March82012
If you were stranded on a desert island what three things would you bring? I have been asked this question many times and my answer sometimes includes a ping-pong table, sun glasses, and a book titled, “How to Build a Boat.”  I have never been stranded on a desert island, but Prospero has.  The play, The Tempest, is set on an island in the New World where Prospero and Miranda must live away from their home of Milan.   What three things would Prospero bring to a desert island? This first thing Prospero would pack is his magic.  Prospero gains his power from his magic.  Without it he would be powerless and weak.  Power is one characteristic that reminds him of his great life back in Milan.  The constant reminder of what he left behind pushes Prospero find a way back home. The next item on Prospero’s list is a book titled, “Manipulation 101.”  Prospero’s power doesn’t only come from his magic, but from his ability to easily manipulate others.  When He first arrived in the island, Prospero quickly gained control over Caliban and Ariel making them his indentured slaves.  With the ability to exploit those around him, Prospero gains authority over all existing forms of power and is able to create his own hierarchy of command. And finally, Prospero would bring his daughter, Miranda.  Like Prospero said in the play, Miranda is 1/3 of himself.  Miranda is Prospero’s only human connection to his past and the his only reason to have a bright future.  We see Prospero’s devotion to Miranda throughout the play.  Without Miranda, Prospero would not be civil and seek pure revenge for what his brother did. So, what three things would you bring if you were stranded on a desert island?  This question doesn’t ask how or why you got onto the island, or even how you would get off.  The question is about the time you spend on the island and what is most important to you.   What does Prospero care about and what does that reveal about his character? Do the things we bring define who we are and what we stand for? -Rachel F.

If you were stranded on a desert island what three things would you bring?

I have been asked this question many times and my answer sometimes includes a ping-pong table, sun glasses, and a book titled, “How to Build a Boat.”  I have never been stranded on a desert island, but Prospero has.  The play, The Tempest, is set on an island in the New World where Prospero and Miranda must live away from their home of Milan.  

What three things would Prospero bring to a desert island?

This first thing Prospero would pack is his magic.  Prospero gains his power from his magic.  Without it he would be powerless and weak.  Power is one characteristic that reminds him of his great life back in Milan.  The constant reminder of what he left behind pushes Prospero find a way back home.

The next item on Prospero’s list is a book titled, “Manipulation 101.”  Prospero’s power doesn’t only come from his magic, but from his ability to easily manipulate others.  When He first arrived in the island, Prospero quickly gained control over Caliban and Ariel making them his indentured slaves.  With the ability to exploit those around him, Prospero gains authority over all existing forms of power and is able to create his own hierarchy of command.

And finally, Prospero would bring his daughter, Miranda.  Like Prospero said in the play, Miranda is 1/3 of himself.  Miranda is Prospero’s only human connection to his past and the his only reason to have a bright future.  We see Prospero’s devotion to Miranda throughout the play.  Without Miranda, Prospero would not be civil and seek pure revenge for what his brother did.

So, what three things would you bring if you were stranded on a desert island?  This question doesn’t ask how or why you got onto the island, or even how you would get off.  The question is about the time you spend on the island and what is most important to you.  

What does Prospero care about and what does that reveal about his character?

Do the things we bring define who we are and what we stand for?

-Rachel F.

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March72012

Leaving

In the plat The Tempest, a ton of leaving takes place in the play. First Prospero and Miranda leaving Milan, then the ship leaving Milan, and everyone leaving the island at the end of the play. However after leaving becomes arrival, just as the saying about closing one door and opening another. Every time a character closes a door of their own they open another door that leads to a plethora of opportunities. For Prospero specifically he closes multiple doors at one time, leaving one open that leaded him back to where he came from. Now he is going back to the start his “little life is rounded with sleep” (133). Prospero has made a full circle in his lifetime and now has no choice but to follow it until the end.

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February292012
During the marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda, Prospero brings in his spirits, Juno, Iris, and Ceres, or better known as the Greek goddesses, Hera, Iris, and Demeter. Iris represents the rainbow, or the sky and sea mixing together. She is also the handmaiden to Juno, and tells the goddess Ceres that Juno,  ”…Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace, here on this grass-plot, in this very place, to come and sport. Her peacocks fly amain. Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain” (4.1 80-83). Iris is telling another goddess to entertain the other goddess, which connects to the theme of power struggle between inhabitants on the island, even goddesses. Ceres is the goddess of fertility and earth which goes hand in hand with Juno’s status of goddess of marriage. Ceres also demonstrates a power struggle between herself and the goddess Venus by saying, “Since they did plot the means that dusky Dis my daughter got, Her and her blind boy’s scandaled company I have forsworn” (4.1 97-100). Venus plotted to capture Ceres’s daughter in the underworld by having the Dis (or Hades) fall in love with her and steal her away from the living earth. Ceres no longer is allowed to be with her daughter because she lost control of those around her. After Ceres makes her point, Juno descends from the heavens and blesses Ferdinand and Miranda for marriage. The theme of power struggle is dominant throughout the book, even with little scenes of spirits like Ceres, Juno, and Iris. I found this image and thought it was super cute but also shows how Ceres worships Juno and the power inequality between them when Ceres says, “Highest Queen”.  -Amanda

During the marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda, Prospero brings in his spirits, Juno, Iris, and Ceres, or better known as the Greek goddesses, Hera, Iris, and Demeter. Iris represents the rainbow, or the sky and sea mixing together. She is also the handmaiden to Juno, and tells the goddess Ceres that Juno,  ”…Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace, here on this grass-plot, in this very place, to come and sport. Her peacocks fly amain. Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain” (4.1 80-83). Iris is telling another goddess to entertain the other goddess, which connects to the theme of power struggle between inhabitants on the island, even goddesses. Ceres is the goddess of fertility and earth which goes hand in hand with Juno’s status of goddess of marriage. Ceres also demonstrates a power struggle between herself and the goddess Venus by saying, “Since they did plot the means that dusky Dis my daughter got, Her and her blind boy’s scandaled company I have forsworn” (4.1 97-100). Venus plotted to capture Ceres’s daughter in the underworld by having the Dis (or Hades) fall in love with her and steal her away from the living earth. Ceres no longer is allowed to be with her daughter because she lost control of those around her. After Ceres makes her point, Juno descends from the heavens and blesses Ferdinand and Miranda for marriage. The theme of power struggle is dominant throughout the book, even with little scenes of spirits like Ceres, Juno, and Iris. I found this image and thought it was super cute but also shows how Ceres worships Juno and the power inequality between them when Ceres says, “Highest Queen”. 

-Amanda

juno ceres iris rainbow power tempest William Shakespeare goddess 

February282012

Ambiguity

First, the ambiguity.

The most ambiguous and ever changing character in The Tempest is the one and only Ariel (my personal favorite). Ariel’s character is a spirit whom does not have a gender (but Prospero calls Ariel “he”), age, race, culture, sex, etc., but Ariel does have a connection to Prospero until set free. His attachment to Prospero allows the readers a way to envision a face behind the personality of Ariel, though Shakespeare does not give evidence to support any of the ideas. Ariel’s ambiguity directly relates to the optical illusion above because, like Ariel, the photo can be seen as multiple things, but no one knows exactly what it is. In this case the photo is a glass or two faces (fewer options than Ariel), but both options can not be proven 100% true. Just because Prospero calls Ariel “he” does not automatically make Ariel a man.

-Kai

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February92012

In 7th grade we read The Tempest and maintained a blog/chat similar to this Tumblr.  Strangely, I remember what I posted as a thirteen year old and now four years later I have a greater understanding.  Parentheses by The Blow is about the trust two people have and how their individual personalities contribute to creating this trust.  Four years ago, I interpreted the lines, “There’s plenty space to encase/ whatever weird way my mind goes,/ I know I’ll be safe in these arms” to sum up with relationship between Prospero and Miranda.  All throughout her childhood Miranda has grown up without an understanding of where she comes from until Act 1, Scene 2 in the Tempest when she asks what she is.  Miranda has trusted her father all these years in his “arms” to protect her because she is vulnerable to the unknown in the world.  What does Miranda’s unwavering trust reveal about her character?  Values she was brought us with? And her expectations of her father?  Now, I would like the interpret the opening lines, “Some philosophies fuel a belief in the self,/ constructed to keep one’s goods on one’s own shelf.”  This part of the song underlines the human condition to withhold parts of ones self or ones true actions.  Not disclosing the whole truth is just as bad as lying to someone.  In The Tempest, Prospero puts obstacles in the way of Miranda and Ferdinand’s love to force Ferdinand into enslavement.  Prospero repeatedly uses magic to get others to do what he wants and he never reveals the truth behind his malicious actions.  By withholding the truth behind his actions what does Prospero reveal about his true motives?  Are his untruthful actions deemed acceptable if they don’t hurt anyone?

-Rachel F.

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8PM

This is a clip from the movie The Tempest directed by Julie Taymor starring Helen Mirren, Felicity Jones, and Ben Whishaw. This clip is from around the lines 322-347 when Prospero is criticizing Ariel for complaining about his duties. I love this scene because it gives such a good visual of Ariel becoming the pine, but also the special effects emphasize both Ariel and Prospera’s power. They are able to turn their setting from inside a room into a flashback of Ariels imprisonment, which shows how Prospera and Ariel are able to control the island with their magic. I also like the fact that Julie Taymor made Prospero into a Prospera, male to female. In this scene, Helen Mirren portrays a very intimidating Prospera who I would be equally frightened of, male or female. Another reason why I like Prospero portrayed as a woman is because either way, Miranda cannot tell the difference between parenting. In the text, she has never known her mother, but in the movie, she has never known her father but that doesn’t make a difference because one or the other is still parenting her. What do you guys think of Prospero being portrayed as a Prospera?

-Amanda

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