Comments(2) I enjoyed this class very much. In reading Shakespeare, I learned a lot from all his controversial topics from tragedy to love. My favorite was Measure for Measure because it deals with complex issues such as justice, mercy, love and their relationship to pride and humility. I’m pretty sure that I will be able to influence other people as well.
I really enjoyed reading the Tempest, especially because it’s about romance. It was also thrilling to see Prospero acting heroic in protecting his daughter from Caliban. It reminds me of my dad when he rescued me from some mad dogs.
Solange Escobar
Comments(5) “These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like thebaseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it 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.” – Act IV, Scene i, lines 148-58
I found these lines spoken by Prospero at the end of the wedding masque to be striking in their somberness. After all, this should be a happy moment for Prospero. It is after all the the most joyous part of his plan (especially when juxtaposed to the equally fantastical Harpy made banquet). Going back in the play i noticed other moments like this of somberness when joy seemed to be the more natural sentiment, as when he says “Poor worm, thou art infected” (Act III, Scene i,l. 37) upon watching Miranda and Ferdinand’s blossoming love from afar. We see this general sentiment pop up even later at the end of the scene, “So glad of this as they I cannot be, Who are surprised withal; but my rejoicing at nothing can be more.” (Act III, Scene i, li. 92-4)
The 19th century Critic and poet Edward Dowden said of prospero that there is“unmistakably a certain abandonment of the common joy of the world, a certain remoteness from the usual pleasures and sadnesses of life, and at the same time, all the more, this tender bending over those who are like children still absorbed in their individual joys and sorrows.” (Dowden 369)
Dowden and his contemporaries were some of the first critics to posit the theory that Prospero was a stand in for Shakespeare. Many of these critics tied Prospero’s lines: “I’ll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound I’ll drown my book.” (Act V, Scene i, li. 59-62) with the biographical fact that The Tempest was the last play written entirely by Shakespeare to reach this conclusion. However, I find Dowden’s reasoning for this comparison to be especially convincing:
“It is not chiefly because Prospero is a great enchanter, now about to break his magic staff, to drown his book deeper than ever plummet sounded, to dismiss his airy spirits, and to return to the practical service of his Dukedom, that we identify Prospero in some measure with Shakspere himself. It is rather because the temper of Prospero, the grave harmony of his character, his self-mastery, his calm validity of will, his sensitiveness to wrong, his unfaltering justice, and with these, a certain abandonment, a remoteness from the common joys and sorrows of the world, are characteristic of Shakspere as discovered to us in all his latest plays.” (Dowden 371)
Compare The Tempest to an earlier comedy of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Both take place primarily in a green world and both have spirits. In Midsummer, however, the spirits dictate what happens to the humans. There is no mortal mastermind. It is as if Shakespeare, at a younger age is still in touch “with the common joys and sorrows of the world,” still finds them to be unexplainable. As if our fates were outside of our own machinations.
What would you say is the message Shakespeare is trying to get across about the “common joys and sorrows”?
Do you buy into this Shakespeare as Prospero thesis?
Shakespeare wrote Midsummer when he was about 30 years old and Tempest when he was 47, how are they different, is this affected by Shakespeare’s age?
works cited:
Dowden, Edward. Shakespeare: a critical study of his Mind and Art. 1875.
Shakespeare\’s The Tempest (1980 TV) – end of play ShakespeareAndMore
I found this play of The Tempest on youtube and I think that the play captures Caliban’s character as a half monster half human very well. I also liked how the play portrays Prospero’s character, especially the ending when Prospero speaks to the audience and asks them for forgiveness of his doing ,by the audience clapping he will be free . I have to admit that I did laugh a bit when I saw Ariel’s character and when he dissapeared in the sky after Prospero freed him. What do you guys think of this play in 1980. Do you think that the characters in this play come close to shakespears’ characters in The Tempest?
Comments(2)
when i first started to read the tempest, i wasn’t sure what this play was about. I did not know if Prospers was a real man or ghost. As i finish reading up to the end of acted 3, it left me with a questions. The questions i have is why does Antonio really want Sebastian to kill the King and take over. What is he after? What is in it for him? Also, why did Sebastian readily agree to kill his own brother? It does not make sense to me.
Comments(2) In The Tempest we are taken again to the place familiar to us from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare’s Green World. But is The Tempest Green World similar to the ones that we encountered in his other plays?
Literary critic Northrop Frye defines the notion of Green World in The Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton; Princeton University press, 1957), pp. 182-4: “In some comedies by William Shakespeare, the main characters escape the order of a city for a forested and wild setting adjacent to the city. This natural environment is often described as a green world. It is in this more loosely structured, fantastic environment that issues surrounding social order, romantic relationships, and inter-generational strife, which are a prominent part of the “city world”, become resolved, facilitating a return to the normal order.”
This definition resembles closely the Green World that we encountered in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but in the Tempest the island seems to have more to it. Not only it is a place where societal norms do not apply, where monsters reside and where magic is the ruling power, but it also appears to be a representation of numerous possibilities for any character that lands on it. Gonzalo builds his theory of the utopian society on the island and how he would rule it; for Prospero it is the place where he learned his magic and later he also mentions that the island was an ideal place to educate his daughter; those that were banished find shelter on it; Miranda (not clear whether under the influence of the magical Green World or naturally) falls in love with Ferdinand at first sight and the youth later on proclaims that we would like to stay on the island forever; even Stefano (Alfonso’s butler in real life) obtains his own servant (Caliban) and at some point assumes the title of the Lord of the Island. It seems like this place is a blessing to most of its inhabitants. While the forest in the Midsummer Night’s Dream was the Green World that spread around mess and muddle, a place out of which you would want to find your way out sooner than later, in the Tempest, however, the island is a place that our characters seem to enjoy, a place that they envision as the land of unlimited potential. Anything that is unthinkable in real world is a possibility here.
Comments(7) Maybe…
I know this has nothing to do with tempest or othello, but just thought the story was interesting especially studying Shakespeare at Baruch.
Ditching a $500,000 Salary to Teach Lit
by Josh Hyatt, contributor
Wednesday, May 5, 2010provided byCNNMoney.com
Photo by Jeff Sciortino
Gary Buslik
When Gary Buslik graduated from college with a degree in English, his parents were concerned about how he’d earn a decent living. “It worried them to hear me quoting Shakespeare,” he jokes.
Their fears were misplaced: Buslik went on to start an alarm company in Chicago that would eventually grow to $6 million in annual sales and earn him $500,000 a year. But he wasn’t happy. “My passion was literature, not alarm systems,” he says.
So when Buslik turned 50, in 1997, he sold his business (for several million bucks) in order to pursue that passion. With a recommendation from a pal who was an assistant dean, he got into the English Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In return for his work as a TA, the school waived his tuition.
Buslik graduated in 2007 and now teaches there part-time while writing books on the side. He makes just $13,500 a year, but “I’ve never regretted my decision,” he says. “I’m content to be sending Shakespeare lovers into the world.”
How He Did It
1. By Taking the First Good Offer
In putting his company up for sale, he didn’t wait around for the best price. “I could’ve held out for more money,” Buslik says, “but I wanted to get on with my plans.”
2. By Investing Conservatively
Expecting slim future wages, Buslik paid off his mortgage and put much of his savings in ultra-safe I bonds, which are indexed to inflation.
3. By Drawing Down Cautiously
A divorce cut into his nest egg, but Buslik figures his savings will last him if he’s careful. “I’m not a flashy guy,” he says, noting that he still drives a 1986 Mercedes.
Copyrighted, CNNMoney. All Rights Reserved
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109420/ditching-a-500000-salary-to-teach-lit?mod=career-worklife_balance
After reading Acts I and II, I see that Ariel is a spirit working for Prospero. But what I do not understand is, if Ariel has so much power, why does he deal with Prospero if he is not a man of his words. Prospero promised to give him his freedom a year early if he does as he is told, but he did not keep his word. Why doesn’t Ariel use his magic on Prospero to gain his freedom if it is owed to him? It seems to me that Ariel is powerful and loyal to his words, but Prospero is not, so he should not have to deal with Prospero’s request. Even though Prospero saved his life, there was an agreement between both parties, and they should both abide by it. Ariel should not keep his word if Prospero can not keep his.
Comments(5) So, I’m beginning to watch the 1981 version of Othello, starring Anthony Hopkins as Othello without realizing that it was him and noticed that this darker looking white man was speaking out all of Othello’s lines. As I’m beginning to wonder, “wth is going on?” it dawns on me that it’s Anthony Hopkins and that’s how the original Shakespearean plays were probably staged back in the 1600s. That being said, ethical issues quickly begin to fester in my thoughts as the realization creeps in that, in a play that deals with racism, there are actually white actors running around with dark hued make-up caked on, playing the part of this Moor. My thoughts then leaps to another memory I had of being utterly shocked in a similar situation when I was watching W.D. Griffith’s insanely racist movie, Birth of a Nation and his use of white actors portraying African Americans in 19th century America.
I guess what I seem to have a problem with is the fact that, although I understand that in the 1600s, there probably weren’t many English-African actors readily available to play the part of Othello, in 20th century America, there sure weren’t any shortages of real African-American actors available to play the part of Othello. In fact, it wasn’t until Margaret Webster’s 1943 version of Othello that featured the first black actor playing Othello in America. Maybe I’m just being very sensitive, and making this a bigger issue than need be, but I just can’t seem to get over the fact that I find it extremely offensive and racist when other races play the part that are specifically meant for a particular race. I’m curious to everyone’s thoughts.. Does anyone think I’m being totally sensitive?
And it’s not just white actors playing black roles, either. I nearly fell off my chair when I first saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and saw Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi