The Tempest by Peteath

Useful quotes:

2017-09-18 09:23:19 UTC

A1, S1: lines 26-28 - Gonzalo jokes that the ship is safe because the Boatswain is born to be hung and not drowned. This illustrates the conflict between master and servant, even in a life and death situation.

Themes

2017-09-18 09:24:14 UTC

Pursuit of knowledge: act1s2, line 167 - "volumes that I prize above my kingdom/dukedom" - demonstrates that he puts more value in books than he does in his role as a leader.

Magic: Prospero sends Miranda
To sleep - demonstrates control. Prosperous uses magic to manipulate situations for his own ends - humiliates Ferdinand. Threatens Caliban with magic, act1s2. Nature of reality, act4s1. What is the nature of magic? Is Prospero's magic good because he aims to please? Who does he please? Questioning reality, was the ship wrecked or was this magic?

Power/Freedom: emotional abuse/blackmail with Ariel. Can Caliban be truly free? Would he know how to? He chooses his masters. Does he gain freedom at the end? Goes back to Prosper at the end, compliments him.

Slavery/Bondage: Ariel has the promise of freedom whereas Caliban is bound for life. Prosperous exploits Caliban's knowledge. Ariel tries to earn his reward by being loyal and submissive, Calbian opposes this. Line 487 - different views of bondage. Ariel needs Prospero's approval - "do you love me?"

Nature vs nurture: is caliban savage by nature or has he been moulded this way? Act4s1, line 189 - about Caliban

Creativity/art: Ariel creating Music. Prosperous sees himself as a creator, sees himself as a god. Sees his powers as an art form. Ariel can be seen as creative as he manipulates forces of nature, creates music.

Power/Control: Propsero takes over marriage, controls relationship. Act3s1 - prosperous about Ferdinand, controlling, infected him, manipulated him. Prosperous gives up the owner and control.

Group 4 (Imagery)

2017-09-18 09:24:29 UTC

🎭 Staging - Prospero's elevation (social hierarchy). Caliban/Miranda skirting around the edges of the stage - emphasises Prospero's authority.
🎭 "Good wombs have given birth to bad sons" - Nature vs. Nurture.
🎭 "Hell is empty and all the devils are here" - repeated use of hell and fire evokes a dangerous environment. Caliban reiterates this through his appearance (👹) symbolises anger, danger, animalistic nature.
🎭 Natural elements/Earth repeated throughout - nature vs. man's intervention. Prospero playing God (as Shakespeare does). Propsero is more human than Godly however as he has human qualities - angry, manipulative but is concerned of their safety.
🎭 "To most men, this is a Caliban" - less about appearance and more concerned about his morality.
🎭 Ariel - his costume is ethereal. Evokes a sense of purity/goodness.
🎭 Use of costumes - collars represent virtue.
🎭 Water represents a symbol of rebirth (characters have the opportunity to reform their character. Prospero states he will "drown his books" vs. Caliban's threat of he will "burn" his books. Water vs. Fire.
🎭 Violence is used as a tool to resolve conflict.
🎭 Ministers of fate - Ariel describing how himself and Prospero are in control.
🎭 Table going on fire
🎭 "20 consciences that lie between me and Milan" Antonio to Sebastian.
🎭 Prospero breaking his staff highlights him giving up his power, a sense of liberation and starting afresh.
🎭 Island is personified: "diseased", "infection", "lungs that are rotten" and/or "grass looks so green" - historical context to colonisation?

2017-09-18 09:26:16 UTC

Group 5 (Symbolism)

2017-09-18 09:26:16 UTC

The Tempest is mirroring the plot - "sea sorrow" seemed to mirror the confusion with the safety of the people on the ship but also family- Mirroring anger and bitterness of Prospero? Shortly after he talks about his brother and get's very irate- link?

presence of magic stick from beginning suggests magic a key theme- present throughout and used as a symbol of power and the culmination of power

Power- Prospero enjoyed the power he had over Ariel- reminded him he was the one to set him free- acted on that control. Caliban- blended into the background, under the control of Prospero. Ill-treated by Prospero. Ariel- Prospero given the knowledge that the people on the ship were safe- gives him more power and control. PROSPERO CULMINATES THE PLAY BY SAYING "NOW MY STRENGTH IS MINE OWN-WHICH IS FAINT" THEREFORE SAYING HIS POWER LIES IN HIS MAGIC (AND ARIEL)

Music- Symbolising Ariels presence, who was invisible, around Ferdinand

"Masque" spirits brought in as a distraction- avoid Ferdinand breaking Miranda's "virgin knot"

6 quotations

2017-09-18 09:27:10 UTC

'What cares these roarers for the name of King?' - I.i boatswain - connects to the theme of social hierarchies, and power/control. What happens when titles and status are stripped away? Questions authority of titles such as King. Similar to Lear in the storm.

2017-09-18 09:27:18 UTC

Group 3:

Humanism task: what does it mean to be human? Does being more intelligent make you a better human?

Ethereal spirits (Ariel) vs. Savage (Caliban)

Caliban could be the id, Ariel is the super-ego & Prospero as the ego (Freud)

Quotes Act 2

p_f_atherton — 2017-09-18 09:29:39 UTC

"If by you art, my dearest father, you have put the wild waters in this roar, allay them" 1:1 1-2
- first introduction/indication of Prospero's powers.
- introduces Miranda's gentle nature and her willingness to call out her own father (her only superior).

"Some food we had, and some fresh water, that a noble Neopolitan, Gonzalo, out of his charity, who being then appointed Master of this design, did give us, with rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries which which since have steaded so much. So of his gentleness, knowing I loved my books, he furnished me from mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom." 1:2 160- 168
- shows Gonzalo as a kind matured person rather than the selfish, self-righteous Gonzalo that we saw on the ship.
- books equal knowledge and knowledge equals power.

"All hail, great master; grave sir, hail! I come to answer thy best pleasure: be't to fly, to swim, to dive into the fire, to ride on the curled clouds, to thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality"
- Ariel
- although Ariel has his own powers he is under the control of Prospero as he 'owes' him.
- Prospero freed him physically but trapped him in emotional abuse. Prospero uses his superior powers to maintain control. Expecting him to be grateful- colonialism.

"Ha, ha! What things are these, my lord Antonio? Will money buy 'em?"

-sebastian
- as soon as they see Caliban they immediately want to buy him for their own use- see him as a possession rather than a person.

Power from the External

2017-09-18 09:33:48 UTC

Like Richard II, Prospero's power comes from the external rather than the internal. His power comes the the supernatural, Ariel, and his books. What does this say about monarchy? Shouldn't power be meritocratic, come from the internal?

Group 3, Jen, Josh & Craig

2017-09-18 09:35:28 UTC

You could get students to create a Facebook page for particular characters to help them understand the differences between characters and how a particular character may think/'speak'

6 quotations

2017-09-18 09:36:51 UTC

`this island's mine'
'you taught me language and my profit on' t is I know how to curse' II.i Caliban.
Shakespeare apparently read an essay by Montaigne on newly discovered tribes in the America's praising their culture. Caliban is representative of these indigenous cultures, colonised and forced to accept the coloniser's culture and language.

Have you considered this?

peteath — 2017-09-18 09:41:53 UTC

Themes

2017-09-18 09:42:38 UTC

Education as a form of social control:

Prospero (knowledge) -Miranda, Caliban, Ariel:
Prospero teaches them and they owe him

Education is used as a way to get what you want

6 Quotations

2017-09-18 12:20:37 UTC

A2, S1: lines 143-152 - Gonzalo's thoughts of building a society in which no one works and everyone is equal (his utopia) is in contrast to the servant/master theme of the play. Antonia' s and Sebastian's mockery to Gonzalo's ideal for the island reveals their lack of feeling and their agreement with the idea of hierarchy - Sebastian and Antonio arguably portray colonialists

6 quotations

2017-09-18 13:17:09 UTC

'the folly of the island... If the other two be brained like us the state totters' 3.3
Trinculo. Idea of the new world as a utopian experiment collapses with Stefano, Trinculo and Caliban in charge. Mirrors chaos in Virginia in British colonies

6 quotations

2017-09-18 13:23:38 UTC

'What do you mean to dote thus on such luggage?' 4.1 Caliban when Trinculo and Stefano are trying on the kingly . Good for the idea of what constitutes power, control

Characters

peteath — 2024-03-21 15:29:58 UTC

Prospero (Miranda's father, ex-Duke usurped by his brother, Antonio)

• manipulative, angry, bitter, controlling, possessive of Miranda. By the end: forgiving.

Miranda (Prospero's daughter, loves Ferdinand)

•naive, trusting

Ariel (spirit in service to Prospero)

• foolish, forgetful, reliant on Prospero

Caliban (slave to Prospero)

•angry, vengeful, savage, bitter. Hates his life. Animalistic but also childlike.

Ferdinand (in love with Miranda, son of Alonso, King of Naples)

•feels like he has to live up to the expectation placed on him as son of the duke, cares about Miranda despite only just meeting her.

•"Let me live here ever, so rare a father and a wife, makes this place paradise"

Antonio (Duke, Prospero's brother)

•scheming

Alonso (king of Naples, Ferdinand's father)

•fair, loving father

Sebastian - Alonso's brother

•easily led (by Antonio)

Gonzalo - advisor? Protected Prospero and Miranda

•trustworthy, honest

Trinculo & Stephano - comic relief. Treat Caliban better than Prospero. Value what Caliban has to say.

Characters mirroring or parodying others:

•Sebastian nearly followed Antonio as usurper of his brother.

•Stephano as Caliban's master.

Magic mends the sins of the past?

• NO - only once Prospero gave it up and broke his staff at the end.

•YES - Ariel's manipulation of events led to characters being able to forgive and move on.

YES it's significant that Prospero's obsession with his studies allowed Antonio to usurp him because it begins the chain of events and allows Prospero to eventually realise his mistakes.

Education is a form of social control - YES because Caliban, Ariel and Miranda owe everything to Prospero which allows him to control them.

Knowledge/Education is used as a way to get what you want.