tempest critics Flashcards
‘magic in the power of a male character is a thing of
awe and wonder, but in the hands of a female character it represents a dangerous empowerment’
Grindlay
talking about Sycrorax
the Claribel story ‘undermine Prospero’s
authority and stage management’
Jacobs
doesn’t show any knowledge of the story of Claribel
‘despite the occasional disobedience and
outspokeness, Miranda remains the chaste ideal of early modern womanhood’
Vaughan
‘Miranda’s main role is to
obey her father’
Valdiviesco
‘Caliban is a lonely, oppressed
and dispossessed slave.’
Rex Gibson
‘Caliban creates our
pity more than our destation’
MacDowell, 1838
‘Caliban’s rebellion […] provides a
counterbalance to Prospero’s autocratic regime and offers room for speculation that Prospero’s authority is challengeable’
Rufo
‘Caliban must be controlled to
maintain the island’s hierarchy’
Charry
‘the tempest is
a play about power’
Hirst
‘Miranda and Ferdinand’s marriage is orchestrated
by Prospero for his own political ends’
Cherry
‘when Prospero renounces his magic art, it is not a sign of guilt,
but a necessary step to resuming his worldly duties as Duke’
Hebron
no remorse
‘the play’s central action […]
is not simply revenge’
Rufo
[Miranda] is a pawn
in a patriachal society’
Brett
“Cutting the umbilical cord is a very different relationship between mother and daughter. There’s a guilt that I haven’t given
Miranda the life she should have had. When she was a baby, Prospero was off in the library.”
- Alex Kingston, playing Prospero, RSC The Tempest 2023
“A female Ariel creates another
daughter for Prospero, one that Miranda can’t see.”
Abrahams
“Trinculo’s role is combining with
Stephano in providing comic relief”
Todd
“only Caliban’s
body is enslaved”
Todd
‘Alonso emerges from the experience
as purified and repentant”
Todd
“Stephano’s murder plot is based
on folly rather than evil”
Todd
“The real monsters of the island
are Sebastian and Antonio”
Tanner
“Stephano and Trinculo are
comic and incompetent”
Adams
“Stephano and Trinculo are far more
repulsive than Caliban”
Moseley
“Miranda and Ferdinand’s royal blood gives them an innate
nobility while Antonio and Sebastian show how noble birth can be betrayed by unnatural vices”
Kermode
“The comedy involving Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo is
delightful but scarcely subtle”
Knight
“Stephano parodies the
essential absurdity of tyrannic ambition”
Knight
“Prospero’s darker side is
emphasised by his being the mirror image of Sycorax”
Vaughan
