Catch-up 1

Hey guys, sorry I've been so out of it for awhile, I've been sick in the midst of five midterms and just haven't had a lot of extra time. So, to begin catching up, I will begin by analyzing the performance of The Tempest that we went to, as well as the Grassroots Shakespeare company production of Macbeth. 

So Friday night, my roommate and I double-dated to Macbeth, which was at an outdoor theater built to look like a castle. We all walked together from campus, which made the date almost into more of an adventure, filled with shortcuts and wrong-turns. But eventually, we came to a tree-infested hill with small lights guiding our way. As we trudged up the paved slope, it felt almost as if we were entering some sort of fairy-tale world. We walked into the castle and took our place in front of the stage as groundlings. I had never been in an outdoor performance of a Shakespeare play, let alone stand in the theatrical splash zone in front of the stage, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The actors moved all through the crowd, talked to us as if we were part of the play, even used us as props at some points. Yet even though the over-all mood of the play was very light-hearted and amusing, they still managed to keep the more serious parts emotionally gripping. It was really a fantastic date.

Then the next day, we all saw The Tempest. Unfortunately, my car did not arrive in time to see the big shipwreck in the very beginning, which I heard was spectacular. But that was not my only complaint. One thing that I thought was somewhat bizarre was Ariel's clashing costuming. Sure, she looked really cool and I loved her costume by itself, but in the context of the actual play, I'm not sure what they were trying to accomplish. Her metallic colors and suspenders almost made her look steampunky, which I am all for, but didn't have much place in with the rest of the play. It simply didn't convey the nimble spirit of the air feeling.

There were certain other elements that seemed to not quite belong as well. Like the bicycle up in the right corner that spun when Prospero was showing off his magic to his daughter and son-in-law. In fact, that whole scene was rather disappointing to me. I was rather excited for the goddesses to come out and perform their marriage ritual, but they completely skipped over it and replaced it with some random Prospero magic.

Speaking of Prospero magic, I was quite pleased with how they illustrated Prospero's power. Because there are such few stage directions actually in the play, it was hard to envision the moments when Prospero's power would become apparent other than the shipwreck scene and the harpy scene. Even in moments when Prospero wasn't making spectacular use of his power, they would throw in little movements and gestures that would make it difficult to forget just the kind of magic Prospero could control.

To sum up, both performances were very cool. I really quite enjoyed them both and look forward to my next Shakespeare play!

Oops

Hey guys, so I actually meant to post this on time on Monday, but I guess I didn't actually publish it. I found it today among my drafts after I realized that it hadn't been posted. So without further ado, Mondays post.

So reading through The Tempest, I decided to take our professor's advice and take special note of who is in power and whether or not Prospero has control of the situation. Power is a fairly consistent theme throughout the play thus far, manifesting itself in just about every character.

One particular scene illustrating the balance of power is act II scene I after the party falls asleep, leaving Antonio and Sebastian to converse by themselves. The two agree to kill Alonso and Gonzago, the first so that they may both increase their political power, the second because they dislike him and believe that they have the power to get away with it. However, despite how confident they are in their power, Prospero, through Ariel, is the one really controlling the situation. Ariel causes Gonzalo to awaken, therefore foiling the plot of the two power-hungry jerk-wads.

Ariel herself is an enigma and contradiction of power. Without Ariel, Prospero would essentially be powerless, since everything he does is through his command of Ariel. Ironically, Ariel is arguably the most naturally powerful person in the play, yet is tethered down to Prospero's whim and decree, completely powerless for all of Ariel's magic. And yet, despite Ariel being the source of Prospero's power, he bullies her into submission to do his will. At the first sign of resistance from Ariel, Prospero reminds him/her of the debt owed to Prospero, claiming that he/she is ungrateful and has forgotten the pain and torment of Sycorax's spells. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And Prospero is certainly going through a power trip. Which brings us to Prospero's other slave, Caliban.

Despite his strength and physical superiority to Prospero, the misshapen native grudgingly serves Prospero simply because to do so is less painful than outright defiance. Prospero uses his magic to torment Caliban when he doesn't yield to Prospero's commands. Starting to see the corruption yet?

Another major scene that contributes to the overall theme of power is act III scene II where Caliban defects to serve a drunkard that offers him wine. It is fairly obvious that Stephano, the man that Caliban has chosen to serve, is below Prospero in station and power, yet Caliban chooses him over Prospero because he offers reward instead of punishment. This furthers out understanding of the relationship between Prospero and Calban. From my point of view, Caliban gains absolutely nothing from serving Prospero besides relief from punishment.

Caliban, the corrupted cannibal

So yeah, sorry I'm late again guys, things have been busy lately but I'm going to try really hard to be on time on Friday.

I don't know about you, but I'm WAY excited for The Tempest. It's so ridiculously archetypal, much like The Winter's Tale, that it's difficult not to connect it to other things. For example,

Caliban

is like

Gollum

and

Grendel

because each character illustrates the corruption of dark magic upon the natural world. Grendel, much like Caliban, was born of a dark witch, deformed and twisted by the magic within her, more like a tumor than a man. Gollum was born whole, but, through exposure to dark magic and evil after a period of years, he too became deformed and grotesque--much like getting cancer after being exposed to too much nuclear waste. Then there's Caliban, the spawn of a hag and Satan himself, born with inhuman form and evil so deep within him that, despite the efforts of Prospero the civilizer, he can only take what he is given and twist it into something crude, like when he was taught to speak only that he would curse Prospero for keeping Caliban away from Miranda.

                                               

That said, we can compare Prospero with Beowulf, the tamer and purger of corruption, the civilizer. Much like Beowulf, Prospero comes to a place beseiged with corruption and danger and immediately makes it safe for the inhabitants, namely his little girl, Miranda. He seeks to purify the corruption, to teach it manners and rhetoric, and subdues it to create a safe place. Good thing for Prospero that Caliban's mother is already dead, otherwise he might find himself creating new corruption.