Science Fiction
Comments(3) This play left me with many questions…The tempest’ setting is within unfamiliar grounds, mysterious and irrational. The Genre of this play should be Science Fiction not Romance. THere is this “Magical Island” where Prospero finds strange creatures like Caliban & Ariel and “miraculously” gains some magical powers …If this “Magic” was so true and powerful, and With all the “Magic” going on throughout the play why didnt Prospero just return to his Country and work his “magic” on his brother and reclaim his original position? Why didnt he return to civilization if he had the “Magical” powers to do so? Why didnt he reclaim Miranda’s Mother’s life so that they could live “happily ever after” on this “magical island”? Was this “Magic” Prospero’s way of mentally manipulating and oppressing the people around him?
How ironic that his brother et. al. landed on this specific island.. I think that being in isolation for so long lead Prospero to imagine/create all of these events for closure.
Tempest I feel is a rather different play than most others offered by Shakespeare because it takes place on a solitary island but in all other respects, it is a typical Shakespearean play with all the necessary elements like magic, father-daughter relationship, a cunning villain and involvement of supernatural. I didn’t feel that Tempest had anything new or refreshing to offer except may be the island angle because that caught my attention at first. I wanted to know what will become of two people who have lived on an island for twelve years. I was interested in that side of the story. Other than that, nothing was truly awe-inspiring for example, the relationship between Miranda and Ferdinand was nothing extraordinary and neither was the involvement of a cruel brother who took power from Prospero. However the fact that Prospero possessed magical powers had me thinking about the involvement of magic in Shakespearean plays. Was it that common in those days to possess magical powers? Were people truly interested in supernatural? What drove Shakespeare to add this super-natural angle to his plays? Was it the norm then? I feel that this wasn’t the case and Shakespeare’s interest in magic comes from his deep interest in ancient Greek literature. That’s the only reason I can find for bringing magic into plays because in 17rth century when these plays were written, several other writers were also becoming famous in England and they never touched upon the subject of magic or supernatural. I therefore feel that it was something personal and exclusive to Shakespeare and was not necessarily the norm of the day. I also wondered if it was because of the witch-hunt mania that once swept Europe. These were just some of the thoughts that came to my mind when I read Tempest. I wasn’t otherwise truly impressed by the play itself or its plot for that matter. I feel this is one of the more easily forgotten plays of Shakespeare’s.
I was awe inspired each time by just reading a few words by Shakespeare, and this notion is solidified even more by lively discussion on the blog posts. I think this is ultimate proof of Shakespeare being a genius, everybody has an own saying about his plays, though i have to disagree with both the science fiction and Sorim’s, i think magic is all those people in 17th century can believe, i understand totally for there is nothing else to believe, no science, cannot question the faith which is christianity, whoever never mentioned magic or faith during that time is same as never mentioned life, if that’s the case, i think i have to view it very suspiciously
One more thing i forgot to add to my previous reply, especially with a play as old as Shakespeare’s, it’s not the part of story that didn’t tell us that should dominate our imaginations, he should have all the benefit of doubt, we as readers should stay within the realm that the story did tell us