loss and restoration theme Flashcards
drives plot
Prospero’s attempt to recover his lost dukedom of Milan drives the plot of the Tempest.
experiencing loss
Prospero isn’t the only character in the play to experience loss. Ariel lost his freedom to Sycorax and now serves Prospero. Caliban, who considers himself the rightful ruler of the island, was overthrown and enslaved by Prospero.
loss of power
he tempest that shipwrecks Alonso and his courtiers on the island, Prospero strips them of their position and power, and also causes Alonso to believe that he has lost his son to the sea.
reaction to losses reveals true nature
Reduced to desperation and despair, Alonso recognizes his error in helping to overthrow Prospero and gives up his claim to Milan, returning Prospero to power and restoring order between Milan and Naples.
no remorse
Antonio and Sebastian never show remorse for overthrowing Prospero and prove to be ambitious killers in their plot to murder and overthrow Alonso.
power through violence
Stephano and Trinculo, in their buffoonish way, likewise seek power through violence.
found themselves
Gonzalo observes in the last scene of the play, the characters “found … ourselves, when no man was his own”
displacement of power
“What cares these roarers for the name of king?”
social organisation depends upon setting and circumstances
power of language
“You taught me language, and my profit on’t
Is, I know how to curse.”
virtue
“The rarer action is
In virtue, than in vengeance.”
stopping magic
“I’ll drown my book.”
restoration of society
“O brave new world
That has such people in’t!”
in the course of the play
we see the widespread upsetting of social order and organisation - Richard Adams
Prospero’s actions are driven by his desire
to reclaim his usurped position, so too are Caliban’s as Prospero usurped him of his rightful place on the Island
“this island’s mine”
Gregory Doran 2016-17
when Prospero leaves the island at the end of the play, Caliban, who up until this point has had a hunched and malformed spine, finally stands up straight, when his lost island is relegated to him
although Caliban’s island is
restored to him at the end, A. D Nuttall suggests that Caliban expects to be retained in service and leave with his master
“this island’s mine”
his account portrays Prospero as the intruder who betrayed the initial welcome given to him by Caliban
repentance and forgiveness
“Repentance in The Tempest is a largely unachieved goal” - Orgel
shape of a revenge drama
long nurtured sense of hurt and injury, then culprit comes within grasp - this play averts from this pattern when Prospero does not take revenge
Prospero and revenge
“brought mine enemies to this shore” - does initially seem like he wants forgiveness
Prospero’s forgiveness
“forgive thy rankest fault”
“the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance”
Caliban’s revenge
“this Island’s mine” - “batter his skull”
“require my dukedom of thee”
does he take his title back or is he given it
was it taken from him or did he willingly and knowingly trade it in pursuit fo his “art”
parental authority
does he lose authority over Miranda - “broke your hest to say so”
or does he give her to F in order to preserve his power
