Tempest- Past Flashcards
Para 1:
Shakespeare highlights how the context of our past can bring about cultural bias which hinders discovery.
- “Beast..savage…thing most brutish” sharp objectifying insults exemplifying how prospero feels about caliban (esp after tried to rape Miranda).
- “when i waked i cried to dream again.” emotive sensory rhetoric illustrating Calian’s emotional sophistication to his audience.
- Hypocrisy is caused by Prospero’s upper-class background as Duke of Milan, and thus an inherent prejudice against those that do not meet their cultural standards.
- “A born devil, whose nature nurture could never stick” implying that by rejecting societal constructs such as language makes him a devil; his prejudice thus obstructing his humanistic discovery.
- Antonio and Sebastian, in a similar light, but their scorn is addressed toward the isle itself. Green World Shakespeare presents, primed for naturalistic discoveries to be made, is decried as simply, “Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible”
- Gonzalo: naturalist philosopher Michel de Montaigne “Gentlemen of sensible…lungs…laugh at nothing.”
With the ignorance of his characters Shakespeare crafts dramatic irony to instead pose the question of reassessment to his audience. At the peak of the age of discovery, many of Shakespeare’s contemporaries were coming to discover civilisations that they would place below them on the chain of being based solely on criteria of their own societal constructs. By satirising this view to highlight its flaws, Shakespeare all but forces his audience query their own perception and perhaps make new discoveries of their own via this reassessment.
quotes:
- “Beast..savage…thing most brutish”
- “when i waked i cried to dream again.”
- “A born devil, whose nature nurture could never stick”
- “Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible”
- Naturalist philosopher Michel de Montaigne “Gentlemen of sensible…lungs…laugh at nothing.”
- Dramatic irony to instead pose the question of reassessment to his audience. Age of discovery + Chain of Being
Para 2:
Similarly Winton illustrates the ability of our past to impede discovery in the present.
- thrusts his protagonists from the “outer suburbs,” linked to high society via the cultural code, into an environment of “full of… migrants” likewise linked to the lower class, and thus feel “like sojourners in a foreign land.” This hyperbole and simile respectively illustrates the couples disorientation and distrust based purely on bias born of their haughty upbringing.
- Views are put to the test as the newlyweds actively begin to engage in the cultural practice of their neighbours. With the elegant rhetoric of, “in the haze of dawn and steam and fractured dialogue, the young man and woman felt intoxicated,” Winton illustrates the couples unanticipated cultural growth and acceptance as they become lost in new societal practice.
- “They felt superior and proud when their parents… cast shocked glances across the fence” the family used to represent their past views contrasted with their new ones based on reassessment.
Via the presentation of the successful cultural awakening of his protagonists Winton challenges his countrymen to overcome the stagnant xenophobic views which plague the issue of immigration in modern Australia
Quotes:
-“outer suburbs”
“full of… migrants”
“like sojourners in a foreign land.”
-“in the haze of dawn and steam and fractured dialogue, the young man and woman felt intoxicated,”
-“They felt superior and proud when their parents… cast shocked glances across the fence”
-Challenges xenophobia in modern Australia
Para 3:
the effects of present context, the insights of others and the world around us, can inspire discovery.
The Tempest displays this process through the impacts on Prospero, causing his transformation of character from vengeful to forgiving
-Originally, Prospero is portrayed seeking revenge,
proclaiming excitement at Ariel’s provocative metaphor, “Hell is empty and all the devils are here!” to show a character overwhelmed by hatred and anger.
- hyperbolically opposed by Miranda, “How beauteous mankind is!” as she discovers humanity for the first time
- and in the guidance of Ariel, “Mine would sir, were I human,” offering new insights on mankind.
- Likewise the isle “ten leagues beyond man’s life” = quintessential application of Frye’s Green World where high society can be resolved.
- “the greater act is in virtue than in vengeance,” marking his discovery of renaissance humanism and with it, forgiveness.
Similarly, Neighbours showcases the importance of environment and others in the newlyweds’ discovery of community.
-Winton modernises the green world in keeping with its original ideals:
The couple’s movement from the ‘city world’ to an area of loosened ordered, illustrated through Winton’s repetition, “screaming…spitting… urinating in the street,” is perfectly designed to challenge their traditional uptight ideals, “a good neighbour is seldom seen and never heard,” and bring them to new cultural discovery.
-Likewise, while wordless, the actions of their neighbours, offering “guidance” in the garden and sharing “gifts of grappa,” showcase their inclusive ideals until the couple “…found themselves smiling back,” simple emotive rhetoric indicating their discovery of the value of community.
Quotes:
- Excitement at Ariel’s line “Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
- “How beauteous mankind is!” + “Mine would sir, were I human,” = new insights into humanity
- “ten league’s beyond man’s life” = green world
-couple’s movement from the ‘city world’ to an area of loosened ordered, “screaming…spitting… urinating in the street”
((challenging uptight belief “a good neighbour is seldom seen and never heard,”))
-while wordless, “guidance”
“gifts of grappa,” showcase their inclusive ideals
until the couple “…found themselves smiling back”
Thesis:
Discovery is defined (/circumscribed/context is the crux of discovery) by our context, guiding our perceptions and thus our ability to discover.
Past experience circumscribes/hinders discovery
Present context (environment and company) spurs/inspires discovery
It is this intrinsic link between context and discovery which is explored in both…expertly adopted and highlighted to challenge their characters and by extension their audience.
