Shakespeare's The Tempest
a discussion by
scholars
on Monday, 6 April 1998.
[1] From: Ira Abrams
Date: Saturday, 4 Apr 1998 12:14:01 -0500
Subj: SHK 9.0310 Re: The Tempest
[2] From: Dale Lyles
Date: Saturday, 4 Apr 1998 12:50:01 EST
Subj: Re: SHK 9.0305 Re: The Tempest
[3] From: Larry Weiss
Date: Saturday, 04 Apr 1998 18:43:35 -0500
Subj: Tempest
[4] From: Tim Richards
Date: Sunday, 05 Apr 1998 12:02:06 +1000
Subj: The Tempest
[5] From: Ron Dwelle
Date: Sunday, 05 Apr 1998 12:22:49 -0400
Subj: The Tempest
[6] From: Jamie Brough
Date: Sunday, 5 Apr 1998 12:57:40 EDT
Subj: Post Modernism
[7] From: Ron Dwelle
Date: Sunday, 05 Apr 1998 13:32:45 -0400
Subj: Re: SHK 9.0310 Re: The Tempest
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ira Abrams
Date: Saturday, 4 Apr 1998 12:14:01 -0500
Subject: SHK 9.0310 Re: The Tempest
*The Tempest* is not the only one: Robert Grams Hunter, in his 1964
*Shakespeare and the Comedy of Forgiveness*, also put *Much Ado*, *AWW*,
*Cymbeline*, *The Winter's Tale*, and *Measure for Measure* in the
*category of plays that feature "a denouement of forgiveness."
Why not Timon? As long you are defining comedy to include Cymb,
Winter's Tale and Tempest...
Ira Abrams
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dale Lyles
Date: Saturday, 4 Apr 1998 12:50:01 EST
Subject: Re: SHK 9.0305 Re: The Tempest
Our production of *Winter's Tale* climaxed with forgiveness. Were we
being too romantic? I thought that was the idea of the play, actually.
Perhaps my general search for grace has led me to impose that search on
texts, but I wouldn't have thought *Tempest* was the only S play
climaxing with forgiveness. WT and AYLI are two that spring to mind.
Dale Lyles
Newnan Community Theatre Company
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Larry Weiss
Date: Saturday, 04 Apr 1998 18:43:35 -0500
Subject: Tempest
Of course everyone who points out that forgiveness is a theme in other
canonical plays is correct. But can anyone think of another in which
the male protagonist does the forgiving? Even Duke Senior does not
express forgiveness for his suddenly converted brother.
[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Tim Richards
Date: Sunday, 05 Apr 1998 12:02:06 +1000
Subject: The Tempest
Hugh Howard Davis wrote:
>Jennifer Jones asked about films of the Tempest and about modern
>interpretations. I'm beginning research on films, now, so I'm also
>interested in responses.
A few years ago I saw an "alternative" stage play called 'Beach Blanket
Tempest', which attempted to marry the old beach movies with
Shakespeare's play. The characters were tossed by a cyclone onto a
tropical island off the West Australian coast, and the action went from
there. I don't remember much about it, but it's intriguing how many
modern films etc have been based on The Tempest. Is it the
Shakespearean play inspiring the most "inspired" adaptations (rather
than direct interpretations)?
Tim Richards.
[5]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ron Dwelle
Date: Sunday, 05 Apr 1998 12:22:49 -0400
Subject: The Tempest
Regarding the ship and her crew in the Tempest, the "master" is the
"captain." That's still true today, when the term "Captain" could be
confusing (as a military rank, for example, a captain might not be the
master of a vessel).
Nonetheless, Charlie Mitchell's question is interesting. As a life-long
sailor and amateur student of naval history, I've always been surprised
that Shakespeare has the master appear on deck, delegate responsibility
to the Boatswain, and then disappear, presumably belowdecks. To do
what? Read a book? It's a strange action, even for an incompetent
master, and I would think Shakespeare expected his sea-conscious views
to note the peculiarity.
[6]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jamie Brough
Date: Sunday, 5 Apr 1998 12:57:40 EDT
Subject: Post Modernism
How would you define post-modern (or ~post post-modern~) philosophy?
What would be a post-modernist's interpretation of The Tempest? Is it
possible to interpret this play in this sense with academic validity?
Jamie Brough
[7]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ron Dwelle
Date: Sunday, 05 Apr 1998 13:32:45 -0400
Subject: Re: SHK 9.0310 Re: The Tempest
Dana Spradley says, "I tried to move away from it in the direction of
political allegory - the island as a reduced representation of
England...Looked at in this light, the question of Prospero's purported
'god-like control' and actual lack of it, Lisa, seemed to me to have
something to do with an oblique critique or fantastical subversion of
the divine right of kings....Does anyone else think approach bears
looking into?"
Yes, the politics of the play are most intriguing.
One interesting "political" aspect of the play is that Shakespeare makes
the politics so different from his other plays. We can imagine that if
the Tempest were like almost any of his earlier plays, Shakespeare would
have concentrated on the overthrow of Prospero, the machinations of
Antonio, Alonso, Sebastian, Gonzalo, etc. So why does he set that 12
years in the past, unless to move it away from his usual political
allegory.
On the divine-right aspect, it seems that Prospero is distinctly
non-divine. All these "god-like" powers are those that he has acquired
through study-he's more like the modern scientist/technocrat who has
learned how to break ope the atom and release energy from the insides of
trees. It's almost as if the question is about the divine-right that the
new-knowledge-freaks are asserting. The politicians are all incompetent
so lets listen to Einstein, or perhaps Bill Gates.
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