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The Tempest was written when masques were becoming exceedingly popular in England, and were often performed at weddings to honor marriages. The Tempest is heavily influenced by elements of the masque, and can be performed with the same purposes as one, although it is far too rich to be classified simply into that genre of plays.
In masques the use of spectacle was extensive. The Tempest reflects this in many ways. The very first scene, Act I scene i, is that of a ship in action, and requires elaborate special effects to convey a sense of realism. The banquet scene in Act III scene iii requires a "quaint device" to make it vanish, and also makes extensive use of costume, dance and music, as the spirits enter in the form of shapeless creatures and Ariel is the form of a harpy. The masque within the play in Act IV requires elaborate costumes for the goddesses and, ideally, machinery for Juno to descend as deus ex machina with. It also involves great amounts of song and dance. The entire play makes extensive use of music, with Ariel's songs and Prospero's charms as well as the "sweet airs" of the island itself. Being non-human, Caliban, Ariel and the spirits require elaborate costume to make them appear so, and the court party members are decked in their finest court apparel, having just been at Claribel's wedding, so that Miranda is taken aback by the "brave new world / That hath such creatures in't" on seeing them.
The elements of pastoral comedy in The Tempest are also linked to those of the masque. A natural man, Caliban, exists. So do a pair of noble young lovers, Ferdinand and Miranda, who are brought together in the pastoral setting of an island, unaffected by the corruptive influenc...
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... a degree of the purity which is destroyed by civilization, but otherwise, we are little inclined to admire him.
The struggle of Prospero to assert his reason over his passion, planning for the future rather than succumbing to his temptations for revenge, are also against the idea of the masque. Prospero, as the central character, has little to do with the elements of the masque at all, as the main concern of the plot is his education of the people on the island and his own education as a result of this.
Thus, it would be impossible to claim that The Tempest is a masque, but possible to claim it has much to owe the masque. It is a masque to the limited extent that it contains most of the elements of the masque, but this is transcended by the fact that it contains much more that is not, making it a better and more profound play.
Shakespeare's play, The Tempest tells the story of a father, Prospero, who must let go of his daughter; who brings his enemies under his power only to release them; and who in turn finally relinquishes his sway over his world - including his power over nature itself. The Tempest contains elements ripe for tragedy: Prospero is a controlling figure bent on taking revenge for the wrongs done to him, and in his fury he has the potential to destroy not only his enemies, but his own humanity and his daughter's future.
The first difference between the play and the movie “The Tempest” is; the protagonist Prospero, the Duke of Milan, is played by a female character named Prospera in the movie filmed in 2010, directed by Julie Taymor. He is a complex character in the play however the personality that Shakespeare created was slightly changed in the movie. The key point of this gender difference is to highlight the role of women’s empowerment over the last two hundred years. Taymor’s movie is making a statement on how Prospera’s power is limited for the island, she is still able to empower throughout the text sexually,...
Leininger, Lorie Jerrell. "The Miranda Trap: Sexism and Racism in Shakespeare's Tempest." The Tempest: Critical Essays.Ed. Patrick M. Murphy. New York: Routledge, 2001. 223-229.
In this brief examination of the Tempest, it becomes obvious that the play is a mirror image of the progression of events in the Bible. This use of Christian elements in the play is not obvious upon first reading the play, but becomes undeniable as the action progresses. The motif of Christianity in other Shakespearean works is not as structured and in-depth as the motif found in the Tempest.
During Shakespeare's time social classification was much more rigid than today and some members of society were considered superior to other members. Shakespeare provides an example of this rigid social structure through his play, The Tempest. Shakespeare illustrates how superior men differentiated themselves from lesser beings on the basis of race, financial status, and gender. Through the character of Prospero, Shakespeare provides and example of one, who had reason to feel superior, yet treated others equally and with the respect due to them.
"Registered Nurses: Training, Salary, & Career Information." College Grad | CollegeGrad.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2014.
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest provides dialogue that portrays the social expectations and stereotypes imposed upon women in Elizabethan times. Even though the play has only one primary female character, Miranda, the play also includes another women; Sycorax, although she does not play as large a roll. During many scenes, the play illustrates the characteristics that represent the ideal woman within Elizabethan society. These characteristics support the fact that men considered women as a mere object that they had the luxury of owning and were nowhere near equal to them. Feminists can interpret the play as a depiction of the sexist treatment of women and would disagree with many of the characteristics and expectations that make Miranda the ideal woman. From this perspective, The Tempest can be used to objectify the common expectations and treatment of women within the 16th and 17th Centuries and compare and contrast to those of today.
The Tempest is a play that serves as a window into what it was like during the Age of Exploration as well as what encounters between the old and new world were like. Through Shakespeare’s characters it is evident what interactions between Europeans and natives were like during this time, as well as what society thought of such experiences.
In this essay I intend to explore the ways that William Shakespeare has presented the relationships between the main characters within his play “The Tempest”. I shall investigate Ferdinand and Miranda’s relationship, the father/daughter bond between Miranda and Prospero and Caliban’s lust after Miranda.
The side effects of the internet or technology are countless however here are 5 ways that technology can affect our daily lives. Due to the over-exposure that children have had to the internet, games or texting, kids have gotten used to having whatever they want instantaneously at their fingertips in a mere matter of milliseconds (Martin). Kids have gotten used to having whatever they want as soon as they ask for it, and that has led to deteriorated patience and an elevated exasperation because then they have to wait. “The excessive usage of online chatting and shortcuts has led today’s young generation’s writing skills decline tremendously” (Martin). Because of the amount of online chatting and shortcuts that are being used now days children are counting more and more on digital communication and they don’t know how to spell different words, how to use grammar properly or how to do cursive writing. “Another interesting study last year found that when people used cell phones they were less likely to be good to others, or to display “pro-social behavior,” ...
According to the CDC (2014), the most commonly used measure of weight status today is the body mass index, or BMI. BMI uses a simple calculation based on the ratio of a child’s height and weight, and is plotted on a growth chart for ages 2-19 years. An overweight BMI is at or above the 85th percentile and lower than the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex. Obesity is defined as a BMI at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex.
Prospero is really the key character about which the nature of illusion and reality centers. He is the one who appears to have been stripped of all his power, and yet he is truly the most powerful; he lives in a world where he can conjure up an illusion of a storm; he lives between a course of regular human action and magic; and he is perceptive about philosophies on the topic of illusion and reality.
Compared to plays written for public playhouses, The Tempest offers a unique emphasis on music. Hiring extra musicians, along with the time constraints usually resulted in small attention given to this area (Long 95). Given the large degree of detail allotted to music in the play, it is believed the audience to have been upper class, however, music of The Tempest serves a variety of functions beyond that of mere entertainment. By exploring the evidence provided in The Tempest, we can reveal some of these functions that music serves in the play.
In households with children, sixty seven percent of them own a video game system. The game industry’s worldwide video game annual sales reached over 25 billion at the end of 2004. So the concern for the health of video game players is increasing. Video games have many different effects on the health of people. Some experiments have found video games to have a dramatic effect, while other experiments have found them to have little or no effect at all. While some video games have even been found to help people take their minds off their problems and deal with their stress, other people have had the opposite reactions to the games.
Zobel BZ and Talbert JT. 1984. Applied Forest Tree Improvement. New York: Wiley and Sons.