1: The Tempest by William Shakespeare

This is the first comedy I have ever read by my good old friend Willie. The school curriculum seems to have more appreciation for his myriad of tragedies.

Let me tell you that The Tempest was not what I expected. First of all, the title makes it sound like it would be a tragedy, but the actual storm occurs in the first scene of the play before any of the true action occurs.

It is a story of revenge, but unlike Hamlet or Iago, Prospero feels not the need to kill the ones who wronged him. Rather, he just requires that they are sorry for usurping his dukedom in Milan.

It is likely that Shakespeare drew his inspiration for The Tempest from a shipwreck in the Bermudas. He lived during a time of exploration and colonization. The island that Prospero lives on is mysterious and magical and filled with spirits and monsters. This may reflect the sense of uncertainty and mystery that Europeans felt about the Americas and islands in the Caribbean. Shakespeare was also likely influenced by an essay called On Cannibalism. The character of Caliban, the "monstrous" and at the same time weak native, may have a link with cannibalism. He is definitely portrayed as the savage native, while Prospero is the European colonizer who comes from abroad and takes the island away from the native. The idea of a "savage" native permeated the perspective of European colonizers who justified their conquests by claiming to bring civilization to these peoples.

It was also interesting to see how Shakespeare instilled himself into the character of Prospero. Just as Prospero controls all of the people on the island, so does a playwright control all the actions and words of his characters. Prospero's schemes, spells, and manipulations all work towards the happy conclusion much like a dramatist creates the events of a play to reach the end. Like Shakespeare, Prospero's source of magic is his books.

The Tempest also develops the theme of a great magician giving up his art. By the end of the play, Prospero realizes that he is going to soon die and wants to give up his magic and return to Milan. "But this rough magic/I here abjure, and when I have required/Some heavenly music, which even now I do... I'll break my staff/Bury it certain fathoms in the earth/And deeper than ever did plummet sound/I'll drown my book" (Act 5 Scene 1 Lines 50-57). Here too, Shakespeare seems to be likening himself to Prospero. The Tempest was one of Shakespeare's last plays, and he must have realized he was going to die soon and created the character of Prospero as a mirror image of himself.

I had no idea that Aldous Huxley drew his inspiration from this particular Shakespearean play when Miranda exclaims, "Oh wonder!/How many goodly creatures are there here!/How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,/That has such people in 't!" (Act 5 Scene 1 Lines 183-186). And even back then sarcasm surrounded these words, as she said them about the backstabbing Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso. Shakespeare and Huxley both make a reader wonder, is civilization really so wonderful?

Haha and to have both the names Ariel and Sebastian in the same play? I was having some serious The Little Mermaid flashes. Not that this is a bad thing, however!