Part B: Ariel Flashcards
Ariel is Prospero's willing servant and vehicle for oppression
1
Q
Traditional view
A
Ariel is a loyal servant who repays Prospero for freeing him
2
Q
Critic to support traditional view
A
“Shakespeare has stripped off from Caliban what is ethereal and refined and compounded them into Areil” (Lindly)
- Traditional viewers wouldnt see him as a slave
- He is viewed as a better part of Caliban
3
Q
Moments to support traditonal
A
Ariel causing the shipwreck:
- Helping prospero get rightful revenge
- Believes he will be free afterwards
- “My liberty” - he wants to be free after
4
Q
Two productions that supports the traditional view
A
William Macready’s 1838 production:
- Ariel is a female - more submissive
Stehler’s production:
- Curtains open and there is visible clipping of the wire fress Ariel as a stagehand for Prospero
- He is allowed to be freed from Prospero
- Isn’t viewed as a slave
5
Q
Modern view:
A
Prospero is viewed as a coloniser who opresses Ariel and uses him as a vehicle for opression
6
Q
Critics to support modern view
2x
A
- “Ariel and Caliban can be regarded as representations of Prospero himself, to render visible struggle within the mind and soul fo the hero”, (Lindly)
- “An elemental spirit robbed of freedom and totured by the loss” (Coleridge)
7
Q
Moment to support modern view
A
Propsero remembering that he has people trying to kill him. He calls upon Ariel
- They are of a lower status of him
- Uses someone he is colonising to hurt another person he is colonising
8
Q
Production to support modern view
A
Sam Mendes’ 1993 Stratford production:
- Ariel increasingly aware of his slave status is aggressive towards Prospero and spits in his face
- Realises what he has been used to do
