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?

Hamlet

Hamlet sees the ghost of his father who shows him that Hamlet’s uncle killed him by pouring poison in his ear. Driven mad by the murder of his father by his uncle, Claudius, and his uncle’s subsequent marriage to his mother, Gertrude, Hamlet spends most of the play contemplating the nature of revenge, how to achieve it and at what cost. It’s only through the accidental killing of his love interest, Ophelia’s father, that he comes to recognize some of the problems with revenge when Laertes comes to seek it out. Claudius steers Laertes in the direction he wants, showing Laertes that Hamlet killed his father Polonius in his madness. Laertes goes mad with grief too, when his sister drowns in the river, after having been driven mad by the loss of her father. Laertes proposes that they fight with foils, the one that he is supposed to use will be poisoned. Claudius suggests that in case Hamlet wins, he will also poison a cup of wine that he will give to Hamlet to celebrate his good fortune in winning the duel. Hamlet takes the poisoned foil and kills Laertes unknowingly, and Gertrude drinks the win that was supposed to be for Hamlet. Laertes and Gertrude die, and Hamlet kills Claudius, then himself.

In reading it this time, I was really focused on how the play utilizes images of nature. The poisons that course throughout the play are all of natural origin. There are multiple indications of the dividing line between heaven and earth, and man is considered a natural beast.

I’m interested in the ways nature wins in this play, over all political and personal considerations. No particular religion plays much of a role (although there is a fish-monger reference) but heaven, God and other religious motifs are mentioned or called upon.

There’s something interesting in the ghost too, if we consider this a play of natural/unnatural dichotomies. Does the ghost count as a natural occurrence? Or is he a manifestation of Hamlet’s rage and mourning? The old question about whether the ghost is real or not seems particularly relevant here. There’s a lot of talk about “matter” and “stuff” in the play… does the ghost have a material presence?