Luís's Reviews > A Tormenta

Here is a play that stands out to me as quite different from the few works of Shakespeare I have read. Although tragicomic, it is neither as tragic nor as comic as his other tragedies and comedies. It seems to me, however, that it is much more severe in the background. It takes place linearly in a single location. Even the language is seemingly simple—the reason for my re-reading undoubtedly influences this impression. Within the seminar's framework on Shakespeare's criticism, I was tasked with finding a theme to explore in an extract from Shakespeare's work, and then comparing it to another excerpt from the same article from an ecocritical perspective. I chose The Tempest for its near absence of criticism of Elizabethan society and because it's my favorite.
This time, it seems to reflect on the effects of colonization, human interactions, and the relationship between man and nature.
Besides the comic interventions of a few characters and Prospero's revenge against those who betrayed him, my interest focused on the relationships between Prospero and Ariel on the one hand and Prospero and Caliban on the other. Although Prospero is always portrayed as positively qualified, in his character and use of magic, Shakespeare allows us to see the oppression that Prospero inflicts on the island's inhabitants, with whom he is stranded, whether they are animals, plants, spirits, or humans. He exploits the knowledge of the island and its resources offered by Caliban. He enslaves it and, however savage he may be, expresses his island with more poetry than nobler characters and Ariel. Under the guise of having delivered him from a spell cast by Caliban's mother, Prospero uses him to carry out his revenge, repeatedly dangling his release without ever questioning his dominant attitude based on his books and his magic.
The island will also be described from different perspectives and conceptions. Without the help of Caliban and Ariel to exploit it, Prospero is deserted and unsuitable for humans. For Caliban and Ariel, it is green and abundant, rich in life, depending on whether European man appreciates it or not; it is full of subtle beauty.
In this play, Shakespeare bows out through the epilogue of Prospero. We could also perhaps see, in his island's departure and the abandonment of his magic, as in Ariel's release, a hint of colonization's effects that spread to America at the time of The Tempest's writing.