Historical Lens of The Tempest Through a historical lens, Shakespeare’s The Tempest revolves around the evolving times of England during the Tudor Dynasty in 1552-1603. During those times Queen Elizabeth I was the newly appointed ruler of England after her half-sister, the previous ruler had died. This new change was the new beginning for England. It allowed many opportunities to arise such as a new stock company, provisions for the poor, and a chance for many to explore the world with their new wealth. To thank and impress their new Queen, many set sail to conquer new lands. Similar to history, The Tempest did contained a few curious Englishmen and their king discovering new land but the exact location is unknown. At the time of Shakespeare’s
In the First Folio edition of The Tempest, at the climax of the action, Shakespeare instructs that the magician Prospero inscribe a magic circle on the bare Elizabethan stage into which all the various characters of the action will be drawn: sage and fool, monarch and savage, clown and lover, young and old, cynic and innocent.
"Negritude, originally a literary and ideological movement of French-speaking black intellectuals, reflects an important and comprehensive reaction to the colonial situation of European colonization" (Carlberg). This movement, which influenced Africans as well as blacks around the world, specifically rejects the political, social, and moral domination of the West. Leopold Senghor, Leon Damas, and Aime Cesaire are the three pioneers of the revolution. The founder who expresses his ideas more broadly, though, is Cesaire, who uses literary works to express his viewpoint on colonization. An excellent example of such a tactic is his play, A Tempest, which is a revision of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Both Shakespeare and Cesaire accentuate the greed of Europeans in their plays. However, Cesaire is more obvious in his approach to exposing it. A comparison of the two plays demonstrates that Cesaire's version, written in the late 1960's, is written as a confrontation of Shakespeare's play. He is attempting to comment on the corruption of Colonialism and the European domination of the New World through such strategies as making seemingly minor changes, switching the main character role, and altering the storyline itself.
In response to Shakespeares’ The Tempest, Césaire, a French poet and politician, creates his own rendition of the play called A Tempest to highlight the issues of racism prevalent during the Negritude movement, an African American movement based in France. In the original text, Prospero’s dominance over Ariel and Caliban illustrated the power of language to establish superiority. Furthermore, Shakespeare promoted English occupation through Prospero to appeal to the audience’s mentality of British superiority over the colonies. British chauvinism manifested in the form of racism in The Tempest and embed itself in English culture. In response to Shakespeare’s play, Césaire attenuates colonization and racism by reinventing The Tempest in a way that highlights the abusive relationship between Prospero and his subjects. As a founding father of the Negritude, Césaire invokes pride and gives a voice to the African community through various art forms such as plays, paintings, songs, etc.. Historical allusions about the accomplishments of the African community echo throughout A Tempest. In
Since the beginning of civilization, man has craved power, knowledge, but most importantly, freedom. Throughout time, individuals used their assets and cunning to build empires of dominance and legions of followers, while spreading their influence throughout the world. Consequently, this led to power struggles amongst individuals to gain fame, land, glory, and ultimately power. In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, characters engage in a power struggle for freedom and sovereignty to eventually gain self-worth and authority. Shakespeare utilises his character’s temptations to power, their struggle for freedom and sovereignty, and their sense of entitlement to illustrate the human desire to obtain power.
Through The Tempest play, William Shakespeare weaves together a tale that is characterized by anti-colonialist sentiments. Prospero - the deposed Milan Duke - adopts a colonialist mentality by treating his colleagues as slaves who have no rights. Characters who suffer mistreatment under Prospero include: Ariel - the spirit creature; Ferdinand - the Naples Prince; and Caliban - Sycorax’s son. Prospero possesses much magical power which he uses to oppress his compatriots. Consequently, Prospero is portrayed as a colonial tyrant who abuses his immense power. Anti-colonialism feelings are especially evident through the actions, utterances and disposition and of Caliban, Miranda, Ferdinand and Ariel. To illustrate, Caliban berates Prospero for the former’s forced labor. Likewise, Ariel protests Prospero’s reluctance to release the former as earlier agreed. Miranda also expresses her dissatisfaction with Prospero’s unfair imprisonment of Ferdinand. Similarly, Ferdinand appears to challenge Prospero’s authority by briefly stopping dragging timber so as to flirt and chat with Miranda. The foregoing four characters exhibit conduct that highlights their displeasure with Prospero’s colonial-style authority over them. From the preceding expose, it can thus be concluded that Shakespeare’s The Tempest play is about anti-colonialism based on its depiction of Caliban, Miranda, Ferdinand and Ariel’s opposition to Prospero’s oppressive authority.
“The Tempest” is a play written by William Shakespeare in early 1600s that has been previewed in different kinds of movies, such as the one made in 2010, directed by Julie Taymor. It is a play containing themes such as; revenge, allusion, retribution, forgiveness, power, love and hatred. When it is compared to the play, there are specific differences seen in the movie, such as; Prospero is reflected as a woman in the movie. The time differences between the play and the movie and how the spirit Ariel is shown as a white man in the movie. The play starts with the story of Prospero, the Duke of Milan. He gets banished from Italy and was cast to sea by his brother Antonio. He has perfected his skills during twelve years of exile on a lonely island. Prospero creates the tempest to make his enemies’ ship to wreck and lead them to the island. Meanwhile, Antonio takes Prospero’s place and starts to make everyone believe he is the duke and makes an agreement with the King of Naples, Alonso. Besides the drama happening in the island, Prospero forgives Alonso and the others.
In The Tempest, Art is that which is composed of grace, civility and virtue. It is represented by Prospero, the other members of the nobility who belong to the court party and their servants. The world of the court is synonymous with the world of Art in the play. In contrast, Nature is bestial, brutish and evil; and manifest in the form of Caliban and the natural world. With two such extremes brought together, debate between the two is inevitable.
People often go looking for a copy of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare; they often have trouble finding it because everyone classifies it differently. Some people feel it is a play based on history and politics. Some feel that it is a romance because of the relationship between Ferdinand and Miranda. Others consider it a masque because of
how powerful Prospero is, as she says ?Had I been any god of power, I
The Epilogue of the Tempest by William Shakespeare is an excellent -- if not the best -- example of Shakespeare's brilliance. In 20 lines Shakespeare is able to write an excellent ending to his play, while speaking through his characters about Shakespeare's own life and career. Even more amazingly, he seemlessly ties the two together.
In William Shakespeare's The Tempest, the line between the realm of reality and illusion is blurred by Prospero, who through the use of his magic is able to manipulate and control both the island and those who are stranded on it. The duality between illusion and reality, the contrast between the natural and unnatural are being represented and questioned by Prospero's magic. Throughout the play, Shakespeare is stating that illusions can distort reality, but in the end reality will always makes itself apparent.
Why is it that people fawn Shakespeare and have unreasonably high regard for his works, including The Tempest, and label them as “immortal classics”? Indeed, Shakespeare’s works had great significance in the evolution of English literature, but these works, including The Tempest, are mostly devoid of significance and literary value in the present day. One can expect little educational benefit of the English language or increased appreciation for fine literature from the reading of Shakespeare’s titles for reasons enumerated. First of all, the colorful and sophisticated metephoric vernacular style of the language utilized is archaic; even the speech of intellectually refined individuals and other respected literary works do not imploy this rich style of speech. The poemic composition of The Tempest does not increase one’s ability to appreciate distinguished literature because the refined and respected works of most other classical writers are in novel form and thus differ highly from Shakesperian works in the literary devices and mannerisms from which they are comprised.
The Tempest, by Shakespeare, offers the reader a variety of themes. The one theme that stands out the most is that of colonialism. During the time of Shakespeare, many European countries such as Spain, France, and England, were expanding their borders by taking over less developed countries, referred to as colonies. During this time of exploitation, there was skepticism concerning the possible success of the colonies. While some scholars believe that the play is about the Americas, I argue that the play reflects on colonialism in general and how it is destined for failure which is shown through the character’s relationships throughout the play.
Power is defined as the competency or the ability to determine the behavior of other individual or the outcomes of certain circumstances. For most, blood is their direct entrance into their position in the social hierarchy and for the most elite, it is almost as if these individuals are born with an innate ability to give orders, enforce obedience and exercise their authority at will. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, presents the prevailing theme of power. This play constantly introduces conflicts between those in power and those suppressed by it. Prospero, the main protagonist, is the power figure and the relationships he shares with others are constantly assessed depicting the connection between the inferior class and those of admirable
In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a number of themes arise which both agree with and contrast with his other works. The first theme we encounter that fills both of these roles is the mystical nature of numerous elements in the play. Like the three sister witches and Hecate, the goddess of Witchcraft, through their overall control or very persuasive influence they shape the outcomes of many characters in the play. Similarly, a supernatural being controls the storm which wreaks havoc on King Alonso and his men. Further convincing us that this storm is completely out of their control, the boatswain mocks Gonzalo saying that even king’s advisors cannot “command these elements to silence.” This parallels Macbeth and many of Shakespeare’s other works where the characters believe that Lady Fortune is responsible for happenings in the play. But the magical nature in The Tempest it is not without a twist. Although the storm and of the other elements throughout this Shakespearian Romantic Comedy do originate from Ariel, the spirit of the island, she is ultimately obedient to the will of Prospero and his devious plans. Ariel acts under Prospero’s control and thus Ariel’s involvement in any of the conspiracies reveals Prospero as the true mastermind or puppeteer if you will. Unlike the ultimate power which Hecate and the witches show in Macbeth, Ariel is subject to the whims of a mere man.