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The world of arts:
The Tempest; Shakespeare's Height of imagination
Gwen Heart
 Written in 1611, Tempest is cited at a ship at sea and later in an
uninhabited island with a lead of twelve years before the real play
begins. Alonso, the King of Naples is helped by Antonio to ususp his
brother, Prospero's dukedom of Milan. Prospero and his child, Miranda
are put at sea in a rotten boat and left to drift.
They reach a far-off island where Prospero resorts to magic from a
book that one of his loyal lords, Gonzalo had sent him. He set free the
spirit, Ariel whom the witch, Sycoras had imprisoned in a cloven pine.
Prospero out of compassion, tries to educate Caliban, the witch's
deformed son. Later, when Caliban attempts to rape Miranda, he is turned
into a slave. Prospero decides to tell the story to his daughter,
Miranda just after raising a magical storm that has caught upon the
island with Alonso and Antonio and Alonso's son, Ferdinand.
They also have attendent lords with them. Ariel seizes the
opportunity to lead Ferdinand to Prospero's cell where he falls in love
with Miranda. Prospero makes Ferdinand suffer and groan due to the
hardest menial work assigned to him. The King believes Ferdinand to have
drowned;
King Alonso - 'You cram the words into mine ears against
The stomach of my senses.
Would I have never married my daughter there;
For coming thence.
My son is lost; and my rate she too
Who is so far from Italy removed.
I ne'er shall see her again, O thou mine heir
Of Naples and of Milan what strange fish
Hath made his means of thee.
Francisco - 'Sir; he may live. I saw him beat the surges under him......
Act. II Scene. II
In the meantime, Antonio and Sebastian plan to murder Alanso but the
timely appearance of Ariel, the ghastly act is prevented. To the
annoyance of the King, his butler and jester are involved in a drinking
spree with Caliban.
Prospero is helped by Ariel to use the magic device to baffle the
royal party. Agreeing to the marriage of Miranda and Ferdinand, he
summons a marque for them and abandon his revenge.
He forgives all his enemies and do away with the magic staff. He
reveals himself and demand his dukedom. He sets free Ariel and delivers
a brilliant epilogue before leaving the island for his home.
 From the Epilogue - Now my charms are all o'erthrown
And what strength I have's mine own;
Which is most faint. Now its true
I must be here confine'd by you.
Or sent to Naples. Let me not
Since I have my dukedom got,
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands
Gentle breath of yours my sail
Must fill, or else my project fails.......
As he turned to sail away, Prospero turned away so that Ariel would
not see the tears in his eyes. 'Farewell, sweet spirit' he whispered.
Sails in the ship unfurled and glided gently over the water as
Caliban came out of his hiding place. He danced on the beach turning in
cartwheels as he chanted 'I am king of this island' while some birds
flew over his head in circles like glittering jewels. He was really the
king of the island.
In Performance - Tempest is a different play to mount on stage though
in reality, it has only two scenes and therefore not a firm favourite
for drama. Films can zoom it in to dazzling heights with all the magic
performed by Prospero.
The character of Caliban though far too small, somehow makes me
recall The Hunchback of Notre Dome. It could delight film producers
along with the raging storms created magically by Prospero. The Tempest
is a haunted poem inspired by many sources such as folk tales, romance
and comedy. As I said before the play is all about Prospero and what he
does.
During the Restorion, an ugly twist was given to the original Tempest
by Davenant and Dryden making the play eery. Called the Enchanted
Island, it contained among its characters Hippolito who had never seen a
Woman and the rightful heir to the Dukedom of Mantua. Miranda and
Dorinda, the two daughters of Prospero never saw a Man.
Caliban and Sycorax, his two sisters were the Monsters of the island.
It was a silly concept and flopped. Thomas Shadwell adopted The Tempest
to Percell's music immediately after the flop.
However, Davenant-Dryden along with Garrick returned Shakespeare's
text to Drury Lane and kept it under Kemble for a long time. Davenant
and Dryden rectified their mistake. This was during 1757-1789. In 1838,
Macready reverted to Shakespeare playing Prospero himself at Covent
Garden.
There were many directors whose imaginations made the play different.
A B Wakely called it The Girl from Prospero's Island but The Tempest
survived reasonable well with Robert Atkin's production at the Old Vic
in 1924. Ion Swinley was Prospero.
Atkins mounted it again in 1936 and 1937 at the Open Air with Swinley
still playing Prospero. In the following years, the play boarded at
Drury Lane and stratford.
In 1957, the Old Vic cast El Grece as Prospero but the most
significant portrayal of Prospero came from Michael Redgrave at
Stratford. New York Swooped on it in 1916 and 1945 with Arnold Moss as
Prospero.
There were special scores set by Tchaikovsky for the play.
Character-wise;
Prospero - He controls the play from the beginning. A man of powerful
eloquence but tedious in the theatre, can be troublesome. Father to
Miranda, Duke of Milan Miranda - A girl of fifteen and of pure innocence
lost in the island with Prospero Ferdinand - Led by Ariel to Prospero's
cell, he falls in love with Miranda but is tested over and over again
before Prospero gives his consent.
Antonio - Prospero's usurper. A fellow cynic of Sebastian.
Ariel - Has been imagined in many ways. Sings the famous lyric 'On
the bat's back Do I fly, After summer merrily, merrily........
Caliban - Not with human shape. Son to the witch, Sycorax. Tries to
rape Miranda. Plays a big part in the play. |
