response
The Tempest
Strange Magic
The End of Magic
In V.1, after telling Ariel to release the king’s party from his spells, Prospero expounds upon the magical power he commands:
[…] by whose aid,
(Weak masters though ye be) I have bedimmed
The noontide sun, called forth the mutinous winds,
And ‘twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war; to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire and rifted Jove’s stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
Have I made shake and by the spurs plucked up
The pine and cedar; graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ’em forth
By my so potent art. (40–50)
However, he then states he will give that all up:
But this rough magic
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I’ll drown my book. (50–57)
Knowledge is Power: Books Are Weapons
Even more than Doctor Faustus, The Tempest emphasizes books as a source of comfort & power.
Prospero tells Miranda about the value of books to him:
Me (poor man) my library
Was dukedom large enough: of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable. (I.2.109–11)
Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom. (I.166–8)
Caliban instructs Stephano to destroy the books first:
Remember
First to possess his books; for without them
He’s but a sot, as I am, nor hath not
One spirit to command. They all do hate him
As rootedly as I. Burn but his books. (III.2.90–94)
The power of books in the text is juxtaposed with and related to the power of words.
Prospero’s spells often work like Jedi mind tricks:
Thy nerves are in their infancy again
And have no vigour in them.
Time
Literature, Shakespeare’s works included, generally features at least some disparity between narrative time & narrated time. The Tempest, however, unites them. Thus, Prospero’s plot & Shakespeare’s play take the same amount of time:
PROSPERO
Now does my project gather to a head:
My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time
Goes upright with his carriage. How’s the day?
ARIEL
On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
You said our work should cease. (V.1.1–5)
Or: “but three glasses since we gave our split” (223).
Other time frames intrude in the action however, like the 12 years of backstory & future plans.
And thence retire me to Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave. (311–12)
Clothes Make the Man
Clothes and accessories serve an important role in The Tempest, particularly for Prospero.
After causing the storm, Prospero asks Miranda to remove his “magic garment” in I.2.
Also in I.2. Prospero informs Ferdinand that he “can disarm you with this stick” (473).
In IV.1, it is Prospero’s “glistering apparel” that distracts Stephano & Trinculo from their mission.
In V.1, Prospero tells Ariel
Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell.
I will discase me, and myself present
As I was sometime Milan. (85–7)
In theater, costumes signify a character’s role & rank within a play, so what do these costume changes mean?
Mercy & Forgiveness
By the end of the play, Prospero has the entire population of the island at his mercy:
ARIEL
Your charm so strongly works ’em
That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.
PROSPERO
Dost thou think so, spirit?
ARIEL
Mine would, sir, were I human.
PROSPERO
And mine shall.
King Alonso, in a reversal of rank, asks Prospero to pardon him and restores his dukedom.
Prospero even forgives his brother, though his brother never accepts that forgiveness aloud.
Prospero leads Alonso to the newlyweds who are … playing chess?
Epilogue
Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
And what strength I have’s mine own,
Which is most faint: now, ’tis true,
I must be here confined 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 sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardoned be,
Let your indulgence set me free.
(Epilogue.1–20)
