One of the most mysterious plays by Shakespeare that will remind you of other plays they may be remakes of, like "Twelfth Night" and a shipwreck there too. The usurper is also common in "As You Like it" for example, or "Hamlet" in a tragic mode. The use of fairies, spirits and even monsters are not uncommon in his plays like "A Midsummer Night's Dream", or "The Merry Wives of Windsor", or "Macbeth" of course in a tragic mode.
But this play is special because it actually starts the action on the ship when it is being shipwrecked by a storm. The situation on the absolutely isolated island is difficult for the "survivors" because it is in the hands of a "sorcerer" who has enslaved some monster, Caliban, and has put to his service Ariel and his band of spirits. That gives the island a magic look and sound that is charming and disquieting, and the master, Prospero, can control the tempest, the shipwreck and the survival of the victims.
In fact he knows who is on the ship and he manipulates the elements to both get a husband to his daughter, get reinstated in his position of Duke of Milan by forgiving the people who ousted him, get his real vengeance from the manipulators and plotters, and go back home after liberating Caliban and freeing Ariel of his dependence.
All together it is a simple play, a comedy of sorts and hence there would be little to say about it. And yet it is somewhere more complex than that. What makes it different, deeper? It is the belief that if you have the proper knowledge, the necessary books, the patience and the peace of mind necessary you can control the world both in its physical essence and in its supernatural dimension. And that is not only a simple trick used on the stage. The whole plot, the whole play cannot work if those spirits do not exist. Somewhere there is a real belief you can move tempests and mountains with proper spiritual faith.
There is also the exploitation of the local and slightly underdeveloped native enslaved to do all the hard work and difficult tasks. Colonialism is all contained in that attitude that considers that local native as not being in anyway able to get to the civilized level that might provide him with a soul. And he insists on the vicious nature of this native who can get drunk easily and then become murderous, and who can only dream of killing his master out of some vengeance.
Then the rest is more common with the social vignettes on the political plotters, and on the servants that only dream of getting drunk on their master's wine and of stealing all they can from their masters or anyone else. There is a deep social pessimism in this play: the social servants are unredeemable and are unredeemed even if they are redressed.
Finally this play does not work at all like many others. It could have been a tragedy but it was made into a comedy and there are no tricks like four weddings or whatever. Just one plain and simple wedding. There is no vengeance really since it all ends up in forgiveness and some verbal repentance. And the tempest that comes out of the mind of one man is there to bring that fake justice. It repairs nothing and it does not re-establish the balance of before. It is very fine and dandy to go back to Milan but you have lost so many years being no one in an island lost in the middle of some ferocious ocean. It is not even a comedy because the end is just a dull rebalancing act that brings no fun and no justice, and there is no justice if there is no punishment and reparation, and no fun if there is no justice.
I like the play because of its mysterious and magical atmosphere and because of the pure and virginal love affair it contains, but it is like some after thought or testament, a regret before going for good, or whatever you may think, but after such a play that ends in such a flat leveling there is nothing to add or say and you could add long dancing interludes or singing intermezzos that would not add one iota of depth to this play.
I have seen that play so often and in so many countries and places that I start knowing it by heart, and yet I do not discover anything new in it any more, as I do with practically all other plays by Shakespeare. It is a case where I would easily accept that this play was written in the circle in which Shakespeare was shining, but maybe not by the master himself.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
But this play is special because it actually starts the action on the ship when it is being shipwrecked by a storm. The situation on the absolutely isolated island is difficult for the "survivors" because it is in the hands of a "sorcerer" who has enslaved some monster, Caliban, and has put to his service Ariel and his band of spirits. That gives the island a magic look and sound that is charming and disquieting, and the master, Prospero, can control the tempest, the shipwreck and the survival of the victims.
In fact he knows who is on the ship and he manipulates the elements to both get a husband to his daughter, get reinstated in his position of Duke of Milan by forgiving the people who ousted him, get his real vengeance from the manipulators and plotters, and go back home after liberating Caliban and freeing Ariel of his dependence.
All together it is a simple play, a comedy of sorts and hence there would be little to say about it. And yet it is somewhere more complex than that. What makes it different, deeper? It is the belief that if you have the proper knowledge, the necessary books, the patience and the peace of mind necessary you can control the world both in its physical essence and in its supernatural dimension. And that is not only a simple trick used on the stage. The whole plot, the whole play cannot work if those spirits do not exist. Somewhere there is a real belief you can move tempests and mountains with proper spiritual faith.
There is also the exploitation of the local and slightly underdeveloped native enslaved to do all the hard work and difficult tasks. Colonialism is all contained in that attitude that considers that local native as not being in anyway able to get to the civilized level that might provide him with a soul. And he insists on the vicious nature of this native who can get drunk easily and then become murderous, and who can only dream of killing his master out of some vengeance.
Then the rest is more common with the social vignettes on the political plotters, and on the servants that only dream of getting drunk on their master's wine and of stealing all they can from their masters or anyone else. There is a deep social pessimism in this play: the social servants are unredeemable and are unredeemed even if they are redressed.
Finally this play does not work at all like many others. It could have been a tragedy but it was made into a comedy and there are no tricks like four weddings or whatever. Just one plain and simple wedding. There is no vengeance really since it all ends up in forgiveness and some verbal repentance. And the tempest that comes out of the mind of one man is there to bring that fake justice. It repairs nothing and it does not re-establish the balance of before. It is very fine and dandy to go back to Milan but you have lost so many years being no one in an island lost in the middle of some ferocious ocean. It is not even a comedy because the end is just a dull rebalancing act that brings no fun and no justice, and there is no justice if there is no punishment and reparation, and no fun if there is no justice.
I like the play because of its mysterious and magical atmosphere and because of the pure and virginal love affair it contains, but it is like some after thought or testament, a regret before going for good, or whatever you may think, but after such a play that ends in such a flat leveling there is nothing to add or say and you could add long dancing interludes or singing intermezzos that would not add one iota of depth to this play.
I have seen that play so often and in so many countries and places that I start knowing it by heart, and yet I do not discover anything new in it any more, as I do with practically all other plays by Shakespeare. It is a case where I would easily accept that this play was written in the circle in which Shakespeare was shining, but maybe not by the master himself.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU