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J.L. Sutton's Reviews > The Tempest
The Tempest
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William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is interesting on so many levels. I especially like how it looks at both the economic benefits of colonialism along with its much uglier side, namely, exploitation and racism. In the play, Prospero, as banished duke of Milan, has taken control of a small island and enslaved Caliban who Prospero sees as unfit to rule his native land. Shakespeare brilliantly captures this attitude of superiority toward the colonized. This is something that will have implications for hundreds of years as England and the other European powers vie for territory around the world. The other-worldly setting for The Tempest shows the mechanism of turning the colonized into the ‘other.’
Caliban is repeatedly referred to as a monster and called out for his lack of gratitude; civilization has been brought to him yet (for some reason) he isn’t thankful. Of course, these supposed benefits come with a cost: oppression, exploitation and all the other evils of ‘civilization.’ Prospero takes his ownership over the island a step further as he uses his magical abilities to exercise complete dominion over the entire island and its inhabitants. It is critical that, in the course of the play, Prospero struggles with his conscience and, in the end, gives up power (magic) and prepares to leave the stage:
“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-capp’d 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.”
I’ve seen The Tempest performed two times, most memorably at Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Patrick Stewart played the aging but powerful enchanter, Prospero. Stewart really made Prospero’s moral struggle come alive. Shakespeare’s evocative language is, of course, on display in this play, but this play also shows how language can be used as a weapon of the colonizer. Thought to be the last play Shakespeare completed, The Tempest is also among his best and most relevant.
Caliban is repeatedly referred to as a monster and called out for his lack of gratitude; civilization has been brought to him yet (for some reason) he isn’t thankful. Of course, these supposed benefits come with a cost: oppression, exploitation and all the other evils of ‘civilization.’ Prospero takes his ownership over the island a step further as he uses his magical abilities to exercise complete dominion over the entire island and its inhabitants. It is critical that, in the course of the play, Prospero struggles with his conscience and, in the end, gives up power (magic) and prepares to leave the stage:
“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-capp’d 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.”
I’ve seen The Tempest performed two times, most memorably at Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Patrick Stewart played the aging but powerful enchanter, Prospero. Stewart really made Prospero’s moral struggle come alive. Shakespeare’s evocative language is, of course, on display in this play, but this play also shows how language can be used as a weapon of the colonizer. Thought to be the last play Shakespeare completed, The Tempest is also among his best and most relevant.
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Reading Progress
April 30, 2019
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Started Reading
April 30, 2019
– Shelved
May 1, 2019
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Finished Reading
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May 03, 2019 09:47PM
hmm, a Shakespeare binge? That seems very wise!
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Sort of a Shakespeare binge. Yesterday was the end of my year of Shakespeare. I'd planned to read more plays than I actually did. But yes, either way, I think a Shakespeare binge is very wise!
Wow, you're so lucky to have seen Patrick Stewart as Prospero-- I would've loved to have seen that one, since not only is "The Tempest" one of my favorite plays of the Bard, but I've also been a fan of Stewart's since Star Trek: The Next Generation (although I did get to see him doing his reading of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" live on stage once, with him acting out the voices of all the characters, which was fun. He was also great playing himself in a funny bit in Ricky Gervais' series "Extras"). Although my husband and I did get to see another British actor whom we really like (Roger Allam, who was in the very funny British politics satire series "The Thick of It" with Scottish force-of-nature-actor and ex-Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi) play Prospero at the Globe Theater in London a few years back, which was amazing, especially since it actually WAS raining for a bit during the storm scene, and the Globe is an open-air theater (although luckily my husband and I were sitting in one of the covered sections as opposed to the "Groundlings" part of the audience pit that was out in the open-- it might be fun watching Shakespeare in the rain, but only as long as you don't have to be stuck standing the whole time out in the middle of it! :D). That was such a fun production, since Allam somehow managed to infuse humor into Prospero's character (such as the dancing scene with Miranda and her new beau-- Allam kept playing the "protective father", always making sure that the young fellow never danced TOO closely with his sheltered daughter! Funny!), which you normally don't see with most productions where he's so focused on revenge and whatnot. Anyway, that particular Globe production that we saw also happens to be on dvd now, so if you're interested, you should definitely check it out! (you can get it through the Globe Theater's website, and maybe Amazon too, I think-- for a while they were carrying a couple of other of the Globe's Shakespeare productions on dvd, too, like "Twelfth Night", with the very funny Stephen Fry, which I'd also recommend).
I was a huge Patrick Stewart Star Trek NG fan so it was so much fun to see Stewart play Prospero. And he is such a great actor. I'm a big Doctor Who fan too; would have been great seeing Peter Capaldi in this play and at the Globe! I watched Edward II at the Globe in London this past March. It was fun being there, but I don't think this play (by Marlowe) really compares to any of Shakespeare's plays. My other viewing of The Tempest was at the open air Globe Theater in San Diego. No rain, though, but it would have been appropriate. Thanks for the comment and recommendations, Karen! I will have to check them out. Also makes me wonder about whether some of the productions I've seen are online or on dvd somewhere. Thanks again!
You're welcome, good sir! It's always nice to chat with a fellow Trek fan/Shakespeare aficionado, both of which really kind of overlap of course, what with all of their various Shakespeare references in the original series and movies, like Christopher Plummer and David Warner playing Shakespeare-quoting Klingons in Star Trek VI-- "You've not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon."-- ha!
I'd nearly forgotten that insightful quote! Thanks for posting it, Karen!
Yes! I thought of many references to "this rocky island" in the UK itself, to Caliban as the old Caledonian forest whose Druidic mothers were banished during Roman Colonization. I thought of how we view what is "civilized" through our prejudicial ideas of language and abilities to classify and organize the natural world. I wonder if Shakespeare, walking through Elizabethan London still littered with remnants of the Roman Empire, thought about the colonization of the West Indies this way....or perhaps he thought it was a good way to unify the bastard kingdoms orphaned by the Roman Empire. There's so many layers to this play I find it overwhelming to get into on GoodReads without structured discussion.
Moana wrote: "Yes! I thought of many references to "this rocky island" in the UK itself, to Caliban as the old Caledonian forest whose Druidic mothers were banished during Roman Colonization. I thought of how we..."I read "The Tempest" as being very layered, but you add a whole new dimension with your speculations here! Interesting to think about!
Thanks so much for your thoughts, Moana!!
