The Tempest- Critical readings Flashcards
Post-colonial reading- Authority and Leadership specifically Act 1 Scene 1
Neil Bowen
The Boatswain’s cry challenges the authority of the King and suggests that monarchy (and by implication ‘The Great Chain of Being’)… is an unnatural construct.
Post-colonial quote on the use of ‘toil’ by Ariel in Act 1 Scene 2
John Hathaway
(reflects) the fact that his acts of service are not joyfully completed out of love but are necessary acts of compliance
Production with Ariel presented with post-colonial spin
Sam Mendes’ 1993 production
Ariel spits in Prospero’s face
Critic (Hathaway)’s view: … confronts the audience with the true nature of Prospero’s totalitarian control, drawing clear parallels with colonial relationships.
Critic on Prospero’s controlling of others’ sexuality in order to impose power
Paul Browning
Prospero’s power to order and supervise his little colony is manifested in his power to control not his but his subjects’ sexuality.
Critic on the presentation of Caliban in relation to his resistance
The narrative…legitimizes this exercise of power by representing Caliban’s resistance… as the obdurate and irresponsible refusal of a simple educative project.
Critic on the contrast between how the play presents Miranda in comparison to Caliban
the malleable and the irreformable
Post colonial critic on Caliban’s attempted rape
His (Caliban’s) inability to discern a concept of private bounded property concerning his own dominions is reinterpreted as a desire to violate the chaste virgin
Critic on Gonzalo’s ideal island speech
Charlotte Unsworth-Hughes
he is also contradictory in his assertion that despite him being ‘king on’t’, there would be ‘no sovereignty’. Here, Shakespeare is arguably poking fun at the concept of a utopian society and deeming it an impossibility.
Critic on the power of the island on desires and the danger of this
Charlotte Unswoth-Hughes
…demonstrates the power of the island as a setting upon which taboo thoughts and desires can be transformed into opportunities and action- something potentially very dangerous.
Critic on subplot of Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban
…even the lowliest of us look for someone to beat down on and, however ridiculous Trinculo and Stephano seem… they are more frightening than their aristocratic masters because they are more like us.
Critic on the effect of minor characters
their characters act as enlightening foils to the main characters
Critic on Miranda’s lines in comparison to Prospero
Frank Kemode
Miranda’s lines have depth; she can see what her father has learned not to see. The comparison she has in mind is with Caliban and possibly her father; she does not know that the beauteous are likely to be corrupt.
Critic on Prospero and masque
Frank Kermode
Prospero is like a masque-presenter, and the castaways wander helpless in an enchanted scene under his spell, until he chooses to release them…
Critic on absent women in The Tempest
She (Claribel) is caught between the two men in her life who claim ownership of her
Critic on presentation of Sycorax
Lilla Grindley
This reading of Sycorax’s character highlights an anxiety about the interrelationship between female fertility and empowerment.
Critic on Prospero’s obsession over Miranda’s virginity
Lilla Grindley
…profound male anxieties about the power that comes with a woman’s ability to bear a child.
Critic on role of Miranda in Tempest
Mike Brett
In many ways she represents an unconventional woman who threatens the stability of a patriarchal society.
Critic on Prospero’s watching of Miranda and Ferdinand’s relationship
The voyeuristic nature of Prospero’s involvement in his daughter’s engagement to Ferdinand suggests that he is in full control of the romantic elements of the plot, even if the other characters are unaware of this influence.
