Interesting look at the life of of Shakespeare

Themes within The Tempest

The Tempest tells a fairly straightforward story about wrongful removal from the throne by his brother Alonzo, and Prospero's quest to try and get back to his rightful position and bring justice, however the theme of justice is somewhat blurred due to Prospero's actions. Prospero presents himself a a victim of an injustice, thoug his idea of justice is somewhat hypocritical due to the fact that the whole plot is driven by the fact that Prospero is angry that he has been removed from power, yet he feels no way about enslaving both Ariel and Caliban in order to meet his own needs. Prospero's sense of justice often seems very one sided throughout the play as most of the events that happen within the play seem to benefit him and his desire for power one way or another. Due to that fact that there is no higher power within the play to challenge Prospero's perception of events, the play is quite morally ambiguous. As the play progresses, it is worth noting that the he begins to mirror the the actions of the author of the play as he seemingly uses magic and trickery to create the story around him as when even the story seemingly comes to a halt, a scene ensues between him and Ariel, who often does something to the other members of the play to continue the story. By using magic tricks and special effects that resemble effects of a theatre performance, he begins to convince the characters of the play and the audience of his case, as things begin to resolve themselves and he ends up forgiving all involved within the play and relinquishing his magic powers at the end of the play, much like an author who no longer holds control over his characters once the story ends and the book shuts.

The island itself is an interesting theme within the play as well it seems to allure whoever takes refuge within it with the idea of infinite possibility. When Prospero lands there, he sees it as a place to school his daughter and ends up taking control of the island. Calibans mother Sycorax, also began to work her magic there after her exile from Algeria. Caliban who became Prospero's slave had began to think of himself a king of the island and Gonzalo imagines a Utopian society on he island. The idea of ruling the island is what drove alot of Stefano and Trinculo's story as they planned to kill Prospero to take control of the island. All these characters seem to view this place as a symbol of freedom and unrealized potential.

Nearly every scene in the play seems to portray a relationship between a person that possesses power and a person who is subject to that power. The play explores the master servant dynamic quite harshly in cases in which the relationship dynamic is threatened or disrupted, as by the rebellion of a servant or the incompetence of a master. For instance, in the opening scene, the "servant" (the Boatswain) is rude and angry towards his "masters" (the noblemen), whose incompetence threatens to lead a shipwreck in the storm, from then on, the master servant relationships like these dominate the play: Prospero and Caliban, Prospero and Ariel, Alonso and is Nobles,  the Nobles and Gonzalo, Stephano-Trinculo , and Caliban and so on, The play explores the different social dynamics of power relationships from a few different angles, such as the generally positive relationship between Prospero and Ariel and the generally negative relationship between Prospero and Caliban and the treachery in Alonso's relationship to his nobles.

Ariel

Ariel

Ariel is a spirit that is servant to Prospero, who rescued Ariel from a tree that he was imprisoned within a tree by the witch Sycorax. Ariel is most often considered a male character, but this is not indisputable and changes often depending on the director of the play. Ariel is most often compared to to Caliban within the play as the characters bear the most similarities. In his liking for mischievousness, Ariel is also similar to Puck.  Although we see at the beginning and throughout the play that Ariel is affectionate towards his master, we soon learn that he his not a servant by nature, and that he is working towards his freedom by aiding Prospero in his amoral plot.

Over the years, Ariel has been (and still is) played by both male and female characters. In Shakespeare's time, there were now actresses on stage, meaning that young male characters would often play the parts of female characters which was seen as perfectly acceptable to an Elizabethan audience. Which means that the character of Ariel would have to have been played by a boy, regardless of the original sex of that character, which could have blurred the sex of the character in the many future adaptations to come, although Ariel has been sexed in two scenes of the play :

1. A stage direction refers to Ariel with a male pronoun:  "Thunder and lightning. Enter Ariel, like a harpy, claps his wings upon the table" 

2. Ariel refers to himself with the male pronoun: "All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come.. to thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality" 

The Tempest

(Left to right: Ariel, Prospero, Miranda)

The Tempest was written by Shakespeare and was believed to have been conceived between the year 1610 and 1611. It is widely believed that this was the last play that Shakespeare had written by himself . There is no established source that provides information about Shakespeare's influence for writing The Tempest, but there are sources that are believed to have inspired the piece. One possible source for his inspiration may have been a German play by Jacob Ayrer of Nuremberg, who died in 1605. His Fair Sidea was not printed till 1618,  Shakespeare could only have known of it by report,which might have beeen brought over by the English players who visited Nuremberg in 1604 and 1606. In both The Fair Sidea and The Tempest we have "a prince given to magic, and driven into exile with a daughter who marries the son of his enemy; an attendant spirit; and - most striking of all - the imposition of log-carrying upon the captive prince, and the fixing of his sword in his scabbard." 

Another possible source of inspiration was possibly from the the eye witness report of William Strachey's shipwreck on the islands of Bermuda. William Strachey was a passenger aboard the flagship 'Sea Venture' when they wee blown off course by a hurricane two months into the trip, near the islands of Berrmuda, one hundred and fifty people and a dog were saved from the scene. They were eventually able to escape the island after nearly a year as they were able to build two small ships and they eventually managed to complete their voyage to Virginia. 

The Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London, that was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's company, The Lord Chamberlain's Men. The globe was burned down but was built on he same site in 1614, but then closed again shortly afterwards in 1642. A modern reconstruction of the theatre names 'Shakespeare's Globe' was built in 1997 around 750m away from the original site

Shakespeare's Globe has a very unique layout in that it is an open air theatre that is entirely round. The theatre has 3 storeys and can hold around 3000 spectators. At the base of the stage there was an area that was often referred to at "The Pit", where "Groundlings" (as they were called) could stand and watch the play for a penny. Also on stage there was a hidden trap door which performers could access while performing. The main stage had two parts that were often referred to as the inner and outer stage. The outer stage was often used for all the main going on's within the play, where as the inner stage was used if either the characters were on stage but not necessarily the main focus , and also if a scene was set indoors or inside somewhere. Underneath the floor of both the inner and outer stage there was a cellar that was often referred to as "Hell" allowing for the dramatic appearance of ghost or any other supernatural apparition that was required for the play.


It is also worth noting that unlike a lot of  modern plays, there were no lighting changes or curtains to change set when necessary, meaning that most times, if a scene changed, no matter how dramatic or intense the scene would get the actors would never leave the stage, meaning it was down to the audience to imagine the scene had changed. Shakespeare's plays were often very descriptive regarding the scenery, which often helped for the imagination of the audience, as the scene was often described within the text.  

Gonzalo

An old, honest lord, Gonzalo helped Prospero and Miranda to escape after Antonio took Prospero’s position. Gonzalo’s speeches provide a commentary on the events of the play, as he remarks on the beauty of the island when the stranded kings men arrive, then on the desperation of Alonso after the magic banquet, and on the miracle of everyone getting back together. Gonzalo is the only character able to see Caliban as more than a demonic beast. Gonzalo first arrives on the Prospero's island with Alonso, Ferdinand, Sebastian, Antonio, Stefano, and Trinculo during a storm while comiung back from the marriage of Alonso’s daughter. During their time on the island, Gonzalo repeatedly attempts to lighten the mood by discussing the what is happening on the island.
 I wanted to portray the character of Gonzalo as a more youthful character as I thought that it would reflect of the modern adaptation even more as it is a more younger character in a high position of power. I also wanted to make him more innocent to the things that were going on in the piece as it reflected a level of slightly reckless almost ignorat at times.