I Melt With You

I found Shakespeare's The Tempest quite enjoyable on the whole, though I breathed a sigh of relief as I concluded its final acts, because my brain can only handle so much. 
I about died laughing when in act 4.1, line 15 on, Prospero basically warns Ferdinand in typical, protective, fatherly fashion to WAIT TIL MARRIAGE OR ELSE, in his own magical, somewhat threatening, words. 
I found the appearance of the spirits, Iris, Ceres, Juno, etc. lovely, especially as a person with an affinity for the myths, gods, and goddesses of the classical era. Classical references like this were common in the Renaissance, and in this case was used by Shakespeare to reinforce the beauty of the marriage-celebration scene. It was nice and sparkly, and the inclusion of those classical references only heightened the loveliness it evoked. 

Juno and Iris appear in the above picture. ~fancy~

In act 4, scene 1, lines 163-175, Prospero gives a wonderful speech:

You do look, my son, in a moved sort,

As if you were dismayed. Be cheerful, sir.

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-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. 

As I read this passage, I am overcome with thoughts of actors and the world of theater. Since this play was apparently Shakespeare's last, I wonder if this speech is not just Prospero's voice, but Will's too, acknowledging the conclusion of a play as Prospero acknowledges the end of his magical charms. At the beginning of the speech, when Prospero speaks to Ferdinand, telling him to cheer up after the abrupt end to the masque, I felt that I could resonate with Ferdinand's feelings; for instance, sometimes when I am deep in thought, perhaps listening to music, playing a videogame, or deep in a book, and am suddenly yanked out of my glorious fantasy world, I feel some disillusionment and dismay. I feel similarly when I see a play or movie, and walk back out into the harsh glare of the real world. The fantasies that are evoked within that experience are then "melted into thin air... and like this insubstantial pageant faded, leave not a rack behind." When the play ends, the actors pack up their props and go home. The sets are deconstructed and put away. The audience returns to the tedium of daily life. Prospero's spirits "dissolved" just as every experience in visual/sensory media does after we SAVE and QUIT, or turn OFF. This speech, as I read it, also caused me to have an existential crisis - I sat in front of my book wide-eyed, frozen at the thought that we all eventually "melt into thin air," "dissolve," and leave nothing behind.

Same.

Crises aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the play. I really appreciate how much I was actually able to understand it, allowing it to make me laugh, or cower in fear as I contemplated my eventual "dissolving."

How cool is this though?

The Tempest

I really enjoyed The Tempest. I don't really like to just read Shakespeare, I feel like I have to watch his plays with the book in front of me to really get the most out of them. When I saw this was assigned, I immediately went to Youtube and found a version of the play to watch, and I really enjoyed this performance.

The way the play portrays magic and wizards, or sorcerers, or whatever you'd call Prospero was very interesting. His powers seem limited - he needs his staff, his books, and possibly his "magic cloak" in order to do anything. Furthermore, when he DOES do something magical, it's through the use of a servant - usually Ariel. Ariel seems fairly powerful, able to turn into wind and fire, appear as a harpy, mimic voices, create sounds, etc. Prospero uses this to great effect, but it's still not really him doing it. The one thing Prospero does actually seem to be able to do, to which Caliban attests, is to give people cramps. Malicious, certainly, but not nearly as menacing as the baby-eating witches we've been studying.

I was a bit confused as to exactly what prompted Prospero to forgive Alonso and company of their misdeeds. It seemed to me, from both the text and the version of the play I watched, that the cause was Ariel saying that Gonzalo was crying into his beard. If that's the case, though, then Prospero's intricately-laid plans to bring them to the island alive, keeping the ship intact and all, don't make sense anymore. Eventually I decided it had been his plan all along to forgive Alonso. Then again, his blustering threats throughout the play suddenly don't carry much weight when he reveals his decision to renounce magic, which may just be the whole point. I think the reader/viewer ultimately has to decide that, which plays into the epilogue where he begs the audience for forgiveness.

The Characters of the Tempest Walk into a Bar

I don't know where to begin. The clowns of the play Stephano and Trinculo kept me laughing as did drunk Caliban. Prospero's controlling nature still unnerves me and Miranda's innocence is touching. Acts IV and V of this play had me rooting for Miranda and Ferdinand and only them. While I don't dislike Stephano and Trinculo, I have a difficult time fully accepting them as anything but drunkards at this point. I have often wondered how powerful Caliban would be if he was sober. Prospero seems to know everything. It is this factor that I will focus on. Prospero is without a doubt a control freak. Not only does he control every aspect of his daughters life but he controls the lives of everyone else on the island. Prospero is a man with a plan. I don't think that he left anything up to chance throughout the whole play. He planned his daughter's marriage to Ferdinand as soon as he knew he'd arrived on the island, who does that?

Prospero knew what he wanted to get out of his 'guests.' He wanted his dukedom back and when the king offered it, Prospero was quick to take it. Honestly, I believe that the king only gave the dukedom back to Prospero because he wanted to get off the island and he was pretty much stuck there until Prospero decided otherwise. As far as Prospero's giving up of his magic goes, I see it as a bargaining tool. He is trying to prove that he has changed and is more worthy of the dukedom. Whether he is trying to prove is to himself or the king, I cannot say. In a way I think that Prospero has realized that he does not need his magic, though that is also speculation.  Prospero is an interesting character and one whose motives could continually be analyzed. I apologize for the short post this week, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings.

This isn't the Shakespeare I know and don't really love

I'll say this first: I do not have a ton of experience with Shakespeare and his works. I've read Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, but that's all. I was aware of The Tempest and some of its themes because of an anime I watched a few years ago called Zetsuen no Tempest, but that's another subject of discussion.

From my experience with Shakespeare, I thought he had a hard on for tragedy and senseless death. Well, The Tempest changed my mind on that, I guess. No one died? No one was cursed forever? Needless to say, I was quite shocked when I reached the end and everyone was smiling and going their merry ways. The most surprising part for me was Ferdinand and Miranda and their love lacking tragedy. I fully expected one of them to die in some contrived way. Guess I was wrong; good on you, Shakespeare.

I enjoyed The Tempest more than other Shakespeare works, because of those reasons. Maybe a happy ending was kind of convenient--characters went from plotting murder to exchanging pleasantries--but I still enjoyed seeing everyone survive and the couple being happy and all that fluffy stuff.

I found it kind of strange in Act 4 how Prospero completely forgot that his life was in danger and then suddenly went 'Oh shit I forgot about the whole thing where people want to kill me' I guess he was scheming so much that it slipped his mind. It's something I remember thinking when reading other Shakespeare works; people come to sudden realizations or change their minds about something out of the blue. I suppose that has to do with them being plays, where extended character developments aren't all that interesting to watch on stage.

I still don't really like Prospero as a character though. I've never been a fan of the scheming types. I can never trust them. Even until the end I expected him to pull something out and do evil stuff so good on him for being peaceful and giving up his magic and servants I guess. He used his magic for selfish reasons and that sucks but at least he didn't kill anybody. I'll take it.

The End!? (Tempest)

Well the last two acts were in interesting read. To me it kind of seemed to end on a simple happy note. The supposed bad guy turned a new leaf. All was forgiven. Love flourished. Everything tied in a nice little bow. It doesn't seem like a typical Shakespearean ending, with death and dramatic twists etc.
So you have Prospero win. He gathers everyone. All truth is revealed. He renounces his powers and gets his dukedom reestablished. You find that the Boatswains are all alright and the ship is ready to go (pg. 161). Prospero deems everything that occurred as "happened accidents." (pg. 163) I feel that he sugar coated that. I mean he caused a tempest that threw everyone on a island. I think it was more than a little incident/coincidence.
What I really want to talk about is the magic in the story, or should I say "art". If you notice no one really gets hurt from the magic happening in the pages. You have a storm. Everyone gets on the island. Clothes dry. Some are asleep. Nothing really dangerous happens. I was kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was expecting a death or sacrifice. At least that is what I pair magic with now after reading Kors/Peters. But this magic was very indirect and sneaky. It was demonic magic or blood sacrifices. It was elemental. The water and air. It is curious to note that Prospero calls his art "rough magic." (pg. 149, line 59)

 His perception is that this was really powerful and scary stuff that he was doing. In reality, if you take what read in other readings, magic can get a whole lot darker and scarier. It is interesting to see his perception of his magic. I like how he coins it "art". If you think of art you think visuals, feelings, interpretation, eccentricities, colors etc. It kind of seems parallel to how is magic works. The entire time Prospero is guiding everyone in places or positions he needs them to be in. He uses the senses as a way to manipulate others. Such as seeing shapes. He also plays on emotions like love (or lust), anger, greed, fear, kind of how art plays with our emotions based on how we look and interpret them.


Overall, I thought this was a odd way to end a story like this. It seemed so simple and to neat. If someone threw me over a boat, had me seeing shapes, chased by dogs (spirits), etc, I wouldn't be so keen to just chalk it up to a sorry.

I dwell in the realm of disappointment.

I have to say I am mildly disappointed with the ending of "The Tempest." There was no big fight scene or dramatic twist. It wrapped up with a nice bow making it boring and predictable. What the heck Shakespeare? I thought a death might occur or some plot twist would say this was all a dream of Prospero’s. Nope. My grief over this matter will last sometime, but alas, I must find the strength to continue…

 What threw me off the most is how easily Prospero gains back his dukedom. Antonio did not even attempt to fight Prospero for the dukedom. He just let the king give Prospero his position back after ‘saving’ is son. I find this to be too easy and submissive. Shouldn’t there have been a fight between Antonio and Prospero? If I were Antonio, I wouldn’t just let my older brother claim what I fought to steal from him the first place. I would be furious and defend my position as Duke even if it’s not rightfully mine.

Besides the less than dramatic ending, I am surprised by Prospero saying he would stop using magic after regaining his dukedom. Why would he? I am not quite sure I understand. It is clear in Act 5 Scene 1 when he says, “I’ll break my staff, / Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, / And deeper than dud ever plummet sound/ I’ll drown my book” (ll. 63-65). Is Prospero done with magic simply because he does not need it anymore? Or is there another reason he would willingly give up the magic?

I wonder if Prospero realizes the reason he got into this mess in the first place is because of his obsession with magic. It became the ruling force over his life when he was the duke. Instead of watching over his people, Prospero buried himself in books, leaving his position vulnerable to being usurped by his brother. After living on this desolate island for years, I’d hope Prospero acknowledges how and why he came to live there. It was not simply because his brother was power hungry, but the fact Prospero neglected his duties as the duke.

When Prospero receives his position back, I suppose there is no longer a need for him to use magic. He has gotten what he wanted and will return to Milan with his daughter. Not only has Prospero improved his position by having his daughter marry the king’s son, but he returns to the place he loves with a better insight into how his behavior should change. I hope that Prospero will not return to his old ways of hiding himself away. As we all know, with great power comes great responsibility. 

Insults of the past….. GENIUS!

Hey guys, sorry I’m doing this so late, I have been unusually busy. I am writing tonight to talk about the first chapter of “The Tempest”. Now you are probably expecting me to say something about magic and or mysticism. Normally you would be correct but something else caught my eye. Something crude yet satisfying. As I was reading through the first chapter, I marveled at all the wonderful expressions and jokes the characters were making. But, that is not all; I also kept a watchful eye out for colorful insults and the like. As I began to focus on that and the strange expressions, a whole new world opened up to me. Turns out, Shakespeare was quite the creative fellow when he put his mind to it. Plus when you really take the time to read through his stuff rather slow and calculating, you find sooooo many funny things.

In just the first act of the book, we hear the comic relief making good jokes and even greater one liners. Antonio and Sebastian as they are setting off to leave the ship have a little exchange where Antonio says we should die with the captain and Sebastian retorts that they should leave him. I thought that was really funny. Then we have Miranda in act 1, scene 2, listening to Prospero intently. Prospero asks her if she can hear him and she tells him “your tale, sir, would cure deafness”(Act 1, Scene 2, Line 127). That’s a great expression. I honestly don’t know how he comes up with this stuff. I am wondering if it’s just him or does everyone have a mind for clever retorts in his age. The insults are even better! In act 1, scene 2, Prospero is talking about the ship he traveled to the island on by saying it was “A rotten carcass of a butt…[that] the very rats instinctively quit it.” He is literally saying this boat is a piece of crap that not even the rats can deal with. That’s freaking genius if I ever heard it.

When I read through all these expressions, I got to imagining how it would be like if people actually thought of clever insults rather than just go the mainstream way and calling everyone an asshole or a butthead. What ever happened to creativity people?! I want to try and start a trend where people insult others through newer and more creative ways. For instance, instead of me calling someone a tool, I can say you useless sack of pig feces or you generic piece of giants toe jam. Like that’s actually genius (hey look, I’m modest too). So, if anyone calls you a name, think of something clever that not even they will be able to begin to comprehend. Sayonara, folks, and seeya next time.