(Act 1)
I have longed for reading a Shakespearan's comedy, and now I finally get the chance! Thanks for reading The Tempest with me Patsy.
The Tempest was the last play written by Shakespeare; because of this special status, it includes both comedic and tragic elements. For example, Like many other tragic stories, The Tempest begins with a storm wrecking up a ship and a power struggle between royalties that results in exile and hatred. However, the play then develops in a comedic direction, where it is revealed that the exiled Duke of Milan, Prospero, actually knows magic and has schemed for the shipwreck mentioned above with his elf Ariel. Though it is told that Prospero hates his brother Antonio for exiling him on an island, Prospero does nor kill Antonio in that shipwreck. Instead, Prospero saves him, but mysteriously he sets up a relationship between his daughter Miranda and the Prince of Naples, Ferdinand. Apparantly Prospero does not like Ferdinand because of the past disputes between Milan and Naples, but Prospero still does it for some reasons that he does not receal to the audience. All he does is to let people know that he has a plan, but for the details of the plan, it is not explained.
So far I like The Tempest very much, because its adventure style arises my curiosity. Shakespeare really does a marvellous job in attracting readers to continue reading, with techniques like aside that bring suspense to the plot. Throughout Act 1 Prospero uses aside inumerously. For instance, in line 500, after seducing Ferdinand with Miranda, Prospero says to the audience with two simple words, "It works." This two words, though simple, contains unlimited meanings in it and allows readers to imagine what's going to happen themselves. As a person that favors interaction between actors and audience, I really like the technique aside a lot. What about you? Do you think aside functions positively in the story? And is there any specific line with the use of aside that you find significant to the whole play?
Dearest James,
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying The Tempest also! I really like the character of Prospero. He has so many motivations that the audience can not see yet. Even with multiple asides to Ariel and himself, we still don't know everything he desires. It's very clever of Shakespeare to obscure this information, as many times he relies on the dramatic irony, where he tells the audience things that the characters do not know. Instead, the only character that knows what Prospero plans is Prospero, and arguably Ariel. Ariel seems to represent Prospero's magic, as he only accomplishes magical feats with her around. I am guessing that he will free her and no longer have magic. I am wondering what Caliban represents though. We only had the one scene, and Miranda describes as "But thy vile race... had that in't which good natures could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou deservedly confined into this rock." (I.ii.358-361). He must have done something terrible, and he represents some sort of evil on the Island. However, there is the idea of the noble savage, and perhaos Caliban will be redeemed yet.
To answer your question about asides, I think that the most important is him describing his status on the Island as the lord. It shows he is seeing himself as powerful and important, characterizing him as a regal figure. I think he could lose his position, perhaps an abandonment of the magic and dreams.
My question for you is do you see any binaries existing in the novel? Any two characters set up as opposites to each other?
(Act 2)
ReplyDeleteI have not seen any two characters set up against each other yet, but I do see two pairs of characters that function humorously respectively, which are Antonio and Sebastian, and Stephano and Trinculo, in Act 2. In Act 2, other survivors of the tempest appeared, and the evil plan of Antonio (Prospero's brother) and Sebastian (Alonso's brother) was revealed. They attempted to kill King Alonso in his sleep so as to take over Naples and Milan. However, they plan fail, because Ariel, as instructed by Prospero, woke Gonzalo the counselor up from his sleep and stopped the evil pair. Despite failing, this evil scheme was only told to the audience, and other characters do not know about the attempted treason yet. The latter part of Act 2 focuses on the other pair of characters I mentioned above, Stephano and Trinculo, who serve as jesters mainly and provide fun. Stephano and Trinculo are also survivors from the tempest. After arriving on the island, Stephano and Trinculo meet each other and Caliban (Prospero's slave). Stephano the drunkard acquires Caliban's pledge of loyalty after providing the latter wine, thus ends Act 2 in a funny way.
Although Act 2 does not provide much information and mysteries as Act 1 did, it entertains me even more because of the use of ironies, including dramatic and verbal irony. One of the most significant dramatic ironies I see is in the scene of Stephano bumping into the "four legs-two voices" creature. Stephano could not identify his friend Trinculo from the body of Caliban, and shouts, "Four legs and two voices, - a most delicate monster!" (II.ii.82-83). This irony is dramatic because Stephano does not know what we all know that Trinculo and Caliban are separate, and Stephano's special stupidity provides me really lots of fun. Besides dramatic irony, Shakespeare also uses verbal irony in the scene of Sebastian's attempted murder. After waken up by Ariel and seeing Sebastian holding a sword, Gonzalo is scared and asks Sebastian for an explanation. Then Sebastian thinks quickly and responds, "Whiles we stood here securing your repose,/ Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing/ Like bulls, or rather lions; did't not wake you?/ It struck mine ear most terribly" (II.i.305-308). Though cliché, this blatant lie still very successfully function as Alonso and Gonzalo actually believe it, and surprise me because of the latters' stupidities.
The brainlessness of all these characters, together with the ironies Shakespeare insert provided me much fun when I was reading it. So Patsy did you have fun reading Act 2? And did you find any ironies or other techniques that made you laugh?
Dear James,
ReplyDeleteIn this section I'm really enjoying some of the increased characterization of the side characters, such as Sebastian and Antonio. We learned more about their past, and how exploitive Antonio is, as he feels no remoarse about taking Prospero's positon as Duke of Naples. Sebastian feels some remoarse over the possible death of the king, Ferdinand, but once Antonio reveals his lack of regret he stops feeling bad, as he recognizes he is next in line for kingship. It is interesting that Sebastian and Antonio both only see a dangerous unhabitable island, while Gonzalo sees "lusty and lush... green[grass]" (II.i.53-54). Gonzalo sees the beauty because he's not evil, while the two "evil" characters see none of the wonder and majesty on the island.
We then move onto the other "evil" character of the story so far, Caliban. He's still being tormented by the spirits, which is interesting that the man Prospero has set himself up as a morally upright figure. Knowing Shakespeare, I am sure there will be more to dispel this way Prospero has been built up.
To answer your question, I see some irony in the fact that the evil characters are the ones with the worst view of the island, especially Antonio. Antonio was the one who trapped and exiled Prospero on the island, and now the island functions as his own prison. Nothing made me laugh, but I do believe that Trinoculo and Stephano are being set up as comic foils, as the drunken scene with Caliban is rather silly.
My question for you is what is your opiniom on the motif of freedom vs confinement. Just to elaborate on the ideas of Prospero trapping the ship, as well as trapping Ariel and Caliban. He is trapped by something himself, what do.you think Prospero is trapped by?
(Act 3)
ReplyDeleteI have not seen Prospero being trapped by anything yet, but I agree that he cares about revenging on Antonio, Alonso and Sebastian a lot. The reason I say Prospero is not trapped is because Prospero does not seem bothered, obsessed or frustrated by his plan. Indeed, Prospero accepts the fact that Ferdinand and Miranda are in love (at least till Act 3), which if he is trapped by hatred he would not have tolerated Ferdinand, his enemy's offspring, to be his son-in-law.
Regarding plots, Prospero's plot of revenge is finally revealed in Act 3. Act 3 starts with the romance between Ferdinand and Miranda. Ferdinand proposes and Miranda accepts, and everything is witnessed by Prospero; however, Prospero seems quite fine with this romance. Scene 2 focuses on the scheme between Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo, which Caliban has persuaded Stephano to murder Prospero in order to take over the island. Scene 3 is the most important among all, where Ariel and Prospero finally reveal their scheme of sinking the ship to Alonso and his fellows. Prospero also lies to Alonso, telling him Ferdinand is already dead although he is not. This news frustrates Alonso and drives him to attempt suicide in the end of the act.
I did not think Act 3 was interesting until I try different literary lenses to read. And among all the lenses I used the feminist one was the most fruitful: it brings out the patriarchal nature of The Tempest. All characters in this story are males (except for Miranda). And the only function Miranda serves (till Act 3) is to fall in love with Ferdinand, which may only be used to bring Prospero a lesson of forgiveness. Stephano also says, "Monster, I will kill this man (Prospero): his daughter and I will be king and queen..." (III.ii.100) during his scheming with Caliban. This line reminds me of the brutal and uncivilized barbaric nature of prehistorical humans, which is ironically embodied by Stephano and other characters. Here I want to conclude this entry by asking Patsy you a question: do you see anything special in The Tempest after putting on different lenses?
Dear James,
ReplyDeleteI have not been specifically trying to read through a lense, but I can easily see a psychological lense for this play. Prospero is very manipulative and scheming in the play, and enjoys manipulating people because he himself was tricked once. He has created a code, an eye for an eye so to speak. Perhaps he has a little bit of paranoia due to his extended stay on the island.
I very much enjoyed the fruition of Prospero's plan. I never really liked the other men on the island, and I thought most of them to be annoyingly sterotypical men. Seeing Alonso died really satisfied me because I did not enjoy him as a character at all. I'm curious where Prospero will continue his plan. He seems to have an end goal of leaving the island but that would mean losing his magic and power. I'm not sure if he is willing to make that sacrifice, but I think the difference will be Miranda. Miranda humanizes him, and her falling in love with Ferdinand makes it seem as if she will be the one to convince Prospero to leave the island. Her love will warm him up, and realize that this plot of revenge will not satisfy him. However only time will tell if this will take a tragic turn. If this followed a more tragic model, Prospero will succeed but end up killing his own daughter, also. He would leave the island a disgraced man, and he would punish himself by stripping his magic from himself.
My question this time is: The original title for this story was "The Triumph of Prospero". How do you see this title playing into the story? Does Prospero triumph?
(Act 4 & 5)
ReplyDeleteSuddenly this is my final entry of The Tempest. I did not think this story was enjoyable before I started Act 5. But now I have finished it, I think The Tempest is one of the best Shakespearean plays. Act 4 covers Prospero's blessings for Ferdinand and Miranda, and Prospero's breakup of Caliban's evil scheme. Act 5 is mainly about the final reconciliation between Prospero and his enemies from Europe. Prospero forgave all of them and returned to Milan. Before he left, he freed Caliban and Ariel, gave up his magical power, and broke the fourth wall to ask the audience for forgiveness of the injustice of enslavement he had done.
Summarizing the entire story, I would definitely consider the title "The Triumph of Prospero" appropriate. Prospero has triumphed not only because he takes back Milan and forgave his enemies, but also because he has the humility of asking for forgiveness. In the very end of the play, Prospero says,
"Unless I be relieved 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."
(V.ii.17-21)
Prospero understands that the rest of his life would only be full of hatred if he does not forgive and seeks forgiveness. Thus he confesses his wrongdoings and brings himself peace at the end. By having him talking to the audience himself, as an aside, Shakespeare gives the world a valuable lesson of forgiveness before leaving the world, and ends his life of literature in the most perfect way. Thus, to end our journal entries in the most perfect way too, I would like to ask Patsy you an open-ended question: what have you gained from The Tempest?
Dear James,
ReplyDeleteI loved the Tempest as well. I thought the story was very creative, and unlike the Tragedies I had read before in class. This had a happy ending for the good characters in the story. The main character, Prospero, was able to recognize his own evil actions before it was too late. So often we see characters that realize just a beat off that they were wrong, and really committing evil the entire time. Indeed, if this had been written during Shakespeare's more tragic phase, Prospero would have surely met his end at the climax of the final act. Instead, he moves on from this phase of his life successfully.
The fact that stuck out to me throughout the story was how Prospero functioned as almost an author like figure, or perhaps like a playwright. He directly references the play, breaking the fourth wall with "Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces..." (IV. i.148-159)
Here he talks about the spirits, and how they are his players, but in a way all who come to the island are part of this play, the Triumph of Prospero. All function in a way to redeem Prospero as a humam, and so he returns to Europe after so many years seeking forgiveness. Thank you for reading this play with me James! I was so excited to read one of Shakespeare's final plays and I'm glad I got the opportunity.
Way to go again with analyzing dichotomies (e.g. the different ways the good and evil characters see the island), recognizing then comedy, and identifying Prospero's own journey.
ReplyDelete