The Tempest: Themes

The Tempest: Themes

1. Morality

   • Minor characters
     • Miranda
       • Honest/pure
         • 'O brave new world'
           • Hopeful declaration
             • Naive?
               • Instantly undercut by Prospero
                 • 'tis new to thee'
                   • Doesn't understand real world
                     • Belittles optimism
         • 'Poor souls'
       • 'Poor souls'
   • Gonzalo
     • ideal world
       • utilitarian view
       • Flawed as he would be king
         • Marxist view- limit opportunities of some people
         • 'I would rule with such perfect governance sir'
     • 'Good Gonzalo'
     • 'Holy Gonzalo, honourable man'
     • 'Gonzalo out of his charity'
   • Prospero
     • Good
       • Context- 'Superego'
         • Psychoanalytical approach
           • The superego is the ethical component of the personality and provides the moral standards by which the ego operates.
           • Freudian
         • 'In virtue than in venegeance'
         • Opposite of Caliban
         • Gives up 'id' instinct- gives up power
           • 'I'll break my staff'
           • 'This rough magic I abjure'
             • Because he has achieved his own ambitions
     • Bad
       • Greed/ambition
         • 'Tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning'
           • revenge/bitter
         • Context- Colonial dictator
           • Caliban
             • 'My slave'
             • 'poisonous slave'
             • 'fetch the wood'
             • 'abhorred slave'
           • Ariel
             • 'thou list malignant thing'
             • 'thou my slave'
             • Expects obedience from Ariel
               • 'mine art' possessive pronoun- emphasis on Prospero saving Ariel
   • Caliban
     • Good
       • Caliban= only one who succeeds in ambition
         • Shakespeare sees these as pure and only ones worthy
     • Bad
       • 'the honour of my child'
         • Caliban violates this
         • Prosperous love for Miranda
       • 'I pitied thee'
         • Prospero used to pity him
           • Gave him a chance
       • Understandable?
         • Hasn't been taught morals
         • 'I had peopled else this isle with Calibans'
           • primitive instinct- 'id'
       • Miranda- "Ay Lord, she will become thy bed and bring forth brave brood"

2. Power

   • Magic
     • Prosper believes magic puts him in a God-like position
       • Brings his soul into harmony with the cosmic order
       • Makes sense- can control noble men in great chain of being
     • The Tempest
       • Disturbances in nature in Shakespeare (King Lear and Macbeth)= portents from Gods which show their divine dissatisfaction
         • Ferdinand sees the storm as supernatural intervention
       • "a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning"
         • Represets chaos and corruption in the world
           • Pathetic fallacy
             • 'calm seas' when equilibrium is restored
       • "Hell is empty and all the devils are here"
       • Represents anger
         • Tempest= emotional disturbance too
     • The use of the masque
       • Definition
         • Spectacular private performances
       • Whole play can be seen as a spectacle- much of the story is told in music and song
       • Examples
         • The Tempest
         • Banquet
           • Semantic field of mystery- only Prospero and Ariel know
             • Omniscience
           • 'On the top, invisible'
           • Sibilance
             • Tension- hissing
               • manipulation
             • 'Solemn and strange music'
           • 'Vanishes'
             • Magic=power
         • Goddesses
           • materialisation of Prospero's will and power
           • 'No tongue, All eyes. Be silent"
             • Minor sentences- abrupt/control
             • Play with play
           • "Honour, riches, marriage blessing, long continuance and increasing"
             • Use of verse
               • Connotations of wealth
   • Control of Caliban
     • Colonialism
       • Acknowledgement
         • 'This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine'
           • Machiavelli- his own doing for making him defy him
   • Control over Miranda
     • "I pray thee mark me"
       • Forceful
       • Superior
     • "being so reputed"
       • self-aggrandisement
         • pride in studies
     • "Dost thou attend me?"
     • Controls her because she's a child or a woman?
       • "wench"
       • "Come on, obey"
     • Stephano
       • "His daughter and I will be King and Queen"

3. Politics/Governance

   • Political
     • Marriage- Miranda and Ferdinand
       • political compromise- refers to it as 'business'
       • Attempt to heal strife between two families
     • Comedic subplot
       • Stephano and Trinculo
       • Attempt to reverse social order but replace it with a new one
         • irony
         • Stephano= new king
           • "Come then, down and swear"
         • Caliban= new master
           • "most ridiculous monster"
           • "thy true servant"
     • Prospero's control of Caliban leads him to rebel
       • Machiavellian approach
       • 'a tyrant, a great sorcerer'
         • Caliban to Prospero
       • 'This island's mine'