What makes us civilised and free? Flashcards
Caliban being framed as savage by Prospero
‘Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself / Upon thy wicked dam; come forth!’
(has vaguely religious connotations, appealing to ideas of the Great Chain of Being - hierarchy as natural, civilised)
Caliban’s own behaviour framing him as savage
‘As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushed / With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen / Drop on you both.’
Imperatives, raven’s feather connoting witchcraft and confirming the link to Sycorax’s black magic, echoes Prospero’s language (wicked) confirming his status as morally inferior
Prospero’s cruelty towards Caliban, undermining how we perceive this social hierarchy
‘thou shalt be pinched / As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging / Than bees made ‘em’
- simile combines sweet, natural imagery with language of pain (uncomfortable, disturbing)
- Prospero seems tyrannical here (rather than mage-like)
Caliban’s sensitivity and appreciation of the island’s magical beauty
‘And then in dreaming, / The clouds methought would open and show riches / ready to drop on me, that when I waked I cried to dream again.’
- metaphorical language personifying the clouds - feels divine and spiritual
- ‘cried’ - emotional sensitivity, and genuine connection with the island’s more spiritual aspects
- was Prospero really ‘landed to be lord on’t’?
Prospero’s director-like control of Ferdinand and Miranda’s first encounter
‘The fringed curtains of thine eye advance, / And say what thou seest yond.’
- theatrical language - Prospero as director (an aspect highlighted in Jamie Lloyd’s production where Prospero as Sigourney Weaver spent most of the play sat on a chair centre stage, even in scenes she wasn’t a part of)
Miranda’s exaggerated reaction to Ferdinand pointing to her inexperience/naivety/ways in which Prospero has deprived her of human contact
‘I might call him / A thing divine, for nothing natural / I ever saw so noble.’
- ‘divine’ - hyperbolic courtly language
- absolutes (nothing, ever)
Miranda’s limited male contact emphasises Prospero’s oppressive control
‘This / Is the third man that e’er I saw, the first / That e’er I sighed for.’
- repetition of the absolute ‘e’er’ highlights her amazement
- numerical language of hierarchy (‘third’ vs ‘first’) could highlight her unprecedented devotion BUT also highlights her lack of previous male contact, undermining the sincerity of this courtly interaction and pointing to its artificiality
- in the Globe 2013 production, Prospero is elevated in stage on a balcony behind them (he holds the real power - undermines Miranda’s rare moment of sexual awakening)
The masque scene - does it point to Prospero’s authoritarianism or generosity?
‘whose vows are that no bed-right shall be paid / Till Hymen’s torch be lighted’ - echoes Prospero’s earlier order
‘Let me live here ever! / So rare a wondered father and a wise / Makes this place paradise.’ vs ‘Sweet now, silence!’ which could be addressed to either Miranda or Ferdinand
Prospero abdicating his magic: to be civilised means not to be subjected to tyrannical behaviour (3)
‘The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance’
‘My charms I’ll break; their senses I’ll restore; / And they shall be themselves’
‘But this rough magic / I here abjure […] I’ll break my staff […] I’ll drown my book’
The lifting of Prospero’s charm
‘And as the morning steals upon the night, / Melting the darkness, so their rising senses / Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle / Their clear reason’
- simile links the lifting of Prospero’s charm to the natural shift between night and day - relinquishing magical power is natural, and perhaps inevitable (was it always his aim?)
- ‘melting’ personifies the morning, and the verb ‘chase’ personifies these people’s ‘senses’ - things are coming alive, vitality is being restored - they gain back their self-determination and freedom of thought, but now having experienced grief, sorrow, suffering etc
Prospero struggling to forgive/relinquish his power
‘For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother / Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive / Thy rankest fault - all of them’
- Prospero chooses virtue over vengeance here (emphasised by the absolute ‘all’) but language of evil/immorality suggests that he is struggling to forgive/become a better leader/admit that he’s not always morally superior
- OR this language could be Prospero simply fulfilling his larger aim to make these characters realise their faults and corrupt tendencies before letting them go (its an education process)
what does Prospero preach at the end regarding the past?
‘let us not burden our remembrances with / A heaviness that’s gone’ - but he’s kind of hypocritical in saying this because his grand plan its to make them criticise themselves and become better people (ie in his accusations against Antonio)
Is Prospero free by the end? How much power does he have still?
Throughout the whole play, Prospero has tightly controlled the narrative and excessed authoritarian power. Now that he has abdicated his magic, he drops down to the level of the audience and gives them the power instead - they can decide whether they give him their ‘indulgence’ or not, they decide whether he is forgiven for his tyranny or not. But… do they really have a choice in the matter?
Prospero is asking the audience, on a metatheatrical level, have I done a good job? Have I successfully cleansed these characters of their corruption? Have the ends justified the means (tyranny, cruelty, deception)?
‘Now my charms are all o’erthrown / And what strength I have’s mine own / Which is most faint’
- ‘o’erthrown’ is interesting because it links to the fact that his position was usurped by Antonio - so, unlike the other politically-motivated plots in the play, this is a good, beneficial, selfless overthrowing - he is abdicating power rather than seizing it (or is he)
‘Release me from your bands, / With the help of your good hands’ - all about getting the audience’s favour - do they really have much choice in the matter (they have to clap) - is this just another example of Prospero reframing the play’s narrative in his favour?
‘As you from crimes would pardoned be, / Let your indulgence set me free’ - simile linking to crimes suggests that he’s aware of his immorality/tyrannical nature - he wants them to validate his plan, and say ‘well done’ the ends did end up justifying the means
