STUDY GUIDE
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Study Guide Objectives This study guide serves as a classroom tool for teachers and students, and addresses the following Connecticut curriculum standards for grades K-12: English Language Arts 2.4: Exploring and Responding to Literature. Students recognize that readers and authors are influenced by individual, social, cultural, and historical contexts. Theatre 5: Researching and Interpreting. Students will research, evaluate and apply cultural and historical information to make artistic choices. 6: Connections. Students will make connections between theatre, other disciplines and daily life. 7: Analysis, Criticism and Meaning. Students will analyze, critique, and construct meanings from works of theatre.
Guidelines for Attending the Theatre Attending live theatre is a unique experience with many valuable educational and social benefits. To ensure that all audience members are able to enjoy the performance, please take a few minutes to discuss the following audience etiquette topics with your students before you come to Hartford Stage. • How is attending the theatre similar to and different from going to the movies? What behaviors are and are not appropriate when seeing a play? Why? • Remind students that because the performance is live, the audience can affect what kind of performance the actors give. No two audiences are exactly the same and no two performances are exactly the same—this is part of what makes theatre so special! Students’ behavior should reflect the level of performance they wish to see. • Theatre should be an enjoyable experience for the audience. It is absolutely all right to applaud when appropriate and laugh at the funny moments. Talking and calling out during the performance, however, are not allowed. Why might this be? • Be sure to mention that not only would the people seated around them be able to hear their conversation, but the actors on stage could hear them, too. Theatres are constructed to carry sound efficiently! • Any noise or light can be a distraction, so please remind students to make sure their cell phones are turned off (or better yet, left at home or at school!). Texting, photography, and video recording are prohibited. Food and gum should not be taken into the theatre.
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• Students should sit with their group as seated by the Front of House staff and should not leave their seats once the performance has begun. If possible, restrooms should be used only during intermission.
Characters Alonso—King of Naples Sebastian—his brother Prospero—the rightful Duke of Milan Antonio—his brother, the usurping Duke of Milan Ferdinand—son to the King of Naples Gonzalo—an honest old councilor Adrian and Francisco—lords Caliban—a savage and deformed slave Trinculo—a jester Stephano—a drunken butler Master—of a ship Boatswain Mariners Miranda—daughter to Prospero Ariel—an airy spirit Iris Ceres Juno Nymphs Reapers
William Patrick Riley as Ferdinand, Daniel Davis as Prospero, and Sara Topham as Miranda in Hartford Stage’s production of The Tempest. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.
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TIMELINE OF HISTORICAL EVENTS—“O BRAVE NEW WORLD” • 1001—Lief Ericson explores North America. • 1265—Marco Polo begins exploring China and Asia. • 1456—Portuguese explorers visit the Cape Verde islands. • 1470—The Portuguese begin exploring Africa. • 1488—Bartholemeu Dias sails from the Iberian Peninsula to the southern most point of Africa and rounds the Cape of Good Hope. • 1492—Christopher Columbus discovers America. • 1497—John and Sebastian Cabot discover Canada when they land in present-day Newfoundland. • 1498—Vasco de Gama sails to India and back. Christopher Columbus discovers the South American mainland. • 1500—Panama is discovered by Rodrigo de Bastidas and Juan Díaz de Solís • 1501—Amerigo Vespucci explores the coast of South America. Spanish settlers bound for Santo Domingo bring the first African slaves to the New World. • 1502—Christopher Columbus embarks on his fourth and final voyage to the New World, in which he explores Honduras and Panama. • 1508—Juan Díaz de Solís of Spain explores Argentina. • 1513—Vasco Núñez de Balboa of Spain sees the Pacific Ocean and explores 4
Synopsis A ship carrying King Alonso of Naples and members of his court crosses the sea on a voyage home following the wedding of Alonso’s daughter, Claribel, to the King of Tunis. A storm suddenly rises up and the members of the royal party fear for their lives. Before long, the ship begins to break apart and the passengers prepare for the ship to sink. Watching the drama unfold from the shore of a nearby island is teenage Miranda and her father, Prospero. Miranda expresses concern for those onboard the ship and asks her father if there is anything he can do to save them. Prospero assures Miranda that everyone who was on the ship is safe and that the storm was merely an illusion he created with his magical powers. He tells Miranda a story about their history, revealing that 12 years prior, he ruled as Duke of Milan. His brother, Antonio, usurped his position with the help of Alonso, the King of Naples. Prospero and Miranda were set adrift on a raft out at sea and would have died were it not for the help of Gonzalo, an old advisor, who gave them supplies and the books that are the source of Prospero’s magical powers. As the royal party’s ship passed near the island, Prospero saw the opportunity to set things right and orchestrated the storm to bring his enemies to him. Prospero casts a charm to make Miranda sleep and calls forth Ariel, a spirit who serves him. It is revealed that Ariel set fire to the ship’s mast and made sure that those onboard made it safely to shore in small groups, separate from each other. Ariel reminds Prospero of his promise to set Ariel free in exchange for performing these types of duties without complaint, and Prospero scolds Ariel for being ungrateful. Before Prospero came to the island, Ariel was imprisoned in a tree by a witch named Sycorax who had been banished to the island. When Sycorax died, Ariel was trapped until Prospero arrived and freed the spirit. Prospero instructs Ariel to take on the guise of a sea nymph and bring King Alonso’s son, Ferdinand, to him. Prospero wakes Miranda from her sleep and they visit Caliban, Prospero’s slave who is the son of the witch Sycorax. Caliban curses Prospero for enslaving him and usurping what he believes is his rightful rule over the island. Prospero berates Caliban for being ungrateful for all he and Miranda have taught him, and sends Caliban to collect firewood. Meanwhile, Ariel has used music to lure Ferdinand around the island and when he and Miranda see each other, they instantly fall in love. Prospero is pleased to see that his plan for his daughter’s marriage is working, but is concerned that it may be developing too quickly. He uses magic to imprison Ferdinand, accusing him of lying about being the Neapolitan prince. Meanwhile, King Alonso, his brother Sebastian, Duke Antonio, and Gonzalo are happy to be alive, but the belief that Ferdinand is dead heavily weighs on them. They observe the strangeness of the place where they have landed and how surprising it is that their clothes appear
brand new and bear no signs of the trauma they survived at sea. Ariel, invisible, plays music that puts Alonso and Gonzalo to sleep. Sebastian and Antonio plot to murder the other two men so that Sebastian can become king and Antonio, as Duke of Milan, would be free of having to pay tribute to Naples. Just as they are about to stab the sleeping Alonso and Gonzalo, Ariel wakes them. Sebastian and Antonio make up a story saying that they drew their swords to protect the king from the lions they heard. Elsewhere, Caliban collects firewood and sees Trinculo, Alonso’s jester. Caliban believes Trinculo is a spirit sent by Prospero to torment him and hides under his cloak. Trinculo is uncertain of what to make of Caliban, but with another storm threatening, decides to crawl under the cloak with him until it passes. Stephano, a butler, walks by drunk and singing, and is confused by the strange sight of Trinculo and Caliban under the cloak. Trinculo recognizes Stephano. They get Caliban to drink as they plot how to make money off of him should they find a way to return home. Ferdinand, hard at work hauling logs for Prospero, talks with Miranda and the two determine that they are in love and will wed. Prospero watches their interaction, unseen. Meanwhile, Ariel plays tricks on the drunken Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban. The trio decides to kill Prospero and make Stephano king of the island, before being distracted by Ariel’s music. Alonso, Gonzalo, Sebastian, and Antonio continue traveling around the island. When they stop to rest, Sebastian and Antonio decide they will kill the exhausted Alonso and Gonzalo that evening. Prospero sends spirits to put a banquet out before the men. As they begin to eat, Ariel, appearing as a harpy, accuses the men of supplanting Prospero and declares that this action is the direct cause of Ferdinand’s fate. Later, Prospero gives his blessing for Miranda to marry Ferdinand and uses his magic to create a masque for their entertainment. Prospero suddenly halts the performance when he remembers that he must stop Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban’s plan to murder him. Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban follow Ariel’s music, and Ariel reports to Prospero that they are nearby. They fall for a trap set by Prospero and Ariel when they find beautiful clothes in Prospero’s cell and waste time trying them on and planning to steal them. Prospero and Ariel send spirits in the form of hounds to chase them away. Ariel brings Alonso and the others before Prospero, who confronts them about their treachery, but ultimately forgives them. Alonso laments the loss of his son and Prospero commiserates, but then reveals that their children are not really lost at all. Miranda is amazed by the sight of so many new people and Ferdinand reveals to his father that he plans to marry her. Ariel arrives with the boatswain and the other mariners, who have been asleep on the wrecked ship the whole time. Alonso and Prospero command Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban to return what they stole. They make plans to return to Italy the next day and restore Prospero to his dukedom. Prospero commands Ariel to create calm seas for the return voyage, and then frees the spirit. Prospero ends the play by addressing the audience directly, asking forgiveness for his own imperfections and failings.
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the Pacific coast of Panama. Juan Ponce de León of Spain explores Florida. 1517—Spanish conquistador Francisco Hernández de Córdoba explores the Yucatán Peninsula. 1518—Juan de Grijalva explores Mexico. 1519-1522—Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sails around the world. His expedition is the first to circumnavigate the earth. 1519—Spain’s Hernando Cortés kidnaps Aztec emperor Montezuma while his crew loots the Aztecs’ gold. Cortés takes control over the destroyed Aztec empire. 1519—Spain’s Alonso Álvarez de Pineda explores the Gulf Coast of the future United States. 1520—Ferdinand Magellan passes through a waterway at the tip of South America, which will eventually be named the Strait of Magellan, and sails for the Philippines. 1522—Slaves revolt on the island of Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). 1524—Italian explorer Giovanni Verrazano discovers New York Bay. 1530—The Portuguese begin colonizing Brazil. 1531—Francisco Pizarro of Spain leads an expedition from Panama to Peru. 1532—Pizarro invades and loots the Incan Empire in Peru. 1534—French explorer Jacques Cartier explores the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. 5
• 1538—Spain annexes Cuba. • 1539—Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto explores Florida and the southeastern United States. • 1540—García López de Cárdenas of Spain discovers the Grand Canyon. • 1540—De Soto discovers the Mississippi River. • 1543—Nicolaus Copernicus publishes On the Revolution of Heavenly Bodies, posing his theory that the sun is the center of the universe and that the earth revolves around it. • 1553—Britain’s Sir Hugh Willoughby searches for a Northwest Passage to Russia. • 1558-1603—Reign of Queen Elizabeth I. • 1562—Britain joins the slave trade when John Hawkins begins transporting slaves from Africa to Hispaniola. • April 23, 1564—William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. His parents are John Shakespeare, an established glove maker and leather dresser, and Mary Arden. • 1565—Spain annexes the Outer Banks of the Carolinas and establishes Spanish Florida. • 1577-1580—England’s Francis Drake circumnavigates the earth. • May 4, 1581—Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I. • 1582—The English establish a colony in Newfoundland, the first for them in the Americas. • 1582—18-year-old William Shakespeare marries 26-year6
Language Shakespeare did much of his writing in a form called Iambic Pentameter, in which each line of text contains t 10 alternately stressed syllables (five pairs/feet). There are five iambs in each line. A full line of iambic pentameter has the rhythm: ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM Or, for example: • but SOFT what LIGHT through YONder WINdow BREAKS (Romeo, Act II Scene 2, Romeo and Juliet) • now DOES my PROject GAther TO a HEAD (Prospero, Act V Scene 1, The Tempest) Sometimes the verses in Shakespeare’s plays rhyme; however, Shakespeare often used blank (unrhymed) verse, as he did in much of The Tempest. Prose is another tool Shakespeare used to communicate information about a character’s rank or class, or their state of mind. Sometimes he did this to make class distinctions between characters. Shakespeare’s lower class characters, such as Stephano the butler and Trinculo the jester in The Tempest, tend to speak in prose, while aristocratic characters, such as Prospero and King Alonso, tend to speak in verse. Shakespeare also used prose to communicate a character’s stress or mental instability. One of the most often cited examples of this appears in Act II, Scene 2 of Hamlet, in which prince Hamlet switches from verse to prose as he ruminates on the shortness of human existence: I have of late – but wherefore I know not – lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory. This most excellent canopy the air, look you, this brave o’erhanging, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire – why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. (Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2) Hamlet’s abrupt shift from verse to prose and back again draws attention to the contemplative tone and profound content of his speech. Shakespeare also plays with speech patterns in King Lear, in which Lear’s speech shifts from verse to prose as his thinking becomes more erratic. Shakespeare used a variety of literary devices in his plays, including personification, alliteration, simile, and metaphor. The language of The Tempest includes many unusual grammatical constructs; Shakespeare creates unique contractions by omitting words and syllables, relies
Verse = a line of poetry Meter = the arrangement of a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables to create rhythm in a verse Foot = the basic unit of meter Iamb = a metrical foot consisting of one stressed followed by one unstressed syllable Prose = common language resembling everyday speech, which has irregular rhythm and lacks metrical structure heavily on compound words, and uses series of short statements, which indicate conflict and tension. Shakespeare’s language also contains many words that seem foreign to a modern audience because they are specific to Elizabethan English and have fallen out of use since that time. In total, Shakespeare used 17,677 different words in his plays, sonnets, and narrative poems, 1,700 of which may have been invented by him. Several of these words appear in The Tempest, including “baseless,” “sanctimonious,” and “watchdog.” PROSPERO . . . And—like the baseless fabric of this vision— The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces . . . PROSPERO . . . If thou dost break her virgin-knot before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy rite be ministered . . . (IV.1.15-17) SPIRITS Hark, hark! Bow-wow, The watch dogs bark, bow-wow. (I.2.383-384)
Some questions to ask when encountering an unfamiliar word or phrase: • Does this word sound like another word I know? • Can I look this word up in a dictionary? • Can I rearrange the sentence to give the word context? • Is this meant to be literal or is Shakespeare using figurative language? Is it a metaphor or simile? Personification? • If it is figurative language, what literal thing or phenomenon does this image describe?
old Anne Hathaway. • 1583—William and Anne Shakespeare’s first child, Susanna, is born. • 1584—England’s Sir Walter Raleigh sends Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore the coast of North Carolina. Sir Walter Raleigh establishes Roanoke Colony in Virginia. • 1585—Twins Hamnet and Judith are born to William and Anne Shakespeare. • 1586—Mary, Queen of Scots, is implicated in a plot to assassinate her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. • February 8, 1587—Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed. • 1588—Spain threatens to invade England. Queen Elizabeth I begins preparing the English army for war. • 1588—London is infected by the plague and all theatres are closed. • 1588—Christopher Marlowe publishes Doctor Faustus. • 1589-1593—Shakespeare writes The Two Gentlemen of Verona. • 1589-1594—Shakespeare writes The Comedy of Errors. • 1590-1592—Shakespeare writes Henry VI, Part 1. • 1590-1595—Shakespeare writes King John. • 1591—Shakespeare writes Henry VI, Part 2. • 1592—Shakespeare writes Henry VI, Part 3. • 1593—Shakespeare writes the poem, Venus and Adonis. • 1593—Sir Richard Hawkins sails to the South Pacific. • 1593—Shakespeare writes Richard III. • 1593-1594—Shakespeare writes The Taming of the 7
Shrew. • 1593-1594—Shakespeare writes Titus Andronicus. • 1594—Shakespeare is both an actor and a playwright for the newly established acting company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. • 1594—Shakespeare writes the poem, The Rape of Lucrece, Romeo and Juliet, Love’s Labors Lost, and the Sonnets. • 1595—Sir Walter Raleigh seeks the golden city of El Dorado in South America. • 1595—Cornelis de Houtman discovers a sea route to Indonesia. • 1595—Shakespeare writes Richard II and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. • 1596—William and Anne Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, dies, possibly of the plague. • 1596—Shakespeare writes The Merchant of Venice and Henry IV, Part 1. • 1596—John Shakespeare is granted a coat of arms. • January 28,1596—Sir Francis Drake dies of the plague at sea. • 1597—Shakespeare purchases New Place in Stratford as a home for his wife and children. • 1597—Shakespeare writes Henry IV, Part 2. • 1597-1598—The Globe Theatre is built. • 1598—Juan de Archuleta explores Colorado. • 1598—Shakespeare writes Much Ado About Nothing. • 1599—Shakespeare writes As You Like It, Julius Caesar, and Henry V. • 1599—Shakespeare is granted a financial share in 8
Themes for Discussion The Power of Art
“If by your art, my dearest father, you have/ Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them./ The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch/ But that the sea, mounting to th’ welkin’s check,/ Dashes the fire out,” Miranda cries in Act I, Scene 1 of The Tempest, already suspecting that the terrible storm she sees off the coast of her island home is not simply an unfortunate shift in the weather. Miranda knows that her father, Prospero, is a powerful magician, and that his magical art may very well be the source of the trouble at sea. Prospero confirms that he is responsible for the storm, but reveals that it is not quite what it appears. With the help of his servant, Ariel, Prospero has created the illusion of a storm which, while terrifying to the ship’s passengers, poses no real threat and, by Prospero’s design, will bring them to shore unharmed. This first spectacle is only the beginning of an epic performance in which Prospero serves as director, designer, and leading actor. Prospero is not the first person endowed with magical gifts to live on the island; it was previously inhabited by a witch named Sycorax. But while Sycorax possessed powers of “witchcraft,” including the use of “toads, beetles, bats,” (as Caliban says in I.2.341) Prospero’s magic is “art.” As the deposed Duke of Milan, Prospero is determined to restore himself to his former position and he employs his art to achieve justice. As the shipwrecked royal party wanders about the island in small groups, Prospero creates a show for them so vivid and affecting that they are convinced that nothing is impossible, and that if they should ever manage to return to Naples, no one will believe their accounts of what they have seen and experienced. To do this, Prospero employs mysterious music and sounds with no visible source, clothes that despite enduring trauma at sea appear better than new, and even spirits that present, as Sebastian observes, “a living drollery/ Now I will believe/ That there are unicorns; that in Arabia/ There is one tree, the phoenix’ throne, one phoenix/ At this hour reigning there” (III.3.21-24). Prospero’s magic is his primary tool in writing the ending to his own story. He is an artist whose objective is to persuade others to share his vision for the world. Prospero is even so absorbed in the masque he creates for Ferdinand and Miranda that he momentarily forgets that he still has work to do. By the end the play, King Alonso is also so taken in by Prospero’s performance that he has difficulty determining what is real and what is not. When Prospero identifies himself, Alonso is skeptical. “Whe’er thou be’st he or no,/ Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me/ (As late I have been), I not know,” he hesitantly remarks (V.1.111-113). But Prospero’s spell has prompted a real change in Alonso, and before long he does not need to be convinced of what he should do any further. “Thy dukedom I resign
and do entreat/ Thou pardon me my wrongs,” he says, restoring Prospero to his rightful place as Duke of Milan (V.1.118119). It is Prospero, however, who needs redemption, as he changes his costume and his role in the play’s final moments. No longer wearing his magician’s robe, Prospero transforms back into the Duke of Milan and asks the audience to forgive any wrongs he may have committed and any dishonest tactics Costume design for Prospero by Fabio Toblini. he may have used. Prospero claims that everything has been done in the service of entertaining the audience and begs that we not hold his actions against him. Now that he has given up his power, the audience must release him so the performance can end:
Now my charms are all o’erthrown, And what strength I have’s mine own, Which is most faint. Now, ‘tis true I must be here confined by you, Or sent to Naples. Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got And pardoned the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands. Gentle breath of yours my sails Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant; And my ending is despair, Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so that it assaults Mercy itself, and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardoned be, Let your indulgence set me free. (EPILOGUE. 1-20)
the Globe Theatre. • 1600—The English East India Company is founded. • 1600—Shakespeare writes Hamlet. • 1600-1603—Shakespeare writes Troilus and Cressida. • 1601—Shakespeare writes Twelfth Night. • 1601-1602—Shakespeare writes All’s Well that Ends Well. • 1602-1603—Shakespeare writes Othello. • March 24, 1603—Queen Elizabeth I dies. Her cousin, James I of Scotland, becomes king and unites the two countries. • 1603-1625—Reign of King James I. • 1603—The Lord Chamberlain’s Men are renamed The King’s Men and begin performing at the court of James I. • 1603—Shakespeare writes Measure for Measure. • 1603—Sir Walter Raleigh is arrested and imprisoned for his role in a plot to overthrow the king. • 1604-1606—Shakespeare writes Timon of Athens. • 1605—Shakespeare writes King Lear. • 1605—Ben Jonson writes Volpone. • November 5, 1605—The Gunpowder Plot, in which Guy Fawkes intended to blow up the English Parliament House, is discovered. • 1606—Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon discovers Australia. • 1606—James I issues a charter to the Virginia Company of London for land on the mid-Atlantic coast of 9
North America. • 1606—With the permission of James I, the Plymouth Company begins to colonize North America between the 38th and 45th parallels. • 1606—Shakespeare writes Macbeth. • 1606-1607—Shakespeare writes Pericles. • May 14, 1607—John Smith leads a group of settlers in colonizing Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America. • 1607-1608—Shakespeare writes Antony and Cleopatra. • 1608—Separatists from the Church of England travel to the Netherlands to escape persecution. • 1608—Frenchman Samuel de Chaplain establishes Quebec. • 1608—Shakespeare writes Coriolanus. • 1609—James I issues a second charter to the Virginia Company. • 1609—Englishman Henry Hudson explores parts of northeast America and the Arctic Ocean, including what would later be named the Hudson River. • 1609—Tea is shipped from China to Europe for the first time by the Dutch East India Company. • 1609—Shakespeare writes Cymbeline and The Winter’s Tale. • June 2, 1609—The Sea Venture, flagship of Britain’s Virginia Company, encounters 10
Questions • How does Prospero use his art in The Tempest to accomplish each of the following: persuasion, restoration, redemption, destruction, revenge? • How does Ariel’s music affect the Neapolitans? • Given that The Tempest is Shakespeare’s last play, what is the significance of Prospero’s words in the epilogue? • What works of art have the power to move you? Have you ever felt your emotions changed by a song, a sculpture, a painting, a dance, or a dramatic performance? Has a work of art ever motivated you to take a particular action in your life? Why does art affect us in this way?
Transformation and Change
“Was Milan thrust from Milan that his issue/ Should become kings of Naples,” wonders Gonzalo as The Tempest comes to an end. “In one voyage/ Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis;/ And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife/ Where he himself was lost; Prospero his dukedom/ In a poor isle; and all of us ourselves,/ When no man was his own” (V.1.205-213). If everything has worked out as it seems it was supposed to, it must also be acknowledged that everything has changed. Prospero and Miranda arrived on the island 12 years prior to the events depicted in The Tempest. While the loss of his dukedom wounded Prospero deeply, the island presented him with an opportunity for rebirth and a fresh start. On the island, Prospero even more fully embraced the books he had already spent years studying. By the end of the play, Prospero is squarely focused on the future and the changes it will bring. His innocent young daughter, Miranda, will soon become a wife and will one day be a queen. Ferdinand, the prince who Miranda will marry, has fallen in love and found a new family. While Prospero is a deposed ruler, his descendants will be kings. The time of Ariel’s servitude is coming to an end and Prospero will have to make good on his promise of freedom. When King Alonso and his party wash up on shore, the changes in them are instantly visible. Ariel reports that not only are the travelers safe but that “on their sustaining garments not a blemish,/ But fresher than before” (I.2.218-219). Gonzalo also immediately observes the change, remarking on its strangeness.
GONZALO But the rarity of it is, which is indeed almost beyond credit— SEBASTIAN As many vouched rarities are. GONZALO That our garments being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold notwithstanding their freshness and gloss, being rather
new-dyed than stained with salt water . . . Methinks our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Africa… (II.2.60-66)
But the island’s effect on the group from Alonso’s court is more than just a physical one. When Alonso first washes up on the island, he notices that his son, Ferdinand, is nowhere to be seen and believes him to be dead. Alonso’s despair over the apparent loss of his son generates deep feelings of guilt; Having just seen his daughter married to the King of Tunis, Alonso is overcome with grief at losing both of his children. “Would I had never/ Married my daughter there,” Alonso laments. “For coming thence/ My son is lost and (in my rate) she too,/ Who is so far from Italy removed/ I ne’er again shall see her” (II.1.108112). Alonso’s fragile emotional state makes him ripe for Prospero’s magical influence. After Ariel confronts the men about their treachery, Alonso is filled with guilt and repentance. “Methought the billows spoke and told me of it;/ That deep and dreadful organpipe—pronounced/ The name of Prosper. It did bass my trespass./ Therefore my son i’th’ ooze is bedded, and/ I’ll see him deeper than e’er plummet Costume design for Miranda by Fabio Toblini. sounded,/ And with him there lie mudded,” he says, convinced that Ferdinand’s apparent death is a punishment for his own involvement in the plot against Prospero years earlier (III.3.96-103). When Alonso and Prospero finally come face to face, Alonso repents for his past actions and does not hesitate to restore Prospero to his dukedom. Two of the other Neapolitans, Antonio and Sebastian, initially take an opportunist view of their ship-wrecked situation as they are overtaken by their lust for power. Having already successfully deposed Prospero, Antonio has been paying tribute to Naples for 12 years. Antonio points out that with Ferdinand seemingly dead and Claribel far from home in Tunis, Sebastian is next in the line of succession
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a large storm en route to Jamestown and is separated from the rest of the fleet. The ship begins to leak and it is only a matter of time before it sinks. After three days, Admiral George Somers sees land and deliberately drives the ship onto the reefs off Bermuda, allowing the crew and passengers to disembark safely. July 15, 1610—English writer William Stratchey, one of Sea Venture’s passengers, sends a letter to a woman in England describing the events leading up to the ship’s crash in Bermuda and the 10 months those aboard spent on the island before finally making their way to Jamestown. This letter is believed to be one of Shakespeare’s inspirations in writing The Tempest. 1610-1611—Shakespeare writes The Tempest. 1611—The English begin colonizing Bermuda. 1611—James I dissolves the English parliament. 1611—The King James Bible is published in England. 1611—Shakespeare writes The Two Noble Kinsmen with John Fletcher, who would later become resident playwright for The King’s Men after Shakespeare’s death. 1613—William Shakespeare and John Fletcher (allegedly) write The Famous History of the Life of King Henry VIII. 11
• June 29, 1613—The Globe Theatre is destroyed by a fire when a special effect involving a cannon goes wrong during a performance of King Henry VIII. • 1614—The Globe Theatre is rebuilt. • 1616—William Shakespeare dies. • 1623—The First Folio of Shakespeare’s work is published by his fellow actors John Heminges and Henry Condell. • 1624—The Virginia Company loses its charter and the colony becomes a royal province due to mismanagement.
as Alonso’s brother. The men create an assassination plot that will benefit them both: “As thou got’st Milan,” Sebastian tells Antonio, “I’ll come by Naples. Draw thy sword! One stroke/ Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest,/ And I the king shall love thee” (II.1.293-295). Their presence on the island transforms Antonio and Sebastian from ambitious men to potential murderers. It is only through Prospero’s magic that they are never able to complete their transformation, and they are forced to acquiesce (at least temporarily) to Prospero’s return to his rightful place. While the play opens with a storm created by Ariel on Prospero’s orders, it ends quite differently. The tempest is replaced by calm as the world transforms from chaos to peace. As the group prepares to return to Naples, Prospero makes his own plans for the voyage. “I’ll deliver all,” he assures them, “And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales/ And sail so expeditious that shall catch/ Your royal fleet far off. [aside to Ariel] My Ariel, chick,/ That is thy charge. Then to the elements/ Be free, and fare thou well” (V.1.314-319).
Questions:
• Prospero has spent 12 years plotting revenge against those who wronged him, and at the end of the play, he claims to forgive his enemies. Is Prospero’s forgiveness genuine? • How has being isolated on the island for so many years shaped Miranda’s understanding of herself and the world? Will returning to Naples change her? How will she react to the new people and things she encounters there? • What will Ariel do next, having been finally granted the freedom Prospero promised?
Parallel/Echo Events
Sycorax, a powerful witch, was banished with her son to an uninhabited island “for mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible” for more than 12 years (I.2.264). Prospero, a powerful magician, was banished with his daughter to the same uninhabited island. A group of men from Naples is ship wrecked on the island another 12 years later. These events are not simply history repeating itself in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but the start of a series of parallel events showing that all human beings are subject to the same fears, hopes, and desires. Review the following list of events depicted or referenced in The Tempest. Which events are echoes of things that happened earlier?
Costume design for Alonso by Fabio Toblini.
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• Prospero is Duke of Milan. • Sycorax is banished from Algiers and lives on the island in exile with her son, Caliban. • Sycorax uses witchcraft to imprison Ariel in a tree.
• Antonio conspires with Alonso and Sebastian to depose Prospero. • Antonio usurps Prospero’s rule over Milan. • Prospero arrives on the island with his daughter, Miranda, and lives there in exile. • Prospero uses magic to free Ariel from the tree but keeps the spirit as a servant. • Caliban teaches Prospero the ways of the island. • Prospero usurps Caliban’s rule over the island and enslaves him. • King Alonso’s daughter, Claribel, marries the King of Tunis. • Prospero orders Ariel to create the illusion of a tempest at sea. • King Alonso and members of his court are ship wrecked on the island. • Antonio encourages Sebastian to usurp power from his brother, Alonso, the King of Naples. • Antonio and Sebastian plot to murder Alonso and his advisor, Gonzalo. • Antonio and Sebastian go to stab Alonso and Gonzalo while they sleep, but are thwarted when Ariel wakes them. • Caliban gathers firewood for Prospero. • Caliban declares that he will serve Stephano and teach him the ways of the island. • Caliban encourages Stephano to usurp Prospero’s rule over the island. • Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban plot to murder Prospero and make Stephano king of the island. They will kill Prospero in his sleep in half an hour. • Ferdinand gathers firewood for Prospero. • Ferdinand and Miranda profess their love for one another and agree to meet again in half an hour. • Ferdinand and Miranda are betrothed and will marry. • Prospero is restored as Duke of Milan. • Prospero orders Ariel to ensure calm weather for the return trip to Naples. • Prospero frees Ariel from service.
Questions: • How is Prospero’s relationship with Ariel similar to and different from his relationship
Costume design for Antonio by Fabio Toblini.
with Caliban? • Given that he has been enslaved for 12 years, why does Caliban agree to serve Stephano? • When Prospero reveals Ferdinand and Miranda to Alonso and the others, they are playing chess, a game in which the goal is to capture one’s opponent’s “king.” Miranda is heard accusing Ferdinand of cheating. Why did Shakespeare choose chess for Ferdinand and Miranda’s game? How does this game reflect the circumstances and events of the play? 13
For Further Exploration
The Age of Discovery: European Imperialism and Colonialism The island setting of The Tempest has captured ‘Settaboth’ or ‘Settaboh,’ a native suddenly addicted the imaginations of scholars and artists alike for to European wine, and other events and phrases hundreds of years. Some scholars have theorized that may be reflected in The Tempest” (Vaughn and that the island of The Tempest is in the Mediterranean Vaughn, 41). These incidents are only a small sample Sea, thinking that the Neapolitans’ account of having of the stories of storms, wrecks, colonization, natives, just come from a wedding in Tunis supports the deaths, and unexplainable events that captured conclusion that the characters were swept up in the Elizabethan and Jacobean imaginations, playwrights storm part-way between northern Africa and Naples. included. The idea of Europeans seizing control of Others believe that the European age of imperialism an exotic, distant land and imposing their culture and and the stories of sailors learning to dominate that and explorers who were land’s inhabitants was “The setting is ENTIRELY constantly returning familiar to Shakespeare, from the New World were and is clearly depicted in IMAGINATIVE and I think of foremost in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Prospero it as Shakespeare’s GREATEST mind as he wrote the uses his books, which play and that the island are both symbols of DREAMSCAPE.” is intended to represent education and the source —Hartford Stage Artistic the newly “discovered” of his magic, to rule over Americas. Caliban and Ariel, while Director Darko Tresnjak Regardless of Stephano and Trinculo whether Shakespeare use wine to manipulate imagined the island as Mediterranean, American, Caliban and plot to “recover him and keep him tame, or neither, European imperialism certainly inspired and get to Naples with him,” because such a strange Shakespeare’s writing. The English had been exploring creature could be “a present for any emperor” the New World for 100 years when Shakespeare (II.2.67-69). Even the honest advisor Gonzalo is wrote The Tempest, and Roanoke, the first permanent captivated by the infinite possibilities inherent in his English settlement in the Americas, was more than new surroundings; despite Antonio and Sebastian’s 20 years old. Other countries, such as Portugal insistence to the contrary, Gonzalo is certain in and Spain, had been sending expeditions to North Act II, Scene 1, that on the island, “everything is America, South America, and Africa for even longer advantageous to life,” and fantasizes about creating than the English. Around the time Shakespeare is a perfect, utopian society there. believed to have written The Tempest, accounts had In addition to these New World influences, the reached London of the crash on Bermuda of Sea politics of ruling over lands closer to home may have Venture, a British ship bound for Jamestown. Sea also played a role. Africa, which features prominently Venture’s passengers were stranded on Bermuda for in the play, had experienced European colonization nearly a year. Documentation of Sir Francis Drake’s dating back to the ancient Greek empire, and when circumnavigation of the world was widely available, Shakespeare began writing The Tempest in 1610, the and included a journal written by Francis Fletcher, transatlantic slave trade was more than 100 years the chaplain on Drake’s journey, in which Fletcher old. Africa’s role in The Tempest begins with off-stage “described ‘a most deadly tempest,’ a deity called events that occur before the action of the play; the 14
Neapolitans land on the island after attending “the Shakespeare’s intent was, it is impossible to deny marriage of the King’s fair daughter Claribel to the King that the Elizabethan and Jacobean audiences were of Tunis” (II.1.71-72). It also is part of Caliban’s origin fascinated by improbable tales and would have story. Although he was born on the island, Caliban’s imposed some of their own meanings on the play, ancestry has African roots. Prospero recalls that just as directors and audiences have continued to do “this damned witch Sycorax/ For mischiefs manifold for the last 400 years. and sorceries terrible/ To enter human hearing, from Algiers/ . . . was banished” (I.2.263-266). It is only Questions: because “this blue-eyed hag was hither brought with • How does the plot of The Tempest reflect child,/ And here was left by th’ sailors” that Caliban Europe’s Age of Discovery? How are the came to be on the island (I.2.270-271). Further characters’ discoveries on the island similar to inspiration for Caliban and the European characters’ the discoveries made by European explorers? assessment of him may have come from within the • Is Gonzalo’s fantasy of founding a utopian English isles themselves. By the early 17th century, society on the island a realistic idea? What England had already spent many years trying to rule challenges did colonizers face when creating over the people of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, who a community in a new place? they considered on par with Africans and American • Who is left to rule over the island when Indians in terms of their savagery. There are strong Prospero and the other Italians leave? How parallels between the English attempts to “civilize” successful will this ruler be? the Irish and the play’s European characters’ general • What does Miranda mean when she says “O belief in the superiority of their own culture over wonder!/ How many goodly creatures are Caliban’s. Prospero and Miranda express disdain for there here!/ How beauteous mankind is! O Caliban’s own language, describing his prior speech brave new world/ That has such people in’t” as “gabble” in Act I, Scene 2. Caliban asserts that a (V.1.181-184)? How is Miranda’s discovery great wrong was done to him when Prospero used of new human beings similar to European magic powers to force him to submit to Prospero’s explorers’ encounters with people in the New rule, just as the Irish resented English attempts to World? subjugate them militarily. • How does the scenic design of Hartford Stage’s Productions of the play have, throughout production of The Tempest reflect director history, reflected the political and social issues of Darko Tresnjak’s statement that the island is the time and place in which they occur. Caliban has “Shakespeare’s greatest dreamscape?” been used as a symbol of many different groups of oppressed people all over the world, including American Indians, African Americans, and the indigenous people of Central and South America (with Prospero representing the likes of Cortés and Pizarro). But Shakespearean scholar Harold Bloom argues in his 1998 book, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, that these and other politicallyoriented interpretations that paint Caliban as a maligned victim of colonialism are misguided. “The Tempest,” Bloom says, “is neither a discourse on colonialism nor a mystical testament. It is a wildly experimental stage comedy . . . Caliban has his legitimate pathos, but he cannot be interpreted as being somehow admirable” (Bloom, 662-665). Whatever Set design for Hartford Stage’s production of The Tempest by Alexander Dodge. 15
Conflicting Interpretations of Characters “There are MANY, MANY WAYS OF INTERPRETING THIS PLAY and that is why it continues to be done . . . it pushes you to MAKE CHOICES and that is what is THRILLING about it.” –British film and theatre director Sam Mendes The uncertain location of the mysterious island setting of The Tempest is not the only ambiguous element in the play that has fascinated theatre artists and audiences for hundreds of years. Some of the characters’ names provide insights, both literal and ironic, as Shakespearean scholars Virginia Mason Vaughan and Alden T. Vaughan describe in The Arden Shakespeare edition of The Tempest. “Prospero” is a name meaning “prosperous” and “fortunate;” “Miranda” is derived from the Latin word “miror” which means “wonder;” and “Caliban” is anagrammatic of the word “cannibal.” Yet even after taking these clues into account, it is possible to generate opposite interpretations of these characters’ personalities and identities that are fully supported by the text. Read the following quotes from the play and decide which interpretation of each character they support. • What image do the words paint of the person saying them or the person to whom they are addressed? • Are there any lines that can be used to validate more than one interpretation?
Costume design for Ariel by Fabio Toblini.
Prospero: Admirable, Benevolent Ruler vs. Detestable, Vengeful Tyrant PROSPERO …Dear, they durst not, So dear the love my people bore me, nor set A mark so bloody on the business, but With colours fairer painted their foul ends. (I.2.140-143)
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PROSPERO Some food we had, and some fresh water, that A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, Out of his charity—who, being then appointed Master of this design—did give us, with Rich garments, linens, stuffs and necessaries, Which since have steaded much; so of his gentleness, Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me From mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom. (I.2.160-168)
PROSPERO Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness; I have used thee (Filth as thou art) with humane care and lodged thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child. (I.2.345-349) CALIBAN As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, A sorcerer, that by his cunning hath Cheated me of the island. … I say, by sorcery he got this isle. From me he got it. (III.2.40-51)
ARIEL Your charm so strongly works em’ That, if you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender. PROSPERO Dost though think so, spirit? ARIEL Mine would, sir, were I human. PROSPERO And mine shall. (V.1.17-20)
Miranda: Demure, Delicate, Naïve vs. Resilient, Strong, Aware MIRANDA O, I have suffered With those that I saw suffer—a brave vessel (Who had no doubt some noble creature in her) Dashed all to piece. O, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Pour souls, they perished. Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere It should the good ship so have swallowed and The fraughting souls within her. (I.2.5-13) MIRANDA Alack for pity. I, not rememb’ring how I cried out then, Will cry it o’er again. It is a hint That wrings mine eyes to’t. (I.2.132-135) PROSPERO Here in this island we arrived, and here Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit Than other princes can that have more time For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful. (I.2.171-174)
MIRANDA I pitied thee, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour One thing or other. When thou didst not, savage, Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like A thing most brutish, I endowed they purposes With words that made them known. But thy vile race (Though thou didst learn) had that in’t which good natures Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou Deservedly confined into this rock, Who hadst deserved more than a prison. (I.2.354-363) MIRANDA At mine unworthiness that dare not offer What I desire to give, and much less take What I shall die to want. But this is trifling, And all the more it seeks to hide itself, The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning, And prompt me, plan and holy innocence! I am your wife, if you will marry me; If not, I’ll die your maid. To be your fellow You may deny me, but I’ll be your servant Whether you will or no. (III.1.77-86) 17
Caliban: Bestial Savage vs. Noble Victim of Injustice CALIBAN This island’s mine by Sycorax, my mother, Which thou tak’st from me. When thou cam’st first Thou strok’st me and made much of me; wouldst give me Water with berries in’t, and teach me how To name the bigger light and how the less That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee And showed thee all the qualities o’th’ isle: The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile. Cursed be I that did so! All the charms Of Sycorax—toads, beetles, bats—light on you, For I am all the subjects that you have, Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me The rest o’th’ island. (I.2.332-345)
CALIBAN I’ll show thee the best springs; I’ll pluck thee berries; I’ll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough. A plague upon the tyrant that I serve! I’ll bear him no more sticks but follow thee, Thou wondrous man! TRINCULO A most ridiculous monster—to make a wonder of a poor drunkard! CALIBAN I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow, And I with my long nails will dig thee pignuts, Show thee a jay’s nest, and instruct thee how To snare the nimble marmoset. I’ll bring thee To clust’ring filberts, and sometimes I’ll get thee Young scamels from the rock. Wilt thou go with me? (II.2.157-169)
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Costume design for Caliban by Fabio Toblini.
CALIBAN Why, as I told thee, ‘tis a custom with him I’th’ afternoon to sleep. There thou mayst brain him, Having first seized his books, or with a log Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake, Or cut his wezand with thy knife. First to possess his books, for without them He’s but a sot, as I am, nor hath not One spirit to command. They all do hate him As rootedly as I. (III.2.87-95) PROSPERO A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains Humanely taken—all, all lost, quite lost! And, as with age his body uglier grows, So his mind cankers. (IV.1.188-192)
Ariel: Loyal Servant vs. Resentful Slave ARIEL Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promised, Which is not yet performed me. PROSPERO How now? Moody? What is’t thou canst demand? ARIEL My liberty. (I.2.242-245) PROSPERO If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak And peg thee in his knotty entrails till Thou hast howled away twelve winters. ARIEL Pardon, master, I will be correspondent to command And do my spiriting gently. (I.2.294-298)
ARIEL Your charm so strongly works em’ That, if you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender. PROSPERO Dost though think so, spirit? ARIEL Mine would, sir, were I human. PROSPERO And mine shall. (V.1.17-20) CALIBAN Within this half hour will he be asleep. Wilt thou destroy him then? STEPHANO Ay, on mine honour. ARIEL (aside) This will I tell my master. (III.2.113-115)
Costume designs for male and female spirits by Fabio Toblini.
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Elizabethan Humors Humorism is a theory based in ancient Greek and Roman medicine that connected the internal processes of the human body to a person’s temperament and health. By Shakespeare’s time, the humors and their associations were fairly standardized; Elizabethans linked each humor with a bodily fluid and a natural element, and believed they generated personal qualities and characteristics. Healthy people were believed to have balanced amounts of the four humors in their bodies, while disease or disability was thought to be caused by an excess or deficiency of one or more humors. Humor Sanguine Choleric Phlegmatic Melancholic
Body Substance Produced by Element Qualities Personality blood liver air hot and moist amorous, happy, generous, optimistic, irresponsible yellow bile phlegm black bile
spleen lungs gall bladder
fire water earth
hot and dry cold and moist cold and dry
The humors provide useful characterization tools in many of Shakespeare’s plays. Clues pointing to characters’ dominant humors are embedded throughout The Tempest and may be used to help guide actors’ interpretations of their roles. In the play’s Dramatis Personae, Ariel is described as “an airy Spirit.” Prospero repeatedly connects Ariel to the air, such as in Act V, Scene 1, when he says that Ariel is “but air.” Ariel is also closely associated with fire, having used fire and lightning as major parts of the illusion of the tempest. Ariel reports: I boarded the King’s ship: now on the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin I flamed amazement. Sometime I’d divide And burn in many places—on the topmast, The yards and bowsprit would I flame distinctly, Then meet and join. Jove’s lightning, the precursors O’th’ dreadful thunderclaps, more momentary And sight-outrunning were not; the fire and cracks Of sulphurous roaring, the most might Neptune Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread trident shake. (I.2.196-206)
In Act I, Scene 2, Sycorax and Caliban are described as “earthy” and “earth,” respectively. In Act IV, Scene 1, Prospero cautions Ferdinand to keep control over his libido until he and Miranda are formally married, warning him to “not give dalliance/ Too much the rein” and that “the strongest oaths are 20
violent, vengeful, short-tempered, ambitious sluggish, pallid, cowardly introspective, sentimental, gluttonous
straw/ To th’ fire i’th’ blood” (IV.1.51-53). Ferdinand understands Prospero’s meaning, assuring his future father-in-law that he will not allow his humors to become unbalanced: FERDINAND I warrant you, sir, The white cold virgin snow upon my heart Abates the ardour of my liver. (IV.1.54-56)
Questions: • What does Ariel say and do that supports a connection to the sanguine and choleric humors? Find evidence in the text to support a description of Ariel as amorous, happy, generous, optimistic, irresponsible, violent, vengeful, short-tempered, and/or ambitious. • Describe Sebastian and Antonio’s personalities. What are these characters’ dominant humors? • Which humor’s personal characteristics best describe you? Do traits from more than one category reflect your personality?
Problems With Genre The editors of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s work grouped The Tempest together with the comedies, which is unsurprising given that The Tempest has major plot elements in common with the other plays in that category. These plays, for example, feature young lovers who are kept apart but unite in celebration at the end, and include a subplot featuring the comic antics of a dynamic duo (embodied by Stephano and Trinculo’s adventures in The Tempest, by Sir Toby and Maria in Twelfth Night, and by Dogberry and Verges in Much Ado About Nothing). However, The Tempest (and other plays such as The Winter’s Tale and Cymbeline) is markedly different from the other “comedies.” While the story of the young lovers does feature prominently, the primary focus is not on their romance, but on Miranda’s father, who puts her and Ferdinand together and keeps them apart for his own purposes. There is very little humor in the moments that Prospero is on stage. The play also includes several dark elements, such as assassination plots, plans to manipulate and exploit, enslavement and violence, and a desire for vengeance that permeates the characters’ motivations. All of this being said, most of the characters find their suffering ended at the play’s conclusion, and The Tempest ends with the reconciliations, reunions, and wedding typical of Shakespeare’s comedies. Shakespeare likely wrote The Tempest from 1610-1611, during which time Romance was gaining popularity as a theatrical form. Further complicating the play’s genre classification is its apparent adaptation of elements from the Italian commedia dell’arte. A common commedia scenario involved a magician who takes interest in the love affair of his daughter and the son of a Magnifico or Doctor who has been shipwrecked with the Zanni (clowns). With its pairing of tragic themes and comic resolutions, The Tempest is frequently reclassified as a “tragicomedy” or a “romance.”
Questions: • Is Caliban’s story tragic, comedic, or both? Cite specific examples from the text to
support your answer. • What stories are considered romances today? What elements and qualities do these stories share with The Tempest? • What other plays, books, films, or television shows are difficult to classify in a particular genre? Do you prefer stories that break expectations or ones that follow a prescribed style? • Research commedia dell’arte. Which traditional commedia characters could be inspiration for characters in The Tempest? How can the commedia characters’ qualities and attributes be used to inform interpretation of characters in The Tempest?
Costume design for Ferdinand by Fabio Toblini.
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Courtly Masque Masque is a highly stylized form of dramatic entertainment that was popular with the aristocracy in 16th and 17th centuries. Masques involve music, singing, dancing, acting, acrobatics, and elaborate stage design, and often included mythological references and characters. Playwright Ben Jonson was the primary writer of masques during King James I’s reign and worked to create cohesive productions out of the various performance styles used in masques, most of which served to glorify the court and sometimes included lords and ladies of the court in the cast. While Shakespeare was writing The Tempest (1610-1611), masques were common entertainment at the court of James I, whose wife, Anne of Denmark, frequently danced in them with her ladies. As the principal playwright and an actor in the King’s Men, Shakespeare would have been familiar with this dramatic form and included a masque performance in a scene in The Tempest. The Winter’s Tale, another of Shakespeare’s later plays, also has a scene influenced by courtly masque, as did many of the plays produced by the King’s Men after Shakespeare departed the company and Jonson replaced him as playwright. It is likely that The Tempest was first performed at Princess Elizabeth’s wedding to Frederick V of Bohemia in 1613, so it is fitting that the masque within the play is also part of a wedding celebration. In Act IV, Scene 1, when Prospero gives permission
Costume designs for Trinculo and Stephano by Fabio Toblini.
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for his daughter Miranda to marry Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, Prospero cautions Ferdinand that even “the strongest oaths are straw/ To th’ fire i’th’ blood” (IV.1.52-53). He then conjures a masque for their entertainment and to help drive his point home. The characters include Ceres (the Roman goddess of the earth and harvest), Iris (the messenger to the gods who was signified by the rainbow), and Juno (the goddess of light and childbirth), all of whom bless Miranda’s betrothal to Ferdinand and urge them to remain chaste until their marriage is officially sanctified in Italy.
Questions: • Research Ben Jonson’s contributions to developing masque as a dramatic form. What is an anti-masque and how did it feature in court performances? How do Prospero’s comments at the end of the masque performed for Ferdinand and Miranda reflect the antimasques that were part of Ben Jonson’s works? • Masques were popular entertainment at events such as weddings and birthday celebrations during the Tudor and Stuart monarchies. What types of entertainment are commonly associated with these special occasions today?
Costume design for Sebastian by Fabio Toblini.
Suggested Activities Everyday Shakespeare
Help students become more at ease with Shakespeare’s language by applying iambic pentameter to everyday statements and questions. A line of iambic pentameter has 10 syllables that can be broken into 5 pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables in the following pattern: ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM In this activity, students sit in a circle and hold a conversation by passing sentences around that follow the rhythmic pattern of iambic pentameter. For example: A: May I please have another piece of pie? B: Of course. You did not need to ask for it. C: I’ll get the coffee ready while I’m up. D: Please don’t forget the sugar and the cream. And so on. As the exercise continues, students will become more accustomed to the rhythm of the language and will develop greater comfort with reading plays written in verse.
Humor Game
As previously discussed, Elizabethan psychology drew heavily on the theory that humors governed a person’s temperament and even sometimes their physical appearance. Unbalanced humors could lead to illness or prompt a person to behave in certain ways. Humors play an important role in The Tempest, both in the basic character descriptions provided in the Dramatis Personae and in clues left by the playwright throughout the play to guide actors’ performances. a. After reviewing the qualities associated with the different humors, instruct students to begin walking around the room at a comfortable pace and with an easy, casual posture. They should then begin improvising the execution of simple
household activities such as sweeping the floor, making a bed, washing windows, putting away dishes, etc. Then call out a particular humor: sanguine, melancholic, phlegmatic, or choleric. Students should continue their household activities but in a way that reflects the nature of the selected humor. Ask students to think about how the humor is affecting them, both in terms of their physical rhythms and how they feel about their chores. Do this for all four humors. b. After trying out the four humors, ask for four volunteers to improvise a scene from a simple scenario (for example, the group arrives to dinner at a restaurant but the reservation has been lost, the group arrives for a party at a hotel but the wrong date was booked and no rooms are available). Ask each student to draw a card, each of which has one of the four humors written on it. They must then play out the scenario in a character based on their humor. At the end of the scene discuss: • Did the actors generate a recurring set of responses to the situation or to the other characters? • How did each character’s emotions influence his or her objectives? • Do any well-known characters come to mind that exhibit similar behaviors to those in the humor-based scene?
Objective vs. Subjective Storytelling
As a class, reread Act I, Scene 2, in which Prospero tells Miranda the story of how Antonio conspired against him with Alonso and Sebastian, and deposed him as Duke of Milan. Ask students to take note of both the stated and implied reasons for Prospero’s overthrow. • Discuss the meanings of the words objective (fair, factually presented, not influenced by emotions or personal opinions) and 23
subjective (influenced by emotions or personal experiences, casting events to support a particular point of view). • Discuss: What is “spin?” How do politicians use spin when unfavorable information about them or their policies becomes news? • Divide the students into three groups. Group 1 will serve as objective journalists who will present Prospero’s story as factual news. Group 2 will serve as spin doctors on Prospero’s behalf, and will create a picture of events that emphasizes Antonio’s crime and paints Prospero as an innocent victim. Group 3 will serve as spin doctors on Antonio’s behalf, emphasizing Prospero’s neglect of his duties as Duke and painting Antonio as a savior of Milan. • Ask each group to create a tableau (frozen image that tells a story) that represents their group’s version of what happened. Each group should find lines in the scene that support their account and choose a spokesperson to read the lines while the audience views the tableau. After all three groups have presented their tableaus, discuss: • Did this activity change anyone’s opinions about Prospero or Antonio? • Is one of the three versions of events more correct than the others? • Given that this important background information is so subject to interpretation, how does it impact the viewer’s understanding of the play?
Text Analysis: Telegram Monologues Many of the speeches in The Tempest include conplex grammatical constructs that can be confusing to the reader on first glace. Actors performing in plays like The Tempest must ensure that they thoroughly understand the through-line of their characters’ thoughts and communicate them clearly to the audience. The following is an excercise intended to help students find the core meaning of a speech
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by reducing it down to its most essential words. These words are the skeleton of the speech and if one more word were to be removed, the speech would lose its meaning. Ask students to choose a monologue from the play. They should rewrite the speech, using only the words that are absolutely necessary. For example: MIRANDA If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch But that the sea, mounting to th’ welkin’s cheek, Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered With those that I saw suffer–a brave vessel (Who had no doubt some noble creature in her) Dashed all to pieces. O, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished. Had I been a god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere It should the good ship so have swallowed and The fraughting souls within her. (I.2.1-13) Would become: MIRANDA If father, you Put the waters in this roar, allay them. The sky would pour pitch But the sea Dashes the fire out. I have suffered With those I saw–a vessel Dashed to pieces. They perished. Had I power I would Have sunk the sea ere It swallowed The souls.
Suggested Monologues: PROSPERO I thus neglecting all wordly ends, all dedicated To closeness and the bettering of my mind With that which, but by being so retired, O’er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother Awaked an evil nature, and my trust, Like a good parent, did beget of him A falsehood in its contrary as great As my trust was, which had indeed no limit, A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded, Not only with what my revenue yielded But what my power might else exact, like one Who, having into truth by telling of it, Made such a sinner of his memory To credit his own lie, he did believe He was indeed the duke, out o’th’ substitution And executing th’ outward face of royalty With all perogative. Hence his ambition growing– Dost thou hear? (I.2.89-106) ARIEL Safely in harbour Is the King’s ship, in the deep nook where once Thou called’st me up at midnight to fetch dew From the still-vexed Bermudas; there she’s hid, The mariners all under hatches stowed, Who, with a charm joined to their suffered labour, I have left asleep. And for the rest o’th’ fleet, Which I dispersed, they all have met again, And are upon the Mediterranean float, Bound sadly home for Naples, Supposing that they saw the King’s ship wrecked And his great person perish. (I.2.226-237) CALIBAN All the infections that the sun sucks up From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him By inchmeal a disease! His spirits hear me, And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch, Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i’th’ mire, Nor lead me, like a firebrand in the dark, Out of my way unless he bid ‘em. But For every trifle are they set upon me: Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me
And after bite me, then like hedgehogs which Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount Their pricks at my footfall. Sometime am I All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues Do hiss me into madness. Lo now, lo, Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat; Perchance he will not mind me. (II.2.1-17) PROSPERO You do look, my son, in a moved sort, As if you were dismayed. Be cheerful, sir. Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air; And–like the baseless fabric of this vision– The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, Yea, all which is inherit, shall dissolve, And like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vexed; Bear with my weakness; my old brain is troubled. Be not disturbed with my infirmity. If you be pleased, retire into my cell And there repose. A turn or two I’ll walk To still my beating mind. (IV.1.146-163) PROSPERO Sir, I invite your highness and your train To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest For this one night, which (part of it) I’ll waste With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall make it Go quick away–the story of my life, And the particular accidents gone by Since I came to this isle–and in the morn I’ll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples, Where I have hope to see the nuptial Of these our dear–beloved solemnized; And thence retire me to my Milan, where Every third thought shall be my grave. (V.1.301-312)
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Resources Bloom, Harold. “The Tempest.” Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhead, 1998. Print. “Explorers Timeline.” History Timelines. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. <http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/eventstimelines/13-explorers-timeline.htm>. Harrop, John, and Sabin R. Epstein. “Shakespeare.” Acting with Style. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. Print. Hull, Helen L., Meg F. Pearson, and Erin A. Sadlack. “History of the Masque Genre.” John Milton’s “A Maske” or “Comus” Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. <http://www.mith. umd.edu/comus/cegenre.htm>. Pressley, J.M. “Shakespeare Resource Center.” Shakespeare Resource Center. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http:// www.bardweb.net>. Shakespeare, Willima, and Charlton Hinman. The First Folio of Shakespeare. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996. Print. Shakespeare, William, Virginia Mason Vaughan, and Alden T. Vaughan. The Tempest. London: Bloomsbury Pub., 2011. Print. “Virtual Jamestown--Timeline.” Virtual Jamestown. Virginia Center for Digital History, University of Virginia. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.virtualjamestown.org/timeline2.html>. “William Shakespeare Biography.” William Shakespeare Biography. Web. 27 Apr. 2012. <http://www.williamshakespeare.org.uk>. “Words Shakespeare Invented.” Shakespeare Resources: Modern English Shakespeare Translations. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/>.
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For more information about education programs at Hartford Stage, please call (860) 520-7206 or email education@hartfordstage.org
Contributing Editor Alexandra Truppi Education Programs Associate With Contributions by Jennifer Roberts Director of Education
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