All stories within plays, books, movies, and pictures are never finished. However, unfinished doesn’t simply imply they have missing pixels or words. Texts and pictures, actually, as they age, are interpreted by all; yet, the original story intended by the writer is endlessly changing. Directors, actors, and readers use original stories as a baseline for augmentation. Specifically, after studying multiple forms of The Tempest, a play about a magical Prospero who was once duke of Milan and is now banished onto an island with his daughter, continual creation and interpretation are evident in how director Julie Taymor directed her perception of The Tempest in 2010. Additionally, actors Djimon Hounsou, Russell Brand, and Ben Whishaw used their own …show more content…
For example, movies, reviews, or any adaptation of the original work is an assertion that changes how we interpret the piece. To elaborate, Caliban’s appearance in the text was never fully described; however, after watching Taymor’s adaptation people started to assume that Caliban looked more like a slave than a servant because of his skin color. Given so many influences already, websites like “sparknotes”, “shmoop”, and “goodreads” also offer presumptions through reviews and summaries and influence how one might think of the text. Moreover, even everyday peers that are also trying to interpret the text alter each other's understanding in group discussions. This alteration isn’t necessarily a negative attribute though, as it still adds to just a baseline of a story. Similarly, imagine The Tempest without ideas and interpretation. There will never be a solid understanding as one will always try to comprehend what is already understood by another. Contrastingly, with a collective set of ideas, people build, understand, and change Shakespeare’s original
With the semester coming to an end, many students are excited. This especially includes those who will be graduating soon. However, graduation can be seen as a bittersweet moment. On one hand, the graduates enter into a new chapter in their lives. On the other hand, they may lose communication with some of their friends. Unfortunately, this is a natural aspect of each person’s life. Everyone will experience some kind of loss in their life, whether it is person or an object. In The Tempest, Shakespeare discusses the topic of loss. While this theme is not talked about much compared to other themes in the play, it is very important since it is a theme that is included in the 1956 movie adaptation Forbidden Planet. While both works illustrate the ways people deals a loss, the later work demonstrates how the advancement in the world have affected the way modern society
Transformations are altering certain thematic concerns of the original text, yet still retaining much of the storyline. The process of transformation requires some conscious decisions which shape and re-shape the meaning, and must be justified in order to execute them. . This is explored in ‘BBC’s Shakespeare Re-told: Much ado about Nothing”, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s original playwright “Much ado about Nothing”
“The Tempest” is a play written by William Shakespeare in early 1600s that has been previewed in different kinds of movies, such as the one made in 2010, directed by Julie Taymor. It is a play containing themes such as; revenge, allusion, retribution, forgiveness, power, love and hatred. When it is compared to the play, there are specific differences seen in the movie, such as; Prospero is reflected as a woman in the movie. The time differences between the play and the movie and how the spirit Ariel is shown as a white man in the movie. The play starts with the story of Prospero, the Duke of Milan. He gets banished from Italy and was cast to sea by his brother Antonio. He has perfected his skills during twelve years of exile on a lonely island. Prospero creates the tempest to make his enemies’ ship to wreck and lead them to the island. Meanwhile, Antonio takes Prospero’s place and starts to make everyone believe he is the duke and makes an agreement with the King of Naples, Alonso. Besides the drama happening in the island, Prospero forgives Alonso and the others.
However, though Branagh’s vision is nothing short of cinematic genius, it neglects some of the deeper meaning that is illustrated within the original written play. Shakespeare’s subtle nuances and elaborate dialogue shape each character as the plot of the story unfolds. Branagh neglects the situational relevance of certain dialogue within scenes of the written play; relying more on visual effect rather than verbiage. Branagh’s use of editing creates a wistfully light-hearted adaptation of the play, and hastens the pace of the drama. While Branagh succeeds in creating many parallels between his movie and Shakespeare's written play, his use of visual imagery, characterization, and setting deliver an interpretation that stands alone as one of joyful camaraderie and humor.
These plays are presented as slightly distorted mirrors of reality, so by having audiences invest themselves so deeply in the understanding of the literature, they are likely to gain a greater understanding of themselves and the worlds they live in. By pushing the imaginative burden onto the audience, Shakespeare is able to make commentary on human nature and human history without being held responsible for its implications. Because the audience is encouraged to fully embrace their role in the production, any commentary and critique is aimed towards themselves and their inability to effectively understand, resulting in an increased appreciation for Shakespeare himself, and the complexity of literature as an art
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.
In Shakespeare's time, the social order was as powerful and rigid as law. Shakespeare provides an example of this social structure in his play, The Tempest. In the course of his play, the reader sees superior men dominating lesser beings on the basis of race, financial status, and gender. Not all upper class are completely corrupt, however. We see a semi-virtuous hero in the character of Prospero. Prospero has every reason to feel superior and exercise his social power, yet he doesn't always treat others disrespectfully. Although he does have some sense of charity, Prospero is still a good example of the social condition of the time.
In the 1600s, married women were expected to do anything for their husbands. Husbands were urged to be good heads of their families and to treat their wives with kindness and consideration. The woman were considered to be the 'weaker vessel ' and thought to be spiritually weaker than men and in need of masculine guidance. During this time, women were treated as inferior being who were meant to look after the house and were to children . Women were treated with little dignity. In “The Tempest,” William Shakespeare was able to show the oppression of women throughout the play. Scenes with Prospero and Miranda have shown significant hidden evidence to prove that the colonial era was a time of female oppression. Shakespeare uses Prospero as an
In discussing Derrida's view of Western literature, Geoffrey Hartman writes that "Western tradition has been marked . . . by a metaphysics of light, by the violence of light itself, from Apollonian cults to Cartesian philosophies. In the light of this emphatic light everything else appears obscure; especially the Hebraic development of aniconic writing and self-effacing commentary of textuality" (xix). This point is well illustrated by the nature of Prospero's power in The Tempest for his control of natural and supernatural forces is achieved through book-learning the bringing to life of Logos. That which Prospero does not control completely is the vilified character of Caliban. The denigrated and unwilling servant seems to represent Prospero's shadow, and in light of the above statement, perhaps Caliban represents the shadow of our light-infused Greco-Roman style of domination of the material world. The text tells us that when Prospero first arrives on the island Caliban willingly reveals its secrets to him. Only when Caliban threatens the chastity of Prospero's daughter, Miranda, does the relationship turn into one of master and slave. Prospero thus draws the line between the shadow realm and purity. His action suggests that sexuality, too, must be kept in a role of servitude if one is to retain control of one's kingdom. In affirming this schism, Prospero simply enforces the dualistic nature of the Western tradition. In heaping scorn upon Caliban, Prospero embodies the West's extreme dualistic nature vis-a-vis its perceived schisms existent between light and dark, mortal and immortal, good and evil.
Imagine being stranded on an island with no experience, surviving for ten months, and building an escape with just the help of some people. In the “True Repertory of the Wreck”, all of this did happen and was influential in shaping Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The shipwreck that occurred during this time caused several crew members of the Sea Venture to be stranded on an island. While this vessel was trapped on an island, the others made it to a village called Jamestown, in Virginia, where they went to establish a colony. Strachey, the author of “The True Wreck,” had to survive for ten months with his crew members and find a way to get back to safety.
It makes sense to me to see in this Shakespeare's sense of his own art--both what it can achieve and what it cannot. The theatre--that magical world of poetry, song, illusion, pleasing and threatening apparitions--can, like Prospero's magic, educate us into a better sense of ourselves, into a final acceptance of the world, a state in which we forgive and forget in the interests of the greater human community. The theatre, that is, can reconcile us to the joys of the human community so that we do not destroy our families in a search for righting past evils in a spirit of personal revenge or as crude assertions of our own egos. It can, in a very real sense, help us fully to understand the central Christian commitment to charity, to loving our neighbour as ourselves. The magic here brings about a total reconciliation of all levels of society from sophisticated rulers to semi-human brutes, momentarily holding off Machiavellian deceit, drunken foolishness, and animalistic rebellion--each person, no matter how he has lived, has a place in the magic circle at the end. And no one is asking any awkward questions.
The Tempest, like any text, is a product of its context. It is constructed in relation to moral or ethical concerns of 17th century European Jacobean society. The resolution of conflict appears 'natural' or an inevitable consequence if regarded in relation to the concerns of its context. The resolution of conflict in this play incorporates Prospero being returned to his 'rightful' or natural position as Duke of Milan, his daughter Miranda getting married to Ferdinand, and the party returning to Milan leaving the island to the 'monster', Caliban. The resolution is a consequence of the concerns of the time, including the idea of the divine right of kings, courtly love, and colonisation.
Throughout history, the struggle for power has led mankind to commit unspeakable acts of violence in order to obtain or maintain dominion over others. Imprisonment, torture and murder are all tools tyrants such as Caligula of Rome, Ivan IV of Russia and Pol Pot of Cambodia used to subject their will on others. At the most basic level these are all stories of men obsessed with power. The Tempest, by William Shakespeare is another such story that shows just how far a person will go to gain control and power over others. The character relationship between Prospero and his slaves, Ariel and Caliban, provides insight into the overall theme of the story which is the struggle between those who have power and those that are envious of that power and will stop at nothing to take it from themselves.
Justice in The Tempest and Merchant of Venice & nbsp; In both Merchant of Venice and The Tempest, Shakespeare proposes ideas of justice and mercy that hold true in both plays. In order to see if the actions taken were just and/or merciful, definitions of these words must be set up. If we were to assume that Shakespeare's definition of mercy was what Portia espoused in Act Four, Scene One, specifically lines 205 - 206, the definition of mercy must be viewed in a biblical sense. Thus, in order to judge if something is merciful, one must look to see if it fulfills the qualifications of mercy in the New Testament. However, the idea of justice is quite different, for my definition of justice, I will turn to Charles Mill's definition, for, in the plays it applies the most.
In William Shakespeare's The Tempest, the line between the realm of reality and illusion is blurred by Prospero, who through the use of his magic is able to manipulate and control both the island and those who are stranded on it. The duality between illusion and reality, the contrast between the natural and unnatural are being represented and questioned by Prospero's magic. Throughout the play, Shakespeare is stating that illusions can distort reality, but in the end reality will always makes itself apparent.