The Tempest aka Hilarious

I really love Shakespeare, and the Tempest is one of his plays that has always caught my attention because it is such a different style, and scholars debate on what genre it falls into (already it sounds fascinating). Is it a romance or a comedy?....let's be honest, it's a rom com.

I was of course extremely interested in the relationship between the magical beings in the play, Prospero and Ariel. So Prospero rescues Arial from a witch (whoa witchcraft) and then also begins to use Ariel as he pleases. Was he even rescued? I feel like he was enslaved and then enslaved again, he really was never free. But also I think that is another point of the play. The characters really have no freedom: one being trapped on an uncivilized island, and two having Prospero as the leader of all things. It's really interesting seeing the monarchy between four people, until of course, the other shipwrecked chaps are involved.

Speaking of the shipwrecked chaps. I really love Trinculo and Stephano especially because I'm a sucker for comedic relief characters. However, when they both stumble across Caliban and think he is a mutant fish and and a monster it is really dumb, but hilarious. Their innocent and unplaced humor is still funny even in this time because of its ridiculousness. They both mostly think of profit (money) and drink which is something related to civilization. They go as far as to give the native Caliban some booze and he starts calling them gods! The whole situation is weird but I really like the corruption of nature (Caliban) with the poison of civilization (liquor).

 Trinculo (left), Stephano, and Caliban from Tempest (2010)

Also the movie was okay, but also now I sometimes confuse Prospero as a woman it's a problem.