IV
The Tempest places forward the rhythms of the dynamic Nature in the context of ever changing society and the inconsistent human mind, but also how they reflect both elevated and distorted symbolic association of humans and Nature: allusions to “pinch-spotted…. Than pard or cat o’ mountain”, “welkin’s cheek”, “rotten carcass of a butt”, “Jove’s lightnings”, “King’s son, Ferdinand/ With hair up-staring then like reeds, not hair, -”, “veins o’th’earth” and “bak’d with frost”. Caliban’s lethargy is associated with the movement of a tortoise. Charms and omens of Sycorax are associated with hateful creatures as “toads”, “beetles” and “bat”. In the lines “Temperance was a delicate wench”, weather and climatic condition of the island is compared to the temperament of a delicate female. Sebastian’s association of Gonzalo’s identity to that of an “old cock”, Gonzalo’s tears as “winter’s drops”. Its opening scene introduces us to the tempest tossing and playing like a toy with the ship, a human invention. The turbulent tumultuous interplay between the strong wind and the sea-waves prove the insignificance, and failure of a man-made commodity of pride and elegance in the hands of mighty nature. The royal and the noble personages, the intellectuals, the dynamic, bold warriors and the proficient crew manning the regal ship are helpless and paralyzed in front of the wild power of Nature. Their significance and might diminishes eventually. During crisis, the king, who is claimed as the messiah of a human society, despite his incredibly chivalric profile, becomes inefficient and entirely dependent upon the boatswain and his sailors (representing the commonplace and the proletarian) for saving his life. Wrath of Nature thus devastate the human ...
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...ld inevitably head them towards ruinous disjunction from Nature, causing their absolute demolition.
Works Cited
Cheryll Glotfelty, What is Ecocriticism? http://www.asle.org/site/resources /ecocritical-library/intro/defining/glotfelty/
2 Simon. C. Estok, “A report Card on Ecocriticism”. AUMLA: The Journal of Australian Universities Language and Literature Association 96. Nov. 2001: 220.
3 Estok 221.
4 Estok
5 Estok
6 Murali Sivaramakrishnan, Green Voices: Some Aspects of Ecological Criticism. http://www.countercurrents.org/murali310807.htm
7 “THE TEMPEST”, Complete Works of William Shakespeare, (New Delhi : Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., 1980) 1-26. ‘All textual quotations are from this edition.’
8 “Select Literary Criticism”, The Tempest, ed., J.R. Sutherland (The New Clarendon Shakespeare, Oxford University Press, 1978) 174.
The island is full of noises; Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight,” says Caliban. The responses which the characters in The Tempest offer to their immediate surroundings reveal much about their individual traits, at the same time they allow the audience glimpses of Prospero's island as different parts of the island are isolated in the play. The island itself and the sea that surrounds it may be seen as encompassing elemental nature and throughout the play, the elements are used to emphasize the inherent nature of characters (notably Ariel and Caliban) as these elements to an Elizabethan audience possessed "primarily certain qualities attributable to matter" (Tillyard's Elizabethan World Picture). The imagery of clouds dissolving and melting, or reason that had ebbed flooding back, and in changes of state between sleeping and waking all draw on images from the natural environment that extend the main thematic concerns in The Tempest. Analogies may also be drawn between the macrocosm and microcosm and how disorder in one corresponded to disorders in the other.
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In The Tempest, Art is that which is composed of grace, civility, and virtue. It is represented by Prospero, the other members of the nobility who belong to the court party and their servants. The world of the court is synonymous with the world of art in the play. In contrast, Nature is bestial, brutish and evil and manifests itself in the form of Caliban and the natural world. With two such extremes brought together, debate between the two is inevitable.
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Knight,G.Wilson. “The Shakespearean Superman: An essay on The Tempest.” The Crown of life: Essays in Interpretation of Shakespeare’s Final Plays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1947. 203-255
Shakespeare was intending to represent several different groups of people in society through his plays and “The Tempest” was no exception to the rule. I aim to show how the “human” relationships in the play reflect real life relationships within Shakespeare’s own society (as well as his future audience), for which his plays were written and performed.
The Tempest. Arden Shakespeare, 1997. Print. Third Series Smith, Hallet Darius. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Tempest; A Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969.
Shakespeare, William, and Robert Woodrow Langbaum. The Tempest: With New and Updated Critical Essays and A Revised Bibliography. New York, NY, USA: Signet Classic, 1998. Print.