge of the whole play as well, arranging her life and that of the other characters” (“William
In this time period many authors have written books that are pieces of propaganda portraying the “Orient” the east to be Orientalist which heightens the risk of hate crimes aimed at people of the east. The author Khaled Hosseini who wrote this novel The Kite Runner tells the story of a man who wants to make up for all the wrongs he did throughout his life. This novel portrays Orientalism. Orientalism is a negative point of view that is to look at the west (Occident) with. This novel The Kite Runner has many characteristics that tell us that this book is portraying an Orientalist view. An example of this would be characters that show themselves as everyday Afghanistani stereotypes. This novel does not only portray stereotypes of the east but it also compares the two countries which are Afghanistan and America in which America is shown as a “Heaven” compared to Afghanistan. To know that this book is an orientalist book there is a type of lens that is called the “Post-Colonial Lens” which was invented by a man named Edward said who refers to the “Orient” as the east and the “Occident” as the west. There are seven orientalist themes/traits that Said had come up with which are: The Barbaric, The Effeminate man, The Erotic, The Exotic, Cultural Stasis, Inability to fight, and Backwardness. In this novel Khaled Hosseini uses orientalism themes to portray the real truth of the Afghan society.
The Kite Runner, even though a fictional novel, draws on parts of its author’s own past. Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul Afghanistan in 1965. His father was a diplomat and his mother taught history at a private girls’ school in the city. Due to the nature of his father’s occupation, the family moved around continuously and in 1976 they
... reads as poetic acceptance of human mortality plays as the defiance of a magician clinging to familiar tricks.”4 Whereas Shakespeare’s play reads as the author’s own abjuring of “rough magic,” or his power to create worlds with his writing, there is no such finality in Taymor’s film (5.1.2071). This is because, in making Prospero into Prospera, the connection between character and author is blurred. Prospera is a less obvious embodiment of Shakespeare, and Ebert states “Taymor, in Prospera, rages against the dying of light.” It seems the film rages on forward against retirement. Even more, Taymor’s ending is filled with sound, fury, and excitement – a celebration of sorts. Through her celebration of female empowerment, and the exciting years to come for women to finally ascertain equal rights, Taymor makes her own point but loses the one made in the original text.
Ostensibly, The Tempest is a play based around Prospero: his power to punish verses his power to forgive. Many scholars believe that this is an almost autobiographical work, written towards the end of Shakespeare's literary career. This idea is reinforced throughout the play, especially towards the end and in the epilogue:
Recycling reduces the requirement for additional landfills. Nobody needs to measure next to a lowland by recycling; we have a tendency to scale back the necessity to destroy habitats for animals. Paper usage alone saves lots of trees.
Many works highlight the virtuous side of human nature, failing to acknowledge the darkness that lives within the hearts of all. The Tempest is not one of these works. This story realizes that it is impossible to have the good aspects of human nature without the bad. Caliban helps the reader realize that the difference between good and bad people is the way in which the hidden dark side manifests itself to the outside world. Ostensibly, The Tempest is a play based around Prospero: his power to punish versus his power to forgive. ?
In conclusion, the language Shakespeare uses to depict the hatred Prospero has for Caliban emphasises the separate backgrounds and values they share and the lack of understanding they have for one another. The fact that Prospero is heir to being duke of Milan and Caliban is the product of an unholy passion between the witch Sycorax and the devil, suggest opposing themes of backgrounds and therefore they share contradictory views of each others heritage and conduct. Therefore they stand against what the other values, causing a clash. The reader may feel that Prospero’s contempt of Caliban is within reason, due to his attempted violation of Miranda, and the fact that Prospero has been hurt and betrayed by many in the past, and therefore has a great amount of vengeance he can share out due to the attachment he has with his fiery emotions.
Dyer Jr., W.; Dyer, J.; Dyer, W., 2013. Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance, [e-book] 5th ed. San Francisco: Jossey -Bass. Available through Anglia Ruskin University Library website [Accessed 5 November 2013].