Cultural Context

Cultural Context

1. Chain of Being

   • Gonzalo on utopian soc questions value of refinements of culture of European civilisation
     • 'progressive' concepts like trade/ law/land division not improvement in human soc
     • mouthpiece for relativism (right/wrong and truth/falsehood) differ from place to place and no one reliable method to judge value of dif ways of lifeas objectively superior
   • from medieval theology
   • hierarchical ordained positions: God, angel, king, man, women, an, veg, min
     • explained innate inferiority of women so maintain status quo in pat socs
   • play philosophically daring as opens up debates about it; asked to questiom what a man is
     • Boatswain declares all on ship equal
     • C: greater dignity/beauty in verse than S+ T: drunken prose (Sh often for 'lowers')
   • moral sensibility not product of social class; island is fascinating MICROCOSM in which dif backgrounds (Ant, Seb, C, S +T) attempt coup at opp
   • failure to apply reason reduced humans to animal state of being governed by appetite/instinct; in S plays who falls below man into bestiality is labelled 'monster'
     • prescense of C thought-provoking: 'reasonable' monster contrasts 'monstrous' human characters
     • "he is as disproportioned in his manners/As in his shape" unconvincing; sophisticated lang belies bestial appearance

2. Nature

   • ubiquity of word in El lit/imagery/arguments stems from debate on definition of nature
     • benevolent +harmonious / wild + violent
   • 2.1 G: "nature should bring forth" to supply soc; implicitly condemning artificial way Europeans live
   • paradox of existence of unnatural monsters which bred by nature thus must be natural in some sense
     • human struggle to impose nurture by cultivating/refining natural forces is personified in C (befriended + taught to speak but enslaved by teachers once transgresses their laws
     • P frustrated by lack of success "a devil, a born devil, on whose nature,/Nurture can never stick"

3. The New World and Slavery

   • Columbus first voyage to Americas 1492 and colonies established soon after
   • cultural superiority led to cruelty/enslavement
   • images of the other sparked curiosity and fear
   • "will lay out ten to see a dead Indian"
   • reports of explorers attacked/kidnapped in harsh conditions; Sebastian alludes to when chastising Alonso for allowing Claribel to marry King of Tuniis

4. Appearance

   • seen as indicator of what lay within (goodness or evil)
   • whiteness + beauty associated w. fair. ugliness/blackness w. foul. "thing of darkness" while F a "thing divine"
   • physical deformity = devil's mark. rape risks MISCEGENATION (racial impurity by inter racial sex)
     • theme echoed in 'Othello' Brabantio: "o treason of the blood"
   • tension between appearance + reality; Gonzalo + lonso don't believe their eyes
   • imagery of 'seeming' permeates (not surprising given P's control of magic + illusion
     • "we are such stuff..." works in combo w. Epilogue to highlight illusory nature of theatre + life; questioning idea of what is real

5. Reason

   • failure of reason caused Fall of Man (A allowed love for E overrule better judgement/obedience to God) so Els thought dangerous for it to be dominated by passion/impulses
   • in Shakespeare, characters who uncontrollably emotional emotional heading to fall as intellect is what makes human/sane
   • S + T submit to disorientating influence of alcohol; then C. subplot raises question over which are most bestial
     • especially as C renounces bottle and "dull fool" he worshiped under its influence

6. Machiavelli

   • Florentine. wrote 'The Prince' in 1513; advocates self-interest as means of pol advancement + recomends ruthless eradication of enemies
   • philosophy adopted by Antonio + Sebastian (as well as Iago)
   • eschewing Christianity + fatalism is justified by amoral Machiavels as only logical/effective way to proceed
   • end justifies the means and repentence is foolish and weak
   • P rejects duplicitous pol strategies at end; hoping he has taught them a lesson. Critics have debated wisdom of this: naiive or magnanimous?