| Play begins in media res | disorder (reinforced by entrances and exits) |
| ‘On a ship at sea. A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning’ | Sense of realism; Shakespeare’s last solo play – spectacular opening |
| Boatswain: “Work you, then” | • Imperative = inversion of Great Chain of Being (disorder)¤ Inverted syntax = foregrounds insult (Sebastian is noble) |
| Sebastian calls the Boatswain a “dog” | “dog” = Low status (trying to re-establish hierarchy/superiority) |
| Boatswain: “What cares these roarers for the name of king?” | • Onomatopoeic ‘roarers’ creates a sense of noise violence and danger; Boatswain makes clear unimportance of hierarchy in the face of the violent storm – disorder |
| “If by your art, my dearest father, you have/ Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them” (1) | • storm = magic – ‘art’ (presents his magic as a skil/beautiful (white magic)• Prospero is the subject = active/powerful• ‘Put’ makes it seem effortless▪’wild waters’ presents nature as untameable▪’roar’ = violent, animalistic, onomatopoeic |
| “If by your art, my dearest father, you have/ Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them” (2) | ‘dearest’ = close relationship (living on island alone for 12 years) |
| “allay them” | imperative =(could suggest) Miranda as active and having agency, but female trait of compassion |
| “The ivy which had hid my princely trunk” | • metaphor presents Antonio as parasitic |
| “The government I cast upon my brother” (1) | neglects duties (against James’ ideas in True Law – ‘stranger’ rather than fatjer to his people); obsessed with magic |
| “The government I cast upon my brother” (3) | • inverted syntax = foregrounds P.’s duties; he neglects them for his magic▪’cast’ suggests he has discarded his duties as unwanted + has connotations with magic |
| “The government I cast upon my brother” (4) | ○ P is the subject = in part to blame- Antonio is object =(could suggest) duties as a burden |
| “Volumes that I prize above my dukedom” | – present tense = still values magic over dukedom |
| “Approach my Ariel. Come!” | – repeated imperatives show annoyance + dominance× possessive ‘my’ objectifies (foreshadows “thing”), but affectionate |
| “Is there more toil?” | – question challenges P.’s role as master• he presents servitude as arduous |
| “If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak, / And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till / Thou hast howl’d away twelve winters.” | – parallels Sycorax’s punishment of Ariel (even the no. of years although Prospero is more powerful as he can violently ‘rend’ an ‘oak’ – harder wood, associated with Zeus, king of the Greek gods) |
| “If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak, / And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till / Thou hast howl’d away twelve winters.” | – onomatopoeia = pain and suffering • ‘winters’ rather than ‘years’ = more sinister (harsh time of year, associated with death) |
| “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou tak’st from me” (1) | Caliban presents P. as a usurper and a thief (arguably a coloniser – Caliban is the other) |
| “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou tak’st from me” (2) | – Present tense = Caliban still views himself as rightful ruler (by matriarchal inheritance) |
| “I loved thee” | – human emotion (not entirely ‘savage’) |
| “here you sty me / In this hard rock” | – ‘sty’ connotes entrapment (and is where pigs are kept)• ‘hard’ is unnecessary (‘hard rock’ is a tautology; creates sympathy for Caliban as a victim) |
| “I had peopled else / This isle with Calibans” | C. does not deny attempted rape of Miranda – could be to gain power = political act (M. as political tool)• Reflects attitudes of the time (native people = base urges. i.e lust) |
| “I endow’d thy purposes with words” | M. presented as gifting language to C. |
| “when thou … wouldst gabble” | – onomatopoeic ‘gabble’ presents previous language as child-like and nonsense (reflects European attitudes to native peoples) |
| “a thing most brutish” | ‘thing’ = dehumanising, reinforced by ‘brutish’ (‘brute’ = savagely violent animal) |
AO1 The Tempest
July 25, 2019