A King and No King - Beaumont and Fletcher

This play deals with questions surrounding human nature, power, authority, and cowardice. After winning a war against the Armenians, Arbaces, king of Iberia, takes Tigranes, king of Armenia, prisoner. Tigranes’s lover, Spaconia, asks Bessus, a captain of Arbaces, if she can accompany them and work for a lady of Arbaces house so she can be close to Tigranes and convince him to not love Panthea, the princess of Armenia (sister to Arbaces). We find out that Arane has attempted to kill Arbaces multiple times, but has always been stopped by Gobrius, the lord-protector. There’s an interesting scene, in Act II, where the “citizens” of Iberia show up and act both as a comedic relief, but also to show that Arbaces is out of touch when he addresses them as “united”. In spite of that, the citizens do appreciate Arbaces as their king. Act III is when the crux of the play happens, as Arbaces finally sees his sister after several years apart and falls in love with her. The rest of the play deals with the consequences of this sinful love while simultaneously questioning the nature of manhood (with Bessus’ cowardice) and other familial ties such as father/mother and children (with Lygones wanting to disown Spaconia and with the final reveal that Arbaces is Gobrius’ son and not related to Panthea). At the height of their passion, Arbaces asks Panthea if it is only the words “brother and sister” that stop them from loving freely, meaning, is there something more intrinsic in their relationship.

Arbaces compares his sinful desire to that of beasts frequently in the play. And nature is often used as a metaphor for his emotional state.ac

The Enchanted Island – John Dryden

In Dryden’s version of The Tempest, the comedic return and coupling off is made more prominent in the addition of a sister, Dorinda, and another male child, Hippolito. Even Ariel, the spirit, is paired off in the end with Milcha. The plot follows the same sequence as The Tempest, but there are some interesting additions. The conversations between Dorinda and Miranda are interesting, and by contrast, Dorinda seems more wanton in her desire for men because Miranda’s courtship with Ferdinando is supervised by Prospero, whereas in Dorinda and Hippolito’s case, Prospero stays away.

There is less talk about Sycorax the mother because of the addition of Sycorax the sister of Caliban. I’m not sure why there’s a sister, except that it provides a female coupling for the clownish troupe of Trinculo and company.

One thing that seems like a significant change is how nature is used in the play. In Shakespeare, there’s a strong division between the natural and unnatural (meaning monsters and spirits). But in Dryden, there’s a triple division between natural, unnatural, and supernatural. Sometimes the unnatural and natural become overlapped in the case of Caliban, and sometimes the supernatural and natural become overlapped, in the case of Prospero. This type of fluidity makes for an interesting play and world. There’s also a question about knowledge and knowledge production in Dorinda and Miranda. In spite of all of Prospero’s old world knowledge and his books, Dorinda and Miranda compare everything to the natural world. Comparison is their main method of understanding, and so men are often seen as types of animals, potentially dangerous as lions and bears. Prospero enhances these thoughts, in order to work out his plots, but if we think of the text (Dryden and Shakespeare) as New World oriented and Prospero as a type of colonizer, what do we make of his teaching Caliban language etc. but in neglecting his daughter’s education? Caliban seems to know more about the outside world than Prospero’s own daughters. Is this merely a gender bias or can we think about it as something more political?

Men and women coupling off is also presented as natural, and much like other plays in the Restoration seen as a way to promote good “breeding”. How can we think about breeding in an ecocritical way? Does this change our idea of marriage? There’s definitely still a religious understanding of marriage in the play, but the concept of “peopling” an island seems more like a natural desire than a religious one.

The Tempest – William Shakespeare

In The Tempest, we see Shakespeare grappling with a number of things, including ideas of the new world and the potential end of his own career as a playwright.

To cover the plot, briefly, Prospero has been stranded on an island with his teenage daughter Miranda after a coup by Prospero’s brother Antonio. After landing on this island, Prospero took power from Sycorax and forced her son, Caliban, into his service. Prsopero has magical ability, and relies on the work of spirits to work his magic, but uses Caliban for physical tasks such as cutting wood.

The beginning of the play, however, starts with a huge storm, the tempest, that shipwrecks Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, and others. Prospero does this, seemingly to find a husband for his daughter because he’s afraid of her virginity being soiled by Caliban (who has already attempted to “people the land with Calibans” with her). Prospero sends Ariel, the main spirit who works for him, out to do his bidding, charming one group and getting another group drunk.

Once Prospero learns from Ferdinand that he’s the prince of Naples and that his fellow travelers include Prospero’s brother, Prospero goes a bit mad and plans his revenge, all while still putting Ferdinand and Miranda together in the hopes that they’ll fall in love.

Caliban meets up with Trinculo and Stephano, a jester and butler and thus, servants themselves, and Caliban convinces them that he’ll serve them if they’ll kill Prospero. They agree, but get very drunk on the way to Prospero’s cell.

Prospero puts on a huge show and banquet for the others and, nearly simultaneously puts on a marriage show for Ferdinand with other spirits.

Finally the truth comes out, Ferdinand and Miranda agree to marry one another, Prospero reveals himself to be the true duke of Milan, and everything is rightly restored.

This ending doesn’t really deal with Caliban though, as a “restoration” for him is not possible. His youth and life can never be restored, nor will the island remain his. Since he heads off with Stephano and Trinculo to return the luggage they found, it seems as though his service to Prospero continues, even though Prospero has buried his staff and burned his book.

Some of the issues in this play that I’d like to explore further are around the issues of natural vs. unnatural. Caliban is always a “monster” and Miranda is always the most beautiful creature. Others in the play are various types of animals, asses, dogs, etc. What can we make of the natural/unnatural dichotomy, especially when we think of the play in a New World lens? How about if we think about it ecocritically? Is there something about Prospero’s power that seems colonizing beyond his actual assumption of the island and taking Caliban’s island knowledge for himself?

What about issues of plagues, poxes, and other forms of poison and sickness?

What role does the human have in this play of monsters and creatures and magic?