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.
I was honestly a little disappointed when shit didn't hit the fan. I was like: "Wait... seriously? That's it? After all that!? I legitimately feel betrayed right now" I guess I'm a bit of a fan of things going horribly wrong, i.e. DanganRonpa (since we're talking about the animoos and Japangle stuff). Although I will admit that I was happy that Ariel got set free. Everybody else could have been set on fire for all I care.
ReplyDeleteIt was very weird to read something by Shakespeare where everything turned out fine. I've read Romeo and Juliet, with the star crossed lovers and the plan going horribly wrong that lead to both of their deaths. I also read Macbeth and his slow decent into madness. To have everything end with happiness and "all is well" was something I never experienced with Shakespeare's writing. Not saying I am disappointed with the end, it was just not what I was expecting.
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