Tempest Critics Flashcards
Madeleine Doran
The play is about ‘Prospero’s discovery of his own ethic of forgiveness, and renunciation of his magical powers’
Anthony Harris
‘Prospero’s magical practices, however elevated they may appear, are in the final analysis as damnable as the blackest witchcraft’
Keith Sagar
‘Prospero is a god-like being, totally in control of himself and everyone else which was for centuries the traditional and orthodox reading of the play.’
Saunders on Antonio, Sebastian and; Prospero
‘The absurdly aggressive behaviour of Antonio and Sebastian makes Prospero’s exercise of power seem necessary’
Saunders on Gonzalo
‘Gonzalo’s dream contrasts with the power-obsessed ideas of the other characters, including Prospero. He would do away with the master-servant motif that lies at the heart of ‘The Tempest’
Emma Smith
argues Prospero has ‘authorial control’ over characters
Andrew Green on Prospero’s sadism
‘Prospero takes on an almost sadistic quality’ in his use of magic to control and manipulate characters’
Hazlitt (1778-1830)
Caliban’s deformity whether of body or mind is redeemed by the power and truth of the imagination displayed in it’
Diana Devlin
‘Caliban’s receptiveness to the island shows a spirituality which raises him above base humanity’
Deborah Willis
‘The presentation of Caliban as a monster is used by colonial power to ‘justify the colonial project morally’
19th C dramatisation of Ariel and Caliban
‘the slave needs the master just as much as the master needs the slave’
Dryden (1631-1700) on Caliban
‘His language is as hobgoblin as his person’
Cicily Berry
‘Caliban is the other and Prospero has power over him with language’
‘“The Tempest” is about colonialism’
Lindley
‘The presence of Ariel or Prospero in each scene focuses attention on their control rather than the development of the story line’
Deborah B Schwartz
‘Romance has a muted tone of happiness - joy mixed with sorrow’
‘Tragedy is concerned with revenge, Romance with forgiveness’
