critical quotations Flashcards
Shakespeare’s Use of Father-child Relationships in Character Construction, ideas about women - Elizabeth Finn
“A major component of obedience in women was that they were expected to be seen and not heard. Silence was synonymous with chastity while expression was considered a sign of promiscuity … A woman who possessed any modesty or self respect would hold her tongue in all settings so as not to offend or put her reputation at risk … Even the lower classes, where women had to enter the public sphere to work, expected women to submit to the will of men. Thus, the audience – and, indeed it was an audience of all classes – for which Shakespeare was writing valued meek, obedient, and silent women; anything else threatened their conceptions of proper female behaviour.”
Father-directors, daughter- performers in Shakespeare - COLIN WILCOCKSON
“Tension between father and daughter, most notably when the daughter’s marriage is concerned, is a powerful force in several of Shakespeare’s plays. Whereas sons in Shakespeare’s time tended to have more autonomy in marriage-choice, daughters were often denied this freedom. Paternal authority over a son’s marriage-choice is rarely mentioned in Shakespeare, whereas he presents us on a number of occasions with the pitiful situation of the young woman’s lack of freedom. This takes various forms. She may be forced into abandoning a partner of her choice, accepting one of her father’s choice, or having to take extreme measures to circumvent paternal objection. “
Thomas Campbell 1838 view of Prospero
Campbell wrote that The Tempest ‘has a sort of sacredness as the last work of the mighty workman. Shakespeare, as if conscious that it would be his last, and as if to typify himself, has made its hero a natural, a dignified, a benevolent magician.’
The Tempest: Julie Taymor (2010) movie
Julie Taymor adapts The Tempest by changing the gender of the protagonist, Prospero, to a female called Prospera, played by Helen Mirren. This adaptation highlights the significance of the remote island setting and Prospera’s astrological, ancient powers.
George Lamming
Prospero is a ‘sadist by disease’
Frank Kermode 1954 Arden Edition
the main opposition is between the worlds of Prospero’s art and Caliban’s nature. Caliban is the core of the play, whom the cultivated man is measured. Caliban represents nature without benefit of nurture. Nature opposed to an art which is a man’s power over the created world and over himself. Kermode thinks Prospero is benevolent
