How does Shakespeare ensure that the theme of usurpation and its consequences runs throughout The Tempest?
How does Shakespeare ensure that the theme of usurpation and its consequences runs throughout The Tempest? The Tempest is a late romance, which is a mixture of comedy and tragedy and during the play Shakespeare puts across his Church of England views on usurpation. Before we discuss how Shakespeare ensures that the theme of usurpation and its consequences runs throughout The Tempest, we need to define the meaning of the term usurpation. Usurpation is when someone wrongfully seizes/assumes the power or the throne. An example of usurpation was when Napoleon usurped/seized the power from Louis XVI. The main plot of the play is to do with Prospero seeking revenge on his brother for taking his place as the Duke of Milan and leaving him and his daughter Miranda adrift in a boat to die. Prospero wants order to be restored and for him to be back as the Duke of Milan. During the play there are also two subplots involving a couple of people wanting to usurp the King of Naples and a group of three people wishing to usurp Prospero. Some aspects of the idea of usurpation occurs in nearly every scene in the Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" The theme also occurs in a verity of different circumstances and between different groups of people all wanting to overthrow the rightful person for there own benefit. The main way that Shakespeare has ensured that the theme of usurpation runs
What is your response to Shakespeare's presentation of Caliban in The Tempest?
This document was downloaded from Coursework.Info - The UK's Coursework Database - http://www.coursework.info/ What is your response to Shakespeare’s presentation of Caliban in The Tempest? Caliban’s role in the play is difficult to define as he is not the key protagonist and does not directly encourage the conclusion of the play. Caliban has many small but essential functions; one of which is to create comic relief in his drunken trio with Trinculo and Stephano. He also creates contrasts with other characters, such as Caliban’s association with the “earth” and evil magic; this also contributes to the fantasy genre of the play. There are suggestions in The Tempest that could possibly indicate the character of Caliban. His name could be an anagram of ‘canibal’ as was spelt in Shakespeare’s day. If we consider the definition of cannibal it implies that Caliban is a savage flesh eating monster. It could also refer to ‘Cariban’ and stories of the Carib Indians which also give us an insight into seventeenth century racial attitudes. The Carib Indians were assumed to be ferocious with an infamous appetite for human flesh, again relating to the idea of a cannibal. This already suggests what the audience should expect from Caliban. We never truly find out what exactly Caliban is; he is described as a “fish: he smells like a fish, a very ancient and fish-like
Nature vs. Art in The Tempest
The conflict between Nature and Nurture, between the forces of instinctual passion and civilising rationality and the innocent realm of nature and the controlling forces of European culture all clash in The Tempest. Shakespeare reflects the philosophic debate that grew out of 17th century colonisation which meditated on natural man (those who were being colonised), and civilised man (the Europeans), and which one was superior. Those who advocated 'civilised man' portrayed natural man as savage, barbaric, brutal, and most importantly, inferior. However, one could argue that 'civilised man' was probably just as savage in their manipulation and politics, and more power-hungry than their natural counterparts. In the Tempest, Caliban represents natural man, Prospero the civilised, but both have most obvious flaws, and Shakespeare does not appear to wholly condemn either of these polar opposites. Prospero alights onto the island and deprives Caliban of his rights, which is problematic for those arguing that 'civilised man' is kind and genteel, and Caliban is said to have raped Miranda, which is problematic for those arguing the other case. Contextually, Art in The Tempest represents the art of Prospero, or his magical powers. Prospero's art is used at first for revengeful purposes, which seems to be another argument against colonisation as it represents the European colonisers as
"A journey is more than just movement from one place to another. It is about learning and growth." What have you learned about the importance of journeys from your study of Imaginative Journeys?
"A journey is more than just movement from one place to another. It is about learning and growth." What have you learned about the importance of journeys from your study of Imaginative Journeys? BY ELISE THOMPSON A thorough study of journeys reveals that a journey is much more than just movement from one place to another. Journeys are about learning and growth, and they have the potential to teach people about themselves and the society in which they live. An Imaginative Journey is one in which the individual doesn't in fact have to go anywhere in the physical sense. The physical journey is replaced by an expedition that is fuelled by the human capacity to imagine. Imaginative Journeys create endless possibilities. They can offer an escape from the realities of life, and are frequently used to comment on social or human traits and characteristics. Imaginative Journeys are represented in the focus text, "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare, the 2003 calendar cartoon in the Sydney Morning Herald by Michael Leunig, and the Board of Studies Booklet Prescribed text "The Road Not Taken", a poem by Robert Frost. The composers attempt to create a world in which imagination dominates the actions and desires of the characters, as they are taken on a journey of magic and discovery. In "The Tempest", Shakespeare attempts to generate a world where the audience is transported to a
"Drama shows us that those who control language dictate the events of the play" Compare and contrast your chosen texts in the light of this opinion.
Saturday, 17 May 2003 Jad Salfiti A2 English Literature "Drama shows us that those who control language dictate the events of the play" Compare and contrast your chosen texts in the light of this opinion. 'The Tempest' written by William Shakespeare and 'Translations' written by Brian Friel both look at how those who control language can dictate events. Despite the disparity of context, both plays share many core themes and explore the importance of language and how it can be used as a means of control. Both plays show linguistic hegemony, and demonstrate how one language can take dominance and displace another and how language can be stigmatised, so that it becomes dirtied and debased. In 'The Tempest', Caliban's original language is belittled to "gabble" and "babble" by a Eurocentric Miranda. While in 'Translations' Lancey's snobbish attitude to the townspeople and his use of circumlocutory beaurocratic jargon exposes his personal discomfort at being with "foreign civilians". Prospero is in control of language within the Tempest, he is the most educated and he also has magical powers. Throughout the play Prospero uses language to coerce characters to do what he wants; his linguistic and magical authority is used to dictate the events of the play. Prospero foregrounds the plays fictionality "my charm the magicalism of art", and he
What is the significance of sound and music in the play as a whole?
What is the significance of sound and music in the play as a whole? `The Tempest' is on a basic level a play about a magical island, complete with its own wizard, monster and handsome prince. However, it is much more than a fairytale. Complex themes such as usurpation, colonialism and the supernatural are interwoven into the plot to produce a play so diverse that it is widely considered to be one of Shakespeare's finest works. Music and sound are dramatically significant in this diversity. This makes `The Tempest' very different to other Shakespeare plays. For example, `The Tempest' -along with `Twelfth Night'- contains nearly three times the amount of music normally present in his plays. In this essay I will be exploring how this sheer amount of music and sound is significant. This will involve looking at the affect that they have upon the major themes, characters and the play as a whole. Many critics have described `The Tempest' as an allegory. The opinion of what it is an allegory of differs widely, due to the fact that the play can be interpreted on many different levels. In any allegory though, the characters fulfil representative functions. So if `The Tempest' were a musical allegory, Prospero could be described as the composer, and Ariel as the performer. With this interpretation in mind, Prospero can be seen clearly to be composing the events on
Shakespeare's Play Reading Course.
Course Title: Shakespeare's Play Reading Course convener: Maxim Parr Name: Dawn (Lily Zhao) Student Number: 410107056 Year: 2nd Major: English If by your art, my dearest father, you have(1) Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.(2) The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,(3) But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,(4) Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered(5) With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel,(6) Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her,(7) Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock (8) Against my very heart. Poor souls, they perish'd.(9) Had I been any god of power, I would(10) Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere(11) It should the good ship so have swallow'd and(12) The fraughting souls within her.(13) This is from Act 1, Scene 2 in Shakespeare's comedy The Tempest that is set in the island before Prospero's cell. It is the first time two of the main characters in this play, Prospero and Miranda, are introduced to the audience. In this speech by Miranda, she expresses her strong piteous concern for the people suffered from the sea storm created by her father and her affliction caused by this, which gives us a general idea of this girl's personality. Meanwhile, it indirectly puts forward the information that the storm is terribly
Compare and contrast the ways in which the writers of The Tempest and Translations have dramatically presented the links between language and power
A2 English Literature Holiday Homework Assignment: for Mr Majewski: The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Translations by Brian Friel "Compare and contrast the ways in which the writers of The Tempest and Translations have dramatically presented the links between language and power." The modern linguist Norman Fairclough said, "Language is power", implying that if you want to control a person or people, an event or series of events, or indeed the entire world, and have power over it or them, you must first control language. Controlling language is the key to both the initial act of gaining power, and then maintaining that power. We find examples of this throughout The Tempest and Translations, which share common themes and elements. To tackle a question which requires suggesting how the writers link language and power, it is necessary to look at the plays in just such a thematic way. The first and most obvious area in The Tempest where language is linked with power is the way in which prose and verse is used by different characters to different effect. Most notably, and especially for it's irony, Caliban's use of verse when Stephano and Trinculo talk in prose reverts the old ideas of rank, whereby people of higher status, (here supposedly the King's butler and the jester) spoke in verse, and lower classes (the uncivilised Caliban) spoke in prose. Style shift refers to
Analyse act 1 scene 1 of the tempest
Analyse the Tempest scene in Act 1, Scene 1. In act 1 scene 1, Shakespeare opens the play with a big storm, The Tempest. It is a very dramatic opening and automatically captures the reader's interest. Many of the characters are also introduced in this scene; this allows the reader to create first impressions of the characters which are often the lasting impressions. The first seen is vitally important in catching and holding the attention of an audience in any play. Shakespeare had very limited resources to work with. He used a bare stage and still managed to create a scene of realism. He does this through the language and style of his writings he gives to the individual characters, and also the very few stage directions. His language gives us clues on how the characters should act and their personalities in order to create a scene of realism, Nay, good, be patient From the very first time we hear Gonzalo speak we are assured of his peace-keeping qualities. The commas Shakespeare uses create gaps in the speech and indicate to the audience that Gonzalo is a laid back character, as opposed to Sebastian, A pox o'your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog. These are the first words spoken by Sebastian and so we immediately see he is not a very nice character and does not like to be told what to do. The way in which Shakespeare uses his language to convey
Act I, scene i summary
Act I, scene i Summary A violent storm rages around a small ship at sea. The master of the ship calls for his boatswain to rouse the mariners to action and prevent the ship from being run aground by the tempest. Chaos ensues. Some mariners enter, followed by a group of nobles comprised of Alonso, King of Naples, Sebastian, his brother, Antonio, Gonzalo, and others. We do not learn these men's names in this scene, nor do we learn (as we finally do in Act II, scene i) that they have just come from Tunis, in Africa, where Alonso's daughter, Claribel, has been married to the prince. As the Boatswain and his crew take in the topsail and the topmast, Alonso and his party are merely underfoot, and the Boatswain tells them to get below-decks. Gonzalo reminds the Boatswain that one of the passengers is of some importance, but the Boatswain is unmoved. He will do what he has to in order to save the ship, regardless of who is aboard. The lords go below decks, and then, adding to the chaos of the scene, three of them-Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo-enter again only four lines later. Sebastian and Antonio curse the Boatswain in his labors, masking their fear with profanity. Some mariners enter wet and crying, and only at this point does the audience learn the identity of the passengers on-board. Gonzalo orders the mariners to pray for the king and the prince. There is a strange