Connecting themes
The Lord of the Flies
The defects of society back to the
defects of human nature.
Human nature is inherently
savage/evil.
Connecting themes - The Tempest
Human nature is savage/evil. The savage
side of man is represented by the body
and
Human nature is also good. The good side
of man is represented by the soul
Thematic Discussion
What is a Tempest?
A violent storm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/paintingtheweather/csv/painting/tempest.shtml
Why a Tempest?
The tempest represents the violent side of
nature.
The tempest has the power to destroy.
• Prospero uses his art or magic to create the
tempest.
– The tempest represents Prospero’s power.
– The tempest is a destructive power.
– However, Prospero controls the tempest so
that there is no destruction.
• Since the tempest did not cause destruction,
what does this say about Prospero’s use of
his power?
Yin and Yang is an attempt to explain and
understand why nature operated in such
opposing way. The idea of Yin and Yang is
represented as a circle of two curved and
equal parts. The Yang section is the warm,
positive, masculine, and sunny side, often
colored red. The Yin side is black and is
described as feminine, mysterious, dark, and
negative.
The ancient Chinese philosophers believed
that all things in the universe contained
elements of both Yin and Yang. Within each
element of Yin and Yang was the seed of the
other, and when Yin and Yang worked in
harmony together all was good in the world.
However, when one was stronger than the
other, the balance of the harmony and power
changed and life was unpredictable.
The Tempest as a Romance
Shakespearian romance frequently includes:
• the separation and disruption of families followed
by their eventual reunion and reconciliation
•scenes of apparent resurrection
•the love of a virtuous young hero and heroin
•the recovery of lost, royal children.
Stanley Wells, ‘Shakespeare and Romance’, in Later Shakespeare: Stratford-uponAvon Studies 8 (London, 1966), pp. 49-80, p. 50
Character Introduction
• Images
• Selections from the text
The Tempest - Main Characters
•
•
•
•
Prospero
Caliban
Miranda
Ariel
•
•
•
•
Alonso
Antonio
Ferdinand
Gonzalo
Prospero
The main character of this play, Prospero used
to be the legitimate Duke of Milan.
Unfortunately his treacherous brother
Antonio stole his title and banished Prospero
to a Mediterranean island with his daughter
Miranda. A great lover of the arts and in
particular books, Prospero has harnessed
the powers of magic whilst in exile.
www.edinburghguide.com/.../images/ tempest_trplymouth.jpg
ACT IV. SCENE I.
PROSPERO'S CELL.
PROSPERO, FERDINAND, MIRANDA; A MASK
EXHIBITING, IRIS, CERES, JUNO, NYMPHS;
CALIBAN, TRINCULO, AND STEPHANO, AT A
DISTANCE.
http://absoluteshakespeare.com/pictures/tempest.htm
Prospero. YOU do look, my son, in a
mov'd sort
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir:
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-capp'd towers, the
gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the
great globe itself,
Painted by Joseph Wright of
Derby. Engraved by Robert Thew.
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant
faded,
Leave not a rack behind: We are such
stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Miranda
Prospero's daughter. Attractive and young at
the tender age of fifteen years, Miranda
has lived with her father in exile for twelve
years. Aside from her father, she has seen
few men in her life, and quickly enchants
the shipwrecked Ferdinand.
Miranda shows all that is good about
nature.
Miranda
http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/waterhou/p-waterhouse44.htm
Ferdinand
The much-loved son of the King of Naples.
Shipwrecked, but alive, Ferdinand falls
instantly in love with Miranda, when he
first sees her on Prospero's island.
ACT V. SCENE I.
PROSPERO'S CELL.
THE ENTRANCE OF THE CELL OPENS, AND
DISCOVERS FERDINAND AND MIRANDA
PLAYING AT CHESS.
http://absoluteshakespeare.com/pictures/tempest.htm
Miranda. SWEET lord,
you play me false.
Fer. No, my dearest love,
I would not for the world.
Mira. Yes, for a score of
kingdoms you should
wrangle,
And I would call it fair
play.
Painted by Francis Wheatley, R. A.
Engraved by Caroline Watson.
Ariel
An airy spirit, Ariel serves his master
Prospero well in his many tasks of magic
on Prospero's island. Once enslaved by a
witch, Ariel wants his freedom now from
Prospero. At the conclusion of this play
Ariel is made free.
Brian G. Kurlander as
Ariel, Utah
Shakespearean
Festival, 1995 (Dixie
College, Photo Gallery)
ACT I. SCENE I.
THE ENCHANTED ISLAND: BEFORE
THE CELL OF PROSPERO.
PROSPERO AND MIRANDA. ENTER
ARIEL
http://absoluteshakespeare.com/pictures/tempest.htm
Ariel. NOT a soul
But felt a fever of the
mad, and play'd Some
tricks of desperation:
All, but mariners,
Plung'd in the foaming
brine, and quit the
vessel,
Then all a-fire, with me : the king's son, Ferdinand, With hair
up-staring (then like reeds, not hair,) Was the first man that
leap'd; cried, " Hell is empty, And all the devils are here."
Painted by George Romney. Engraved by Benjamin Smith.
Caliban
A giant misformed beast, Shakespeare
describes Caliban as "a savage and
deformed slave." Hating his master
Prospero, Caliban works for him out of
fear of Prospero's magic.
Caliban represents the savage state of
nature – the physical.
Protest against and defiance of the coloniser
Caliban (summoned by Prospero)
I must eat my dinner.
This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak’st from me . . .
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king, and her you sty
me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o’th’island.
Act 1 Scene 2 Lines 330-2 &340-4
Learning to Curse: Language and postcolonialism
Caliban
You taught me language, and my profit on’t
Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language!
Act 1 Scene 2 Lines 362-4
This island is mine…
Caliban
Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not,
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices,
That if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again, and then in dreaming
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.
Act 3 Scene 133-41
Antonio
The brother of Prospero, he took
Prospero's title from him when Prospero
trusted him to manage his affairs. Having
replaced his brother, he now encourages
Sebastian to do the same to his brother,
Alonso.
James Rice as
Antonio in
Shakespeare
& Company's
production of
"The Tempest".
Alonso
The King of Naples. When Prospero's
brother Antonio, usurped (took) Prospero's
dukedom, it was Alonso who recognized
Prospero's brother, sealing Prospero's fate
of living in exile.
Kevin Sprague
8/14/01
Gonzalo
An honest old counsellor. When
Prospero was to have starved to death
when exiled by boat, it was Gonzalo
who provided food, clothing and books
to comfort Prospero and the then three
year old Miranda.
Venn Diagrams –
Characters and Themes
Ralph and Prospero
Balance of
good and
evil
Jack and Antonio
Bad Side of
Human
Nature: Evil
and
Unrepentant
Simon and Gonzalo
Human
goodness
Caliban and “The Beast”
Human
Nature