First Draft-Brave New World in The Tempest

“O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is!

O brave new world,

 That has such people in't!” –Miranda, Act V Scene I, The Tempest, Shakespeare

            The Tempest is Shakespeare’s most original play. This quote is one of the most famous and shows how full of wonder and hope the main female protagonist is as she faces new people and challenges. Why is she so full of hope? Should she be afraid of what is unknown and unfamiliar? Shakespeare shows how people in his time dealt with the “Brave New Worlds” of his day and of the few ways to cope with it: Dominate it or Embrace it. In the end, a combination of both of them seems to be the best way to handle oneself when faced with new lands and new opportunities.

Dominate It.

            While Domination is a sub-theme explored by many in the play, none know it better than Prospero and Caliban. Caliban’s mother ruled a mysterious island until Prospero showed up. Caliban said

“This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,

Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,

Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me

Water with berries in't, and teach me how

To name the bigger light, and how the less,

That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee

And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,

The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile”-Act I, Scene 2.

Prospero had freed Caliban from the tyranny of Sycorax who was a witch. He taught Caliban an education and Caliban returned this education in kind. However, he was not fully enthralled with Prospero’s rule either.

“Cursed be I that did so! All the charms

Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!

For I am all the subjects that you have”

This disdain for his master leads Caliban to another two men who are ambitious about the island to which they have arrived: Trinculo and Stephano. Now in order to understand this new world to which they have encountered, they frequently refer back to their old one in order to bring understanding to it. Caliban’s encounter with these men was new for him and them.

Old World Vs. New World

“A strange fish! Were I in England now,

as once I was, and had but this fish painted,

not a holiday fool there but would give a piece

of silver: there would this monster make a

man; … this is no fish,

but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a

thunderbolt” .-Trinculo, Act II, Scene II.

In seeking out these new lands there seems to be a give and take about how much of the old world you must bring with you. In Trinculo’s and Stephano’s case, they bring all of the old world with them and share it with Caliban. Clothes, liquor, and titles abound with these three and they go about the island. Prospero brought a small part of the old world with him: his books.

Prospero’s story is about how he lost his dukedom due to his obsession with reading. We see as the audience how he could have avoided his fate had he just left his study and not left sole power to his brother. As Prospero then is banished to this new isle, he brings with him his books and learning and shows how what failed in the old world could be adapted to the new one.

Embrace it

Part of the allure of the island is this new freedom that all experience. All the rules and regulations that existed before can be thrown out the window. Gonzalo in trying to help alleviate Alonso’s pain, imagines the island if he were to be king on it. Instead of a typical kingship Gonzalo imagines a society with “No sovereignty” (Act II, Scene I).

Conclusion

Notes: I am missing a conclusion. I intend to cite The Tempest and the Introduction part of our eBook in its discussion of Shakspeare’s reading of travel journal’s and their influence on Shakespeare’s perception of the new world. I also intend to show how Prospero’s attempt to educate Caliban fails but his attempt to exact vengeance at the end of the play is successful. The point I’m arguing is that Shakspeare shows us that we need to conquer new worlds and try new methods of thinking to grow out of our old world. I’m also missing secondary sources to strengthen my argument. So far this is just representative of my close reading and keeping in mind our past class discussion.

Questions: Would my mentioning of Shakspeare’s travel journal readings be relevant to the argument I’m making?

You can see the structure my chapter is forming here in this rough first draft, is the organization good?

Is my argument sound? Does it highlight the theme adequately?

I intend to include more quotes and give better commentary in arguing the bigger thesis claim.I will include Ferdinand and Miranda’s admiration of eachother among the other quotes and points I brought up in my Notes section. Should I include other quotes to strengthen my argument?

Is the picture good? I have another one with a sunset on an island mountain. These are public domain pictures. Should I cite where I got the photos too?

Thank You Fellow Classmates and Professor For helping me understand this play better and explore the six themes of our eBook. I'm getting more excited about it. 

Exploring the Brave in The Brave New World

There's a persistent theme that cropped up in our texts this week, but particularly in The Tempest and Of Cannibals, and that is the idea of colonialism and the self-perceived superiority of a culture or people. The Brave New World, for all it's enlightenment and rebirth was, as the Norton Anthology describes it, "a profoundly intolerant age. There was very little willingness to accept the legitimacy of structures of belief, patterns of behavior, systems of rules and social organization other than one's own." We see this with the portrayal of Caliban in The Tempest  and the depictions of the Cannibals in Montaigne's essays.

While Prospero and Caliban seem to represent complete opposite sides of society—the civilized vs the primitive (but who's who?)—their similarities are uncanny. Both characters are outcasts whose right to their kingdom was usurped. And although they are similar in their circumstances, and possibly in their nature, neither one ever makes the effort to create a relationship or forge a connection between their maybe-not-so-different worlds.

 Montaigne, Shakespeare, Heriot, and even More tried to explore this theme of otherness by giving us societies full of irony or even perfection and as a result we can recognize that maybe The Brave New World required braveness not so much in the conquering, but rather in acknowledging the strangeness of others and ourselves when measured against each other. Because to find the hypocrisy that Montaigne points out in Of Cannibals ("I am not sorry we note the barbarous horror of such an action, but grieved that, prying so narrowly into their faults, we are so blinded in ours...") requires a cultural self-awareness that may be easier theorized than done.

The proclivity to favor one's own culture and beliefs above those of other's beliefs is known as ethnocentrism, and it is something that we grapple with even today. As we observe the differences between an us vs a them, do we accept the theory that morality is relative and that some practices or beliefs are acceptable under certain cultures and not others? Or do we cling to our vision of ourselves as the true and only source of right and reason in hopes that others will be guided by our "light"?

In truth, I don't have an answer—but neither did the Renaissance greats—and so the question remains demanding that we seek our own answers and perhaps even find a compromise of our own.


Works Cited:

"Of Cannibals, Kings and Culture: The Problem of Ethnocentricity." The Stone. The New York Times, 17 Feb. 2013. Web. 08 Sept. 2015. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/on-ethnocentrism/?_r=0>.Times, 17 Feb. 2013. Web. 08 Sept. 2015. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/on-ethnocentrism/?_r=0>.

The Art of Leadership: Ruling through Reason

Well, let's see if we can get this to work via the campus Internet.  My apartment's web service decided to take a break this fine morning. 

The scene from 3:09 to 4:40 is among my favorites of Julie Taymor's interpretation of The Tempest.  One of the critical moments in the play, it shows Prospera reigning in her passion and making decisions based on reason.  She has her enemies caught in feverish visions of terror.  Yet despite the wrongs done her by these men--exiling her and shipping her and her daughter away on a leaky boat to face unknown hardship--she must control her emotions and make the reasonable, compassionate, merciful choice.  This is very much in line with the decisions faced by the nobility of the time.  They could not rule through force, but through compassion and logic.

Proposed Activities:

--Have the student read Act I and look for other instances of passion vs reason.
--Have the student read Act II and explore the ideas presented about leadership and power over others.
--Compare and contrast Prospero's emotional control with Trinculo, Stephano, and Caliban.

Throwback Theater: The Tempest and Ad Fontes

The Renaissance was a time when referring back to ancient sources, otherwise known as “Ad Fontes,” led to inspiration for the work at that time. Ad fontes has to do primarily with turning to the past. Renaissance icons, Shakespeare in this instance, utilized the information, studies and cultures of their history to create new ideas, to create a better future.

(Two examples to start with)

Latin Influence:
By using The Tempest as a model, we are able to create a fuller picture of what the Renaissance was all about in reference to the theme “Ad Fontes.” Prospero’s name (or Prospera in this version of the play) is a derivative of the Latin word prosperus meaning successful or fortunate. We can now draw conclusions about what kind of character Prospero is, as well as how his (her) name fits into the description of the Renaissance time, because we looked back to the source of Prospero’s name. Prospero is fortunate, he is the most powerful character in The Tempest and has the ability to control his environment from his books. Prospero’s books gave him power in the same way that individuals in the Renaissance received knowledge from books. 

Romantic/Mythological references:
Shakespeare returned to the sources by including a masque in the middle of The Tempest. The masque includes Iris, goddess of the sea and the sky, Greek goddess Juno, and Roman goddess of fertility, Ceres. Including these Greek and Roman influences laces the play with echoes of the rich, reemerging culture of the past.

Using the following clip, how can we draw parallels from either Greek or Roman literature to The Tempest. What about this clip uses Ad Fontes in a meaningful way? How can a knowledge of previous works help us understand Shakespeare's play?

The Power of Words in The Tempest

If each character in The Tempest were given an object to represent them, Prospero's would be a book. He was usurped because he spent his days studying, with his books he gained power on the island, and from the power of his books he made his revenge on those who usurped him. Of course, in the end, he decided to "drown my books" as soon as his revenge was complete, as seen in this clip:

Why would Shakespeare have Prospero make such a speech? Why drown books, the very thing that gave him power? Perhaps because Prospero's use of magic became too much, too powerful, and had to be checked.

During Shakespeare's time, many people had access to books because of the printing press. Shakespeare himself benefited from such changes, which allowed him to study great classics. But with this shift to more people being able to read, the potential for power increased, because information is power. This is where Prospero received his power, but he sent his power perhaps too far, as he enslaved others. He could have taken this all further, but settled with restoring his dukedom.

Prospero's part does encourage increasing knowledge, but also checking it to not take that knowledge too far.

The Tempest and Christian Forgiveness

"As you from crimes would pardon'd be, 

Let your indulgences set me free."

-The Tempest, Epilogue

These lines bring to close Shakespeare's play of discovery, love, and forgiveness.  Perhaps the greatest of these themes is forgiveness since it permeates both the play and the entire character of Prospero.  In the Renaissance world of renewed religious fervor, due to the Protestant Reformation, Prospero stands as an example of the ideal Christian: both forgiving and desiring to be forgiven.

Prospero's gift for forgiveness is no small matter in this play.  He is betrayed by his brother and king, exiled from his land, and left to the mercies of the sea with the young Miranda.  But the seas and Providence are merciful and Prospero and Miranda make it safely to their new island home.  Now, years later, those who betrayed Prospero are delivered into his hands.  But what is shocking is that rather than take revenge on his brother and the king for their betrayals, Prospero returns the mercy shown to him by God and forgives his enemies.  

Now, in the final scene of the play, Prospero turns the role of mercy to the audience.  Using the imagery of judgement and forgiveness, Prospero begs the audience for their applause and approval.  Watch the following clip of the British Shakespeare Company's The Tempest Epilogue and then respond to the Questions For Thought.

Questions For Thought 

1. How is the audience to exemplify the idea of mercy based off of Prospero's epilogue?

2. Prospero asks the audience to let their praise free him "as you from crimes would pardon'd be."  Is this referring just to temporal crimes?  Or is their a spiritual element to this?

3. Much of the Protestant Reformation focused on having a personal relationship with God.  Are there instances/allusions in the play which demonstrate a personal relationship between Prospero and God?

Poems and Sprezzatura