GSCATULLO
The Tempest
By William Shakespeare
SETTING
- The actual location of the island is not known.
Offers endless possibilities.
- There’s only one scene of the play that doesn’t take
place on the island, it has important meaning.
-
Social condition
trascends time and place
PLOT
- A storm strikes the ship. The people on board are coming from the wedding of Claribel
and the prince of Tunis.
- Miranda asks her father to help them.
- Prospero raises the storm. He tells Miranda the story of his past life
- Ariel, the fairy creature, is the servant of Prospero, because of he was saved by him.
- Caliban is the Sycorax’s son and he is Prospero’s servant.
- Miranda and Ferdinand are immediately smitten with each other. Prospero is proud of it.
- The other group of mariners give thanks for their safety but worry about the faith of
Ferdinand.
- Ariel appears and plays music that puts all, except Sebastian and Antonio, to sleep. Then the
two want to kill their companions.
- Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano drink and sing together.
- Miranda proposes his marriage and Ferdinad accepts.
- Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo want to kill Prospero but Ariel stops them.
- Antonio and Sebastian secretely decide to kill Alonso and Gonzalo but Ariel stops them
again.
- Ariel and Prospero deceive Stephano Trinculo and Caliban.
- Prospero tells Alonso and the other companions about Ferdinand’s marriage.
- Ariel releases Caliban Trinculo and Stephano
- They come back home together.
WHY PROSPERO USES MAGIC..
To convince the audience of his rightness
He is considered a representative of white magic
Because of the end of the play
THE TEMPEST
LAST PLAY
Prosperlo’s farewell = Shakespeare’s farewell
Leaves the
isolated island
Asks applause to satisfy
Shakespeare’s desire.
Leaves the
isolated world
Shakespeare and Prospero
: same use of magic
WHY PROSPERO DECIDES TO GIVE UP MAGIC
A)He doesn’t need it anymore
B) Because of her daughter
C) The risks
D) Because of what he had become
COMPARISON WITH KING LEAR
Prospero
King Lear
1) doesn’t think about what he does
1) Sent away his daughter
2) Imposes his will on her daughter
2) Understand his mistakes
3) Understand his mistakes
3) Forgive his daughter
4) Releases his slaves
5) Return to his ordinary life
HAPPY ENDING
BAD ENDING
DIFFERENCE WITH A MDND
THE TEMPEST
MDND
All the scene are set in the same place
When there’s the use of
magic, the audience is
not brought in a
fantastic world
described as full of
flowers, plants, and
creatures.
The use of magic is lead to fairies
and pixies (and not to humans as
Prospero) so to fantastic
creatures, that make the
audience discover another world.
characters
A series of ‘doubles’ between reality and appearance
Characters’ outline
The two lovers
Miranda & Ferdinand’s moments
Miranda and Ferdinand’s love is
completely different from many
other ‘affairs’ in Shakespearean
plays: firstly, we may say that their
meeting and falling in love is a sort
of match made by Prosperus, who
plays at least a great role in it.
Love just ‘happens’ to these two
young lovers, and they make no
effort to conquer each other.
Although they seem to love each
other ardently, they appear as a ‘flat
couple’.
The two magical creatures
The faithful servant
The rebel slave (the bad guy)
Also in the magic world there is a perpetual fight between good and evil, and
the need to tell apart trustworthy loyalty and mean deceit…
The two traitors or…
…betrayal in
the two worlds
The two fools
Stephano & Trinculo’s moments
The fools, whose ‘job’ is that of mocking reality, are fooled themselves by
‘actual appearance’
The single mediator
He is the only one not to be blinded by madness, for in the past he was the only
one to stay ‘pure’ and, above all, to be loyal to Prosperus. He sees that the other
characters have gone mad, thus knowing something, although he cannot see the
real source of their conditions. Furthermore, his role is important when Sebastian
and Antonio are plotting against the king and himself (but he’s unaware of it, of
course). That’s why he is a sort of mediator between the two parties.
The ‘group anthisesis’
The spirits of Prosperus’ magic island
The sailors
These two groups of characters represent reality and appearance, but in the
play they are put aside, and are, with little exception, ghost characters
The two fathers
Two tired men, who by ageing have become
wiser. They are both be deeply changed by
the happenings, and will be prepared to
forgive and forget to start all over again
The two couples of brothers
(He just keeps on watching
and witnessing everything)
The moment will come to settle the score…
GSCATULLO
PowerPoint realizzato l’08/12/2015 da Paolo Franchi, ponendo
assieme i lavori di Ginevra Stanzani, Valeria Vigliotti, Carlotta
Micheli, Francesca Testardi, Erica Bravini ed Erica Trotta,
realizzati nel settembre 2014 (4°BC A.S. 2014/2015).