Act 2. Sc. 1 Flashcards
‘our garments….rather new dyed than stained with salt water’
‘new dyed’ - rejuvenation of the material reflects the spiritual rejuvenation of these men. Metaphor for the rebirth of identity that the island and the tempest enact on the courtly party.
- Religious allusion to baptism which cleanses the courtly party of previous sins - is P giving them the opportunity for redemption?
‘Had I plantation of this isle…and were the king…riches, poverty, and use of services, none.’
AO1/2: Theme of exploitation through ‘plantation’ - highly ironic that his utopic vision, despite not having a class or monetary system, still has Gonzalo as a ‘king’.
- Could be asserted that even the most ‘moral’ characters in this play are morally grey as they still seek self-gain.
AO5: From a post colonial perspective - Gonzalo as a softer colonialism? perhaps demonstrates the fact that colonialism is cyclical
‘my strong imagination sees a crown dropping on thy head’
AO1/2: Deceptive tone established through the ‘lucid’ imagination, which isn’t factual.
AO5: Good says that Antonio acts as the ‘typical machiavellian pretender’
‘look how well my garments sit upon me’
AO1/2: metatheatrical ref. indicates that Antonio is merely playing a role, re-establishing his machiavellian nature.
‘my garments’ - possession of his brother’s own political identity as the Duke of Milan.
Possibly demonmstrates his obsession with self-image, he needs people to truly believe that he is this falsely moral nobleman
I with this obedient steel…can lay to bed forever
AO1/2: Death as a metaphorical sleep.
This merely reaffirms the complete manipulation and cunning of Antonio as he recognises that he cannot be held culpable for murder is he never verbalises the word murder/regicide.
Regicidal plot links to the gunpowder plot against King James 1 in the Jacobean era.
Quote abt Claribel
‘not bless our Europe with your daughter but rather loose her to an African’
AO1/2: a comment rooted in racial stereotypes and European supremacy.
- Contrasting heavenly purity of ‘bless’ and the degrading sexual pun ‘loose’ reaffirms the common renaissance observation of indigenous people as ‘primitive’ and hypersexual.
- Alonso is critiqued, not for his failings as a father, but his failings as a seller. - he has sold his daughter to the wrong buyer - this injustice is not seen as ruinous to Claribel but as a personal slight against the male!!!
AO3: Montaigne’s ‘Of the Canniballes’ - considers opposing binary of ‘savages’ of the New world and civilised society - criticising the hypocrisy of the truly evil ‘civilised’ society which demeans others but fails to recognise their own moral corruption.
