The Tempest: Imagery and Characters
Posted December 4, 2014 
Comments(6)
Comments(6) This play contains powerful imagery. I think that it can be compared to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” because of its mystical features. The setting allows us to think hard about the play and sets us right into it because the thunder and lightening contribute to the tension that is going on in the play. Although we discussed in class that it was a hard feat to accomplish because technology was extremely limited during shakespeare’s time, it must have been hard to visualize the how the play was actually performed.
Another thing that is always on my mind as I go through the play is the description of the characters. In class we discussed how Caliban appears, described to be monstrous and deformed. Ariel on the other hand, who is my favorite character in the play for many reasons. One of the reasons is the fact that he speaks in a very sophisticated and classy tone, despite being a servant to to Prospero. Another reason is his loyalty to Prospero, which is a rare characteristic in this play since most people are set out for revenge and betrayal for power. Below are few images of Ariel with Prospero that I found online and both are done differently.
Ariel on the left, Prospero on the right
Ariel on the right, Prospero on the left
I agree that “The Tempest” can be compared to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” because of the mystical features which leads me to believe we might be in the green world.
I like Ariel too but mostly because he reminds me of Genie from “Aladdin” and how he wants to be set free after granting the two wishes for Aladdin.
Just to add to the comparisons between The Tempest to Midsummer Night’s Dream. Prospero’s Ariel reminds me of Oberon’s Puck, except here Ariel is less clumsy. Both are comparatively loyal to their masters, with characteristics similar to that of who they call to. I feel like Oberon was playfully revengeful, and Prospero was much more sentimental watching those suffer under his spell. However, both are essentially good-hearted. Both Puck and Ariel’s magic have a large effect on transforming the human characters and moving the plot along.
I love the focus of the blog post. The idea of imagery is interesting to me because while their technology wasn’t advanced, they used other effects to heighten the other senses like sound to create lightning, by the beating on drums with bullets tumbling inside or the shaking of sheets of what I would imagine to be like thick pieces of aluminum foil (I may very well be wrong about the material used). The choice of using an island with just a few characters is at least more interesting than the story of Robinson Cruscoe, who was only himself, but I get the same feeling of “wondrous” pity that Othello talked about when he was speaking about Desdemona falling in love with him, for being a master storyteller about all of his pains and struggles.
Its interesting to me because I think Shakespeare knew that even without imagery, whether Ariel was blue, a boy, a girl, or dressed like an apple crumb pie, his play would still be effective because it was the words Ariel spoke that created enough of an effect to make the audience really fancy his magic. Ariels like an Old-School Elon Musk, just trying to blow the whistle when things get out of control. Man, how could we not have respect for that?
Clara
Curse Am. Lit. for making me think about colonization in this play…
There might be something to be said about the different reactions towards Caliban and Ariel, which may even be part of why they’re described the way they are. Ariel is much more willing to serve Prospero, and so their language and appearance is usually treated with some dignity and magical air – it’s a very nice reward compared to Caliban’s fish monster. But why is that? Caliban and Ariel are technically both natives on the island. Caliban, however, rebels against Prospero, and he’s stuck with a “savage” characterization.
So, is it too much of a stretch to say that these two characters represent European visions of the “good natives” and the “wild savages” in the lands they colonize?
Not sure why but after having you bring up Aladdin I can see Prospero as King Triton.
That first image gets me curious about the production, time to do some googling!
Here’s a link to a recent adaptation for this play. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/theater/reviews/26tempest.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
I think it’s kinda cool that this version of Ariel looks a little more powerful and stronger. I think it has to do with the huge wings that the actor is wearing.
Brian: As soon as I read your comment and mention of colonization, I kind of thought about “Lord of the Flies”. Ofcourse the similarities aren’t really that strong, but the fact that they are isolated and savagery exists just made me think about it.
I also thought that this is a very interesting post as well. There are so many similarities between the Tempest and A Midsummer Nights Dream. Shakespeare’s Ariel can be compared to Puck because both are fairies and both speak in sophisticated verse and Prospero can be compared to Oberon because he is the ruler of the fairies and he is the King of his land. He controls the events like Oberon does in Midsummer Nights Dream. They both live in somewhat of a green world or a word outside of what Shakespeare considers civilized societies. For some reason this story reminded me of Robinson Crusoe because of the ship wreck in an unfamiliar land and the challenge of living with the natives on that land.