"Not a soul but felt a fever of the mad...Not a hair
perish'd. On their sustaining garments not a
blemish."- Ariel
"Your charms so strongly
works 'em that if you now
behold them, your affection
would become tender."- Ariel
Links to Theatre
Ariel= Actor
"Hast thou performed the
tempest I bade thee?"-
Prospero
"Bravely the figure of this
Harpy hast thou performed,
my Ariel."-Prospero
"In air he lives, from airs he
derives his being, in air he acts."-
St Coleridge
Prospero= Director or Shakespeare
"Prospero's intent is on controlling
everything and everyone else."-
Graham Bradshaw
"Prospero stage
manages the action
to regain power." Neil
Bowman
"My high charms work, and these my
enemies, are all knit up in their
distractions."
Like Shakespeare
distracts his audience
with his 'art' of writing.
"I'll to my book, for... must I
perform much business
appertaining."- end of act 5
Men vs Monsters
Caliban
"Thou earth, thou speak"
"A devil, a born devil, who's
nature nurture cannot stick"
"Bash his head in,
paunch him with a
steak."
Is Caliban as
monsterous though as
the men?
Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, sweet
airs that give delight and hurt not...that when I
wak'd I cried to dream again."
"A product of natural lust, his
language is as hobgoblin as his
person. In all things he is
distinguished from other mortals."-
John Dryden
The Kings men- "Noble"
"O wonder! How many
goodly creatures are
there here!"- Miranda
Naïve and has no idea
Antonio plots to kill King with Sebastian
"Th' occasion speaks thee, and
my strong imagination sees a
crown dropping upon thy head."
Women
Sycorax
Miranda
Independant
"Oh father make not too rash a trial on him for he is gentle."
"Miranda takes his orders at face value and disobeys them anyway."- Mellissa E Sanchez
"I am your wife, if you will marry me, if not I'll die your maid."
Controlled by male figures
"Thou art inclined to sleep...I know
thou cans't choose"- Prospero
"Miranda is what she is because
she has been his pupil"- J.M
Murray
"Tell you piteous heart to be
collected."- Prospero
"Possess all the delicacy of
innocence."- St Coleridge
Nature vs Nurture
Caliban
"I took pains to teach you language
yet...you choose to violate the honour
of my child"- Prospero
"You taught me language
and my profit on't is that I
know how to curse"-
Caliban
Confinement and Freedom
Ariel
"My brave spirit!
"I shall miss thee, but thou
shalt have freedom."- Prospero
Let me remind thee what thou
hast performed, whish is not
yet performed me."- Prospero
Caliban
"Abhorred slave"
"I am subject to a tyrant, a
sorcerer that by his cunning hath
cheated me of the isle."
"I must obey. His
art is of such
power"
"I'll show thee every fertile inch o'th island- I will
kiss thy foot. I prithee my God." Caliban to
Stephano
"How fine my master is!
I am afraid he will
chastise me."
Ferdinand
"Follow me- Speak not
for him he is a traitor."
Prospero
"The Tempest has been seen as a play
about power, perhaps it should be
regarded as a play about the illusion of
freedom."- David Lindley
Compassion and Forgivness
Caliban and Repentance
"I will be wise hereafter and seek
for grace. What a thrice double
ass I was to take this drunkard for
a lord."
Prospero and his family
"For you, most wicked sir, whom to call
brother would infect my mouth, I do
forgive thy rankest fault."
"I seek him deeper that e'er
plummet rounded, and with
him there lie mudded."
Alonso about Ferdinand
Viewed as a renaissance magnus
Art and magic
Propero's art creates the play
"If by your art...you have put the wild
waters in this roar, away then"-
Miranda
"Pluck my magic art from me...so lie there
my art"- Prospero
"The most blasphemous play
Shakespeare ever wrote...it is about
a man who is allowed to play God
and who doesn't just dabble with
craft but actually performs it." Peter
Hall
"We are such stuff that dreams
are made on, and our little life is
rounded with a sleep."- Prospero
Cleansing process
"Their understanding begins to
swell that now lies foul and
muddy"- Prospero
"Interestingly in alchemy a
tempest is the term for shifting
out impurities"- Mark Hebron
Gonzalo and Common wealth
"All things in common nature
should produce without sweat
and endeavour."
Marxist
"i'th' commonwealth
I would...execute all
things."