tempest + hag-seed Flashcards
a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning
forgiveness
stage direction + pathetic fallacy
showcases the usurped Duke Prospero’s absolute power as metatheatrical director in disrupting the social order
- tempest symbol for prospero’s rage
“I flamed amazement: sometime I’d divided..would I flame distinctly” + “mine would sir, if i were human”
forgiveness
juxtaposition of Prospero’s fiery declaration and Ariel’s emotive plea
- reveals the irony in how Prospero’s blinding desire for revenge degrades his humanity to the extent of an inhuman possessing more empathy
- (imprisonment, abuse of power) refers to Ariel’s metaphorical imprisonment due to his (Ariel’s inhumane nature)
The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance
forgiveness
in soliloquy, juxtaposition/antithesis of “virtue” and “vengeance”
- emphasise how seeking compassion liberates individuals from their obsessive revenge
- Liberation of oneself
- Recognition of his faults as Shakespeare reflects on the importance of forgiveness
“An enormous black cloud..like nothing he could put into language” hg
forgiveness
pathetic fallacy, reflects the beginning of TT
showcases Felix’s self-destructive retributive path driven by his inability to find closure with Miranda’s death
“Why does it feel like a letdown?”
forgiveness
rhetorical question
- prompts the realisation that Felix’s desire for revenge was a distraction from the grief surrounding Miranda’s death → disillusionment
- Catalyst for reconciliation → reason he begins to reconcile with grief as his revenge quest did not lead to anything
“To the elements be free”
forgiveness
- intertextually (to TT) releases Miranda
- Atwood underscores introspection ending value in enabling emotional solace by relieving traumatic distress
- Continuation of Shakespeare’s stance on reconciliation → reframed for modern century
- Audience → praise self-determinism in freeing individuals from their unreleased trauma
Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil
marginalised
derogatory tone
- Explores the slave-master dynamic revealing the theocentric belief of good and evil as justification for discrimination against the marginalised
- Explore the contextual importance of Christianity giving Prospero’s derogatory language have a harsher tone and meaning
“Taught me language..my profit…is how I know how to curse”
marginalised ; irony
- Caliban subverts Prospero’s desire for control by acknowledging Prospero teaching him their language in an attempt to regain his self-agency but ironically criticising the language bequeathed by his oppressors
- Caliban’s verse subverts the audience’s ideals/stereotypes on the ‘Other’
- Caliban has the same educational level as Prospero and is able to use the same lyrical dictation and eloquent verse yet is seen below them
“This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine”
margianlsied
metaphor, possessive pronouns
- Through the use of personal pronoun of Caliban as ‘mine’, Prospero accepts the impact of his abuse of power in oppressing and imprisoning Caliban, as he concedes responsibility for the moral shortcomings of Caliban using a metaphor to compare him to “thing of darkness”
- Possessive pronouns showcases Propsero’s power he holds over Caliban reflecting colonialist values of the time
- (OR) Prospero’s climacteric indicates his self-awareness of the immoral flaws he possesses and regains his sense of self, revealing how one’s corruptive nature is overcome through recognition of personal flaws
Wouldn’t you be wasted on them
marginalised
estelle rhetorical question
- Reflects the negative stigma surrounding the literacy of the prison inmates and if they deserve to be equals
Unfresh paint… smell of dejection, shoulders slumping down
margrinalisation
synaethetic imagery + accumulation
- Atwood reframes Caliban’s inferior treatment through the inhospitable prison system
- Highlights the need for education progress to reintegrate into a wider post-modern society that already suppresses the inmates/marginalised dignity
- Adapts Shakespeare’s archaic perspective on set social constructs → Provokes audience to reject preconceived assumptions about marginalised groups
Last assignment” exploring the “post-play lives of your characters
marginalied
dialogue
- The players required to predict the outcome of their characters is symbolic of the postmodernism that incorporates multiple subjective and conflicting perspectives as opposed to the belief of one objective truth → symbolises the empowering of qualities of education for the prisoners as they are given a voice and a means of expression
- Through giving a chapter to each character, Atwood symbolically provides a narrative voice to each of their perspectives, in dissonance with Shakespeare, who provided only Propero and to a limited extent, Caliban, with a narrative
