Critics

The Tempest

 

Ingham, M. (2010) 'Critical Evaluation: The Tempest' Salem Press

This essay provides an overall view, critiquing and discussing The Tempest, its themes, characters and context.

 

- 'Early critics of The Tempest, concerned with meaning, attempted to establish symbolic correlations between the characters Prospero, Ariel, Caliban, and Miranda and such qualities as imagination, fancy, brutality, and innocence. Others considered the play in terms of its spectacle and music, comparing it to the masque or commedia dell’arte. Most critics read into Prospero’s control and direction of all the characters — which climaxes with the famous speech in which he gives up his magic wand — Shakespeare’s own dramatic progress and final farewell to the stage.'

- 'Perhaps in few of his other plays did Shakespeare create a closer relationship between the human and the natural universes. In The Tempest, beauty and ugliness, good and evil, and cruelty and gentleness are matched with the external environment, and everything works toward a positive reconciliation of the best in both humans and nature. This harmony is expressed by the delightful pastoral masque Prospero stages for the young lovers, in which reapers and nymphs join in dancing, indicating the union of the natural with the supernatural. The coming marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda also foreshadows such harmony, as do the repentance and forgiveness demonstrated by the major characters.'



 

http://web.ebscohost.com/lrc/detail?vid=3&sid=e2188239-6224-4a42-8756-0c9b917a8035%40sessionmgr115&hid=121&bdata=JnNpdGU9bHJjLWxpdmU%3d#db=lfh&AN=103331MP429419560000884

 

Bowen, N. (2007) 'Conjuring Up A Storm: Power and Authority in The Tempest' emagazine issue 35

Bowen discusses The Tempest's sociopolitical context and uses this to argue that the character of Prospero is used by Shakespeare to criticise Jacobean England.

- 'Shakespeare’s bold opening raises serious questions about leadership and authority. In a crisis, authority appears to lie with those able to deal best with the situation. It is the boatswain who wields power in this scene, as indicated, for instance, by his domination of the lines. The Noblemen are at best ineffectual; at worst an encumbrance. They shout at their potential saviour, and generally get in the way. The Boatswain’s cry challenges the authority of the King and suggests that monarchy (and by implication ‘The Great Chain of Being’) is not natural, or God-given. Instead it is an unnatural construct. And one which, crucially, is vulnerable to outside forces.'
- 'Traditional interpretations of The Tempest have often seen the play as obliquely criticising King James; advising him on good government.'
- 'The play presents an ambiguous picture of colonialism and of the position of women in society. The play questions the features of a good society and the basis and nature of just authority. It shows how power can be generated, used and abused. In troubled times especially, such as during a tempest, it challenges us to consider what constitutes good, responsible, wise leadership.'

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/emag/subscribers/downloads/archive_emag/_emagpast/tempest_political_context_e35.html

 

Prospero 

 

Hebron, M. (2011) 'Prospero: A Renaissance Magus' emagazine issue 51

In this essay Hebron explores the Renaissance attitudes towards magic, and how this influenced The Tempest. 

- 'In Renaissance culture a Magus is someone who understands the cosmos and man’s place within it. This knowledge is gained principally through study.'
- 'But a Magus is not merely a contemplative figure. His wisdom gives him the power to act, and it is this power that makes him controversial. The virtuous Magus acts only in accordance with divine Providence: he assists in God’s work, and is thus a force for good.'
- 'Several scholars have argued that Prospero is a Magus using his powers for the greater good, not for personal gain. His theurgy contrasts with the destructive goetia of Sycorax. If he simply wanted personal vengeance, he could have killed everybody in the storm. But he makes sure that no one is harmed. His aim is to bring his enemies to recognise their evil actions and repent, thus restoring them to divine grace. The illusions he creates are all for this purpose.'
- 'Ariel represents Prospero’s art in its most spiritual form, free from the constraints of the body. Caliban symbolises his earthly side, and the fact that Prospero clearly has control over Caliban shows he has the proper discipline over his lower human tendencies.' 

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/emag/subscribers/downloads/archive_emag/_emagpast/e51_Prospero_magus.html

Riches, A. (2006) 'Psychoanalysing Prospero' emagazine issue 31

Riches traces Prospero's emotional journey through The Tempest and makes some interesting comments about how the audience perceives Prospero, both at the beginning and end of the play.

 

- 'In The Tempest Prospero undergoes a liberating transformation through journeying and suffering. This is the human drama at the heart of the play. He finds not only ‘his dukedom/In a poor isle’, but also his humanity, driven out of him by twelve years of bitterness. To accomplish this transformation, he must overcome his enemies and the anger within himself, which will be exorcised in the events following the storm, the expression of Prospero’s anguish and mental torment.'

- 'In renouncing the art he realises is imperfect – ‘this rough magic/I here abjure’ – Prospero becomes a weaker but more aware, admirable, and so sympathetic, figure. No longer interested in power, he is ready for death admitting, ‘Every third thought shall be my grave’. He cares only for his soul, both in this world and the next, which he asks the audience to judge. Such honesty and self-realisation is more admirable than the most awful magic. His forgiveness of others is universal and unconditional: ‘I do forgive/ Thy rankest fault’. He acknowledges Caliban and emancipates both his slaves. It is very difficult not to forgive Prospero likewise and ‘set [him] free’.'

 

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/emag/subscribers/downloads/archive_emag/_emagpast/tempest_prospero.html

 

Ledingham, A. (2009) 'Interpreting Prospero: An Enigmatic Creation emagazine issue 43

This essay explores the different interpretations the audience has of Prospero and suggests that by trying to analyse Prospero in terms of themes such as colonisation the audience miss the point of Prospero's character.
 

- ' The character of Prospero in The Tempest is one which lends itself well to different critical readings. His status as a colonist on the island has made the play an object of great interest to postcolonial critics, while his apparent resemblance to Shakespeare’s other ‘wronged princes’ – the Duke in As You Like It being a notable example – can be used to justify a view of the play as an apology for ‘legitimate’ princely power. In fact, regarding Prospero simply as a warning against imperial aggression or as an apology for tyranny falls wide of the mark; Prospero is a fundamentally enigmatic creation whose ‘true’ self is largely concealed, meaning that any attempt to pin down the character, politically or otherwise, will have inevitable limitations.'

 

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/emag/subscribers/downloads/archie_vemag/_emagpast/e43_prospero.html

 

Miranda

 

Findlay, A. (2010) Women In Shakespeare Continuum International Publishing p.270-271

This book explores the character of Miranda and offers some interesting points about this character's functionality.
 

- 'Her name derives from the Latin 'mirari' (to wonder at or admire).'

- 'Her innocence of gender difference logically leads her to believe that lifting logs ‘would become me / As well as it does you’'

- 'She may likewise make spectators wonder about the sexism of an inheritance system where she must lose all to Ferdinand when she protests ‘You play me false’ in the chess game (5.1.172). Her innocence recalls pre- lapsarian equality and, protected within the confines of the island and the play, her quest for knowledge leads to an image of harmony and reconciliation, although that depends on her subjection.'

 

http://web.ebscohost.com/lrc/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=82fa868d-c497-4952-8a99-f30dd2ccd195%40sessionmgr198&vid=6&hid=124

 

Sanchez, M. (2008) 'Seduction and Service in The Tempest' Studies in Philology 

This article provides some interesting insights into the character of Miranda and relates the character to the themes of the play, and sociopolitical context.

 

- 'Miranda’s isolation is neither inconsequential nor entire; in actuality, she is the touchstone for the women who enter the play via its tissue of allusions and whose presence makes legible a contemporary political discourse that likened the relation of sovereign and subject to that of husband and wife.'

- 'Miranda’s enactment of political subjection differs conspicuously from that of Ariel, Caliban, or any of the shipwrecked Italians, for her femininity accentuates an erotic dynamic that is less visible—but equally significant—in Prospero’s relations with his male subjects and rivals.'

- 'Early twentieth-century readers saw The Tempest as a struggle over the angelic—but passive—soul (Miranda), between the forces of divine enlightenment (Prospero), on the one hand, and bestial desire (Caliban), on the other.'

 

http://web.ebscohost.com/lrc/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=82fa868d-c497-4952-8a99-f30dd2ccd195%40sessionmgr198&vid=11&hid=124