The Tempest - thematic quotes, critical interpretations, and context Flashcards
Quotations not repeated between cards - have been assigned via best fit (15 cards)
Quotations that support the theme of the elements/nature - 9
Boatswain - “What cares these roarers/For the name of king?”
Prospero of Antonio - “The ivy which had hid my princely trunk”
Prospero to Caliban - “Thou earth, thou: speak”
Francisco of Ferdinand - “beat the surges”
Gonzalo - “nature should bring forth/… all abundance/To feed my innocent people”
Alonso - “the sea mocks/Our frustrate search on land”
Ariel - “the elements/ Of whom your swords are tempered”
Prospero - “I’ll drown my book”
Prospero of Sycorax - “make flows and ebbs”
Quotations that support the theme of Prospero’s control/rule - 21
Miranda - “If by your art, dearest father, you have/Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them”
Prospero to Miranda - “Here cease more questions/Thou art inclined to sleep”
Prospero to Ariel - “Thou liest, malignant thing”
Ariel to Prospero - “My lord, it shall be done”
Caliban - “This island’s mine by Sycorax, my mother”
Prospero to Ferdinand - “I can here disarm thee with this stick”
Antonio - “They dropped, as by a thunder stroke”
Caliban - “All the infections that the sun sucks up/… on Prosper fall” [with burden of wood]
Caliban - “A plague upon the tyrant that I serve”
Miranda - “Oh my father/I have broke your hest to say so”
Ariel - “I and my fellows/Are ministers of fate”
Prospero - “My high charms work/And these, mine enemies, are all knit up”
Ariel - “Do you love me master? No?”
Prospero - “The minute of their plot/Is almost come”
Caliban - “He’ll fill our skin with pinches”
Prospero - “At this hour/Lies at my mercy all mine enemies”
Prospero - “But this rough magic/I here abjure”
Prospero to Ariel - “I shall miss thee,/But yet thou shalt have freedom”
Prospero - “I do forgive/Thy rankest fault”
Prospero - “This thing of darkness I/Acknowledge mine”
Prospero - “I’ll…/…promise you calm seas”
Quotations that support the theme of nobility/hierarchy - 7
Caliban - “I had peopled else/This isle with Calibans”
Stephano - “keep him tame…he’s a present”
Trinculo of Caliban - repeated “monster”
Ferdinand [bearing a log] - “most poor matters/Point to rich ends”
Prospero - “a born devil, on whose nature/Nurture can never stick”
Prospero - “the rare action is/In virtue than in vengeance”
Miranda of Caliban - “Tis a villain, sir”
Quotations that support the theme of the confusion of magic/the island setting - 9
Ariel quoting sailor - “Hell is empty/And all the devils are here”
Gonzalo - “nature should bring forth/… all abundance/To feed my innocent people”
Miranda - “I’ll bear your logs the while”
Ferdinand - “Here’s my hand”
Gonzalo - “their great guilt/Like poison given to work a great time after/Now ‘gins to bite the spirits”
Prospero - “the baseless fabric of this vision”
Prospero - “we are such stuff/As dreams are made in”
Ariel - “as they smelt music”
Gonzalo - “when no man was his own”
Quotations that support the theme of authority IN ADDITION to those specifically about Prospero (to whom most power belongs on the island) - 6
Prospero of Miranda - “Make the prize light”
Stephano to Caliban of the bottle - “Here, kiss the book”
Ferdinand - “The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead”
Caliban - “I’ll not show him/Where the quick freshes are”
Prospero - “I must be here confined by you”
Prospero - “Unless I be relieved by prayer”
Critical interpretations that support the theme of the elements - 5
Julie Taymor’s 2010 production sees Caliban as sub-human, with a shell and covered in Earth
Malcolm Hebron - “Ariel represents Prospero’s art in its most spiritual form… Caliban symbolises his earthly side”
Charles Moseley - “a balance of elements is needed to restore order”
Jacobean audience would have better recognised symbolism of elements
WH Auden in “The Sea and the Mirror” - Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban are all bound together
Critical interpretations that support the theme of Prospero’s control/authority - 5
Magus - someone who understands the cosmos and man’s place within it
Malcolm Hebron - “Prospero is not a benign sage, but a troubled soul”
Machiavellian character - scheming, malicious, yet appears benevolent
John Hathaway - “Ariel is an example of a servant who loves his master, and who seeks affirmation of that love”
Margaret Atwood in “Hag Seed” - Ariel is “Prospero’s special effects guy”
Critical interpretations that support the theme of nobility/hierarchy - 3
Bacon - “In taking revenge, a man is equal with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior”
Montaigne’s essay - humans are not superior to savages - “noble savage”
George Norton - “Caliban has internalised his own subordination: the only way he knows how to behave is as someone enslaved”
Critical interpretations that support the theme of the confusion of magic/the island setting - 4
Utopia - imaginary and perfect world as created by Thomas More
Charlotte Unsworth-Hughes - “The island setting, as a new world, offers endless opportunity: it is pure and uncontaminated by the outside world”
Reuben Brower - “In a world where everything may become something else, doubts naturally arise”
Masque - order, formality vs anti masque - grotesque, comic - James I swapped them round so anti masque came first
Critical interpretations that support the theme of authority IN ADDITION to those specifically about Prospero - 2
Neil Bowen - “In a crisis, authority appears to lie with those best able to deal with the situation”
George Norton - “Isolated on a remote island and removed from state structures, there is little point, the play seems to suggest, in having power over others”
Context that supports the theme of the elements/nature - 3
Man seen as connected to nature - growing concerns about how man’s role within nature changed as roles of religion and science evolved
Folklore popular - belief that fairies could influence elements/actions
4 humours - balance influenced actions
Context that supports the theme of Prospero’s control - 3
Magus - someone who understands the cosmos and man’s place within it
Machiavellian character - scheming and malicious yet with the appearance of benevolence
Belief that stars could influence events on Earth - Prospero’s understanding of astrology would therefore give him significant power
Context that supports the theme of nobility/hierarchy - 4
Montaigne’s essay “Of the Cannibals” - challenges view that Europeans are superior to savages - introduced idea of “noble savage”
Due to James I ascension to the throne, plays discussing legitimacy took on new meaning - topical but risky
Great Chain of Being - Prospero = God?
Performed at Blackfriars - wealthier audience
Context that supports the theme of the confusion of magic/the island setting - 5
Thomas More’s utopian vision - perfect world
Masque - order, formality vs anti masque - confusion, comedy - James I reversed them so anti masque came first
The island can be interpreted as a microcosm of the colonial experience, raising questions about authority, governance, and the moral implications of colonisation
Renaissance fascination with alchemy and science - boundaries blurred
Magic reflected in special effects of Blackfriars
Context that supports the theme of authority IN ADDITION to that of Prospero - 4
Treatment of native South Americans by Ferdinand Magellan on his circumnavigation
Colonialisation
Prospero’s exile reflective of European politics at the time
Shakespeare’s farewell to the stage?
