The Tempest critical quotes

Prospero both defies the stars and uses them to his general benefit EMW Tillyard, P & stars
endorses and celebrates the dominant cultural narrative of the father’s responsibility for educating his daughter and for settling her…in a prosperous and profitable marriage Moncreif, dom cultural narrative, educating, marriage
woman as a threat to patriarchy with her potential to issue bad offspring Bogosyan, Miranda as a threat
Miranda shares Caliban’s fate as both have been relegated to the role of the other Donaldson, the other
She is at once a victim and an heir of the forces of colonialism Donaldson, victim and heir
a struggle for liberation and cultural authenticity…against the hegemonic, eurocentric vision of the universe Massachusetts review 1971 Caliban symbolises
magic island as a metaphor for the theatre: it is a place where natural identities are called into question and we have to reexamine our everyday expectations Norbrook, island = theatre
a Jacobean audience would have been struck by Caliban’s insubordination not just in politics…but also in language Norbrook, C refuses politics & lang
the impact of the music of the isle varies from person to person according to the effect Prospero wishes to achieve Green, music, Prospero controls
an unconventional woman who threatens the stability of a patriarchal society Brett, Sycorax = unconventional
by dint of its scarcity, her femininity becomes an extremely valuable commodity Brett, Miranda’s femininity
Prospero’s problems concerning the maintenance of his power on the island … of representation, of his capacity to ‘forge’ the island in his own image Brown, P maintains power
Sycorax’s magic is remembered as viciously coercive, yet beneath the apparent voluntarism of the white, male regime lies the threat of precisely this coercion Brown, Sycorax’s magic & P’s coercion, voluntarism, threat
The sea is associated with forces both of destruction and renewal Norbrook, sea
The initial tempest becomes retroactively a kind of antimasque Brown, antimasque
The island seems to operate not for the colonizer but for the colonized Brown, island operates
ends with order emerging from disorder Bowen, ends
The end of the play does not provide a simple return to social order Bowen, no return to social order
Prospero becomes an official historian and all other accounts are dominated by his Charry, P historian
one of Shakespeare’s most significant commentaries upon the conduct of real human beings and practical government in a modern civilised state Bowling, significant commentaries, conduct & gov
This state of discord and disorder prevails until leadership has again been correctly reassumed and all individuals are willing to return to their proper places in the universal chain Bowling, discord prevails, proper places
a treatise on practical government Bowling, treatise
the supernatural is used as a means of giving further amplification and extension to the natural Bowling, supernatural
the masque serves as a parallel to, or a re-enactment of, Prospero’s original error … he neglected his practical duties as ruler and allowed matters of state to get out of hand Bowling, P’s masque as a parallel to neglect of duties
By the end of the play Caliban discovers the asinine ignorance of his error. Bowling, C’s asinine ignorance
the civilised man who goes savage is worse than the savage who never was anything else Moseley, civilised to savage, worse
to accomplish his transformation, he must overcome his enemies and the anger within…exorcised in the events following the storm, the expression of Prospero’s anguish and mental torment Riches, overcome…exorcised, expression
the survival of Ferdinand, and his attachment to Miranda, make the play’s final return to harmony Cutts, survival = return to harmony
Shakespeare’s humour functions within the bounds of a persistent ‘high seriousness’ Knight, humour functions
Despite his brutishness, Caliban is the true heir Briggs, C’s brutishness
Prospero’s power expands sometimes to tyranny Riches, P’s power =
sunk in the hallucination of greed Northrop the royals
Like his magician-philosopher, Shakespeare too had reached a state of serenity and happy contemplation, a state reflected in the play’s rhetoric of redemption and forgiveness Charry, Shakespeare state of serenity, reflected in play
In renouncing his ‘rough magic’, Prospero accepts his limitations as a man and re-enters the human community Berry, P accepts
July 19, 2019