DOCSLIB.ORG

Idea Quote Technique Analysis Redemption and Forgiveness

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Idea Quote Technique Analysis Redemption and Forgiveness Idea Quote Technique Analysis Redemption and ‘This thing of darkness I Metaphor/Euphemism metaphorical reference to moral shortcomings and the human desire for revenge, acknowledgement of faults and forgiveness acknowledge mine’ alluding to remorse ‘A born devil’ juxtaposition/demonising How Prospero describes Caliban changes as he redeems himself and mends relationships ‘nurture can never stick’ Subversion of colonial perspectives, an amendment and reconciliation of colonial power dichotomies through the redemption of the contemporarily perceived oppressor contrasted to ‘to have my pardon’ - ‘Oh, it is monstrous, Epizeuxis Alonso feeling guilt for what he did to Prospero, remorse and seeking forgiveness, redeeming himself by asking for a monstrous’ pardon, enforces vehemence of guilt expressed ‘thou pardon me my wrongs’ ‘As you from crimes would Soliloquy Prospero, direct address to the audience to be set free from the moral judgement and perception of the audience, Atwood pardoned be/let your recontextualizes this/reframes it indulgence set me free’ “I do forgive thee, Unnatural Prospero asserts perfect Christian though thou art” forgiveness that does not require reciprocity- it is a virtue to offer it, even in face of hostility Power/Ownership ‘This was the most Metonymy production as a collective process and Vengeance accomplished crew of Goblins anyone could wish for’ God-given status - exertion of power Contextual shift from Shakespeare’s determinism to contemporary vision of individual responsibility ‘...he intended to cram his foot Metaphor/ Metaphor for the extent to which he wants his revenge to go into that hornet’s nest as far as Emphasises his need for vengeance on Tony it would go.’ “God o’the Island” Metaphor/Apotheosis is a metaphor for Prospero and his powerful presence on the Island, apotheosis of Prospero’s power over the island, his domain ‘Graves at my command have Personification Demonstrating the extent of Prospero’s power. Elemental control over the dead. walked their sleepers’ ‘This island’s mine, by Sycorax Apostrophe/Aphorism Caliban also having lost his power, asseverates his rightful ownership, with he laws of inheritance and power structures my mother, which thou takest emulating the primogeniture structure of Jacobean England. from me’ ‘Magic garment’ Symbolism A tool to exercise power and control forces that fashion new versions of reality, similar to a director of a play, relate to metatheatricality Prospero: “...twelve year since,/ Thy father was the Duke of Milan and/ A prince of power.” Great chain of being - Ultimate power and authority belongs to natural world and thereby, anyone capable of controlling the natural elements harnesses undeniable power. (Prospero) Disrupted during times of great despair, “A very shallow monster! … A Repetition of ‘monster’ emphasises subjugation of minority groups under colonialist culture very weak monster! … A most poor credulous monster!” “In this day and age Caliban is Juxtaposition with quote above the favourite, everyone cheers for him.” “refused to call them inmates, Contrast to genesis text The inmates, oppressed in their own way, are Atwood’s reimagining of Caliban, and refuses to dehumanise them from a they were his actors” postcolonial lens ‘Suddenly revenge is so close Synesthesia revenge is something which feeds and motivates Felix he can actually taste it. It tastes like steak, ratre.’ “The smell of dejection, the Imagery, asyndeton The decrepit living conditions of the prisoners creates empathy with the oppressed, allowing Atwood to comment on the shoulders slumping down, the shifting representation of the marginalised in a post-colonial reality.. head bowed, the body caving in upon itself “ ‘I’d need to do things in my Parallelism to Prospero Felix’s desire for power is more explicit than PRospero’s, but still parallels him. own way...i’d want considerable latitude.’ Hag-Seed being a novel allows for consistent communication of Felix’s thoughts, thus allowing for explicitness. ‘There would this monster Diacope alluding to only monsters masquerading as men to have the capability to hold power. make a man; any strange beast there makes a man.’ “All hail, great master, grave Verse, departure from prose Use of verse rather than prose suggests that language of coloniser has been imposed sir, hail! I come To answer…” “But he’s resigned from his position, so he’s lost his credibility. He has no leverage, no power platform; he’s no longer among those who matter/ Tony is out and Felix is back in, which is as it should be” Why is he so sure he can pull Rhetorical questioning, stream of Felix’s introspection into how he plans to exact revenge is ingrained with self-doubt, where the ambitious plan for doing this off? . the improvised consciousness so requires more resources than he has drama he has in mind for his distinguished enemies – Novel as a form allows for character’s thoughts, insight into stream of consciousness, however Felix still carries out his how to arrange it?. act of vengeance as opposed to Prospero, more didactic whereas the more individualised focus of Hag-Seed means that Felix’s character arc concludes with compensation and revenge. “He needed to get his Tempest Symbolism The Tempest here represents the stage performance, but is also a symbol of Felix’s power, wherein his role as stage back. He had to stage it, director provides agency for him to exercise his power over other people. somehow, somewhere” Postmodern notion of reverential pastiches and intertextuality. Metatheatricality/ ‘If the words are not perfect, Asyndeton Asyndeton of a play casting a ‘spell’ on the audience, where perfection paves way to the creation of an illusionary Magic and Illusion the pitch exact, the modulation experience that shapes reality of Theatre delicately adjusted, the spell Postmodernist deconstruction of theatre, a detached analysis of the textual form’s devices culminating in an illusionary fails.” experience “he engaged in this non-reality irony/suspension of idea of magic and illusion, self-reflexive nature of Hag-seed means that Atwood engages with this notion through the as if it were real” disbelief/paradox lens of the loss of Miranda, and the trauma subsequently leading to a phantasm that Felix suspends his disbelief for, notion perpetuated within people and theatre’s magic/illusion itself ‘World of illusions’ Verisimilitude/metafictional Referencing to theatre being a world of illusions to communicate narrative allusion ‘the most beautiful, the most Anaphoric repetition ‘Most’ - accentuates the passion and desire to create experiences and innovate through theatre awe-inspiring, the most inventive, the most numinous This quote, in interpretation, can be extrapolated to Atwood’s own attempts at recreating and reinventing Shakespeare’s theatrical experiences ever’ play ‘Now we gonna start the wordplay, double entendre, allusion to metatheatricality from the outset of Hag Seed, in first scene playin’ ‘When you walk in here, you Zoomorphic characterisation Referring to theatre as a place to adopt new personas and take the form of characters, also alluding to duplicity of shed your daily self’ identity and the transience of theatre wherein there is an adoption for the indulgence of the audience. Pastiche of postmodernist textual convention. “From the life of theatre to Syntactical balance in inverting theatre of life” “life of theatre” to “theatre of life” highlights intimate connection between artistic representation and human experience, representations are able to bring us intimately into contact with our own experience in ways we may not realise prospectively ‘The great globe itself’ Allusion to metatheatricality allusion to the Globe Theatre, philosophical view of what plays are, ‘the cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces’ lines 153 ish. It is about writing plays, and talking about how everything you see in plays disappears, theatre is only what ‘the cloud-capped towers, the man makes it to be. gorgeous palaces’ ‘We are such stuff Allusion to metatheatricality The artifice of theatre, where theatre and the stories told within are simply artificial constructions and the manifestation As dreams are made on’ of human imagination ‘the collective indrawn breath, Diacope however, a pervading sense of magic created by Atwood is the power of theater, to shape realities and fashion alternate the collective sigh’ worlds that is also done through magic Tempest’s portrayal of magic → translated to Atwood’s modern transference to different forms, such as the impact and possibilities of audio-visual and digital media, internet, drugs Imprisonment and ‘a play about prisons’ Intertextual reference Communicates an interpretation of the Tempest that it reframes in a contemporary context with more explicit references freedom “I, thus neglecting worldly Hyperbaton / Periodic Structure Prospero, as a result of being usurped from the Dukeship of Milan, isolates himself to the island, where he can exert ends, all dedicated/To closeness power over the region and exercise control and the bettering of my mind/With that which, but by being so retired,” ‘As you from crimes would Soliloquy Prospero, direct address to the audience to be set free from the moral judgement and perception of the audience, Atwood pardoned be/let your recontextualizes this/reframes it indulgence set me free’ “‘To all the elements be free,’ In the ‘Tempest,’ Prospero says this same line to Ariel while this is said to Miranda in ‘Hag-Seed’ → same idea is he says to her.” portrayed but it has been appropriated to suit Felix’s situation / Appropriates and aligns the same quote for Felix saying this to Miranda, reimagining it within a more individualistic framework “You don’t say ‘set me free’ chiasmus/paradox Intertextual referencing unless you’re not free. ‘ ‘He actually heard a voice.../ Interior monologue One of the prisons is Felix’s mind, that confines im to his loss and exacerbates his trauma from usurpation, further Break out of your cell. You delaying self-actualisation. need a real-world connection.’ “By choosing this shack and the Symbol - this shack The shack echoes Prospero’s island.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • “Savage and Deformed”: Stigma As Drama in the Tempest Jeffrey R
    “Savage and Deformed”: Stigma as Drama in The Tempest Jeffrey R. Wilson The dramatis personae of The Tempest casts Caliban as “asavageand deformed slave.”1 Since the mid-twentieth century, critics have scrutinized Caliban’s status as a “slave,” developing a riveting post-colonial reading of the play, but I want to address the pairing of “savage and deformed.”2 If not Shakespeare’s own mixture of moral and corporeal abominations, “savage and deformed” is the first editorial comment on Caliban, the “and” here Stigmatized as such, Caliban’s body never comes to us .”ס“ working as an uninterpreted. It is always already laden with meaning. But what, if we try to strip away meaning from fact, does Caliban actually look like? The ambiguous and therefore amorphous nature of Caliban’s deformity has been a perennial problem in both dramaturgical and critical studies of The Tempest at least since George Steevens’s edition of the play (1793), acutely since Alden and Virginia Vaughan’s Shakespeare’s Caliban: A Cultural His- tory (1993), and enduringly in recent readings by Paul Franssen, Julia Lup- ton, and Mark Burnett.3 Of all the “deformed” images that actors, artists, and critics have assigned to Caliban, four stand out as the most popular: the devil, the monster, the humanoid, and the racial other. First, thanks to Prospero’s yarn of a “demi-devil” (5.1.272) or a “born devil” (4.1.188) that was “got by the devil himself” (1.2.319), early critics like John Dryden and Joseph War- ton envisioned a demonic Caliban.4 In a second set of images, the reverbera- tions of “monster” in The Tempest have led writers and artists to envision Caliban as one of three prodigies: an earth creature, a fish-like thing, or an animal-headed man.
    [Show full text]
  • “From Strange to Stranger”: the Problem of Romance on the Shakespearean Stage
    “From strange to stranger”: The Problem of Romance on the Shakespearean Stage by Aileen Young Liu A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English and the Designated Emphasis in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Jeffrey Knapp, Chair Professor Oliver Arnold Professor David Landreth Professor Timothy Hampton Summer 2018 “From strange to stranger”: The Problem of Romance on the Shakespearean Stage © 2018 by Aileen Young Liu 1 Abstract “From strange to stranger”: The Problem of Romance on the Shakespearean Stage by Aileen Young Liu Doctor of Philosophy in English Designated Emphasis in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Jeffrey Knapp, Chair Long scorned for their strange inconsistencies and implausibilities, Shakespeare’s romance plays have enjoyed a robust critical reconsideration in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. But in the course of reclaiming Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, Cymbeline, and The Tempest as significant works of art, this revisionary critical tradition has effaced the very qualities that make these plays so important to our understanding of Shakespeare’s career and to the development of English Renaissance drama: their belatedness and their overt strangeness. While Shakespeare’s earlier plays take pains to integrate and subsume their narrative romance sources into dramatic form, his late romance plays take exactly the opposite approach: they foreground, even exacerbate, the tension between romance and drama. Verisimilitude is a challenge endemic to theater as an embodied medium, but Shakespeare’s romance plays brazenly alert their audiences to the incredible.
    [Show full text]
  • Montaigne and Sycorax
    MONTAIGNE AND SYCORAX Kenji Go（郷 健治） THE best-known borrowing by William Shakespeare from Michel de Montaigne’s celebrated Essais（ 1580, 82, 88, 95 etc.） comes from the chapter, ‘Des Cannibales’, which is famously echoed in Gonzalo’s utopian ‘commonwealth’ speech in The Tempest, 2.1.145-62.1 Pace Capell, who first pointed out this borrowing in 1780,2 recent critics have generally accepted Malone’s following view: Our author has here closely followed a passage in Montaigne’s ESSAIES, translated by John Florio, folio, 1603: “It is a nation, （would I answer Plato,） that hath no kind of trafficke, no knowledge of letters, .....” This passage was pointed out by Mr. Capell, who knew so little of his author as to suppose that Shakspeare（ sic） had the original French before him, though he has almost literally followed Florio’s translation.3 That is to say, Gonzalo’s utopian speech follows so closely, almost verbatim, a passage in Montaigne’s essay, ‘Of the Caniballes（’ hereafter, ‘Caniballes’）, in John Florio’s English translation of 1603, that there is no doubt that Shakespeare used this English version of Montaigne’s essay in writing those 1 Hereinafter, quotations of The Tempest follow Stephen Orgel’s Oxford（ 1987） edition. 2 See Edward Capell, Notes and Various Readings to Shakespeare, vol. 2, part 4（ London, 1780）, p. 63, where, quoting the original French text of Montaigne’s essay, he suggested that Shakespeare read it in French. 3 Thus Malone corrected, not very kindly, Capell’s view in his footnote to Gonzalo’s ‘commonwealth’ speech in his edition: The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare, vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Voice and Agency in William Shakespeare's the Tempest and Aimé Césaire's Une Tempête Sophie Fahey Scripps College
    Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Scripps Senior Theses Scripps Student Scholarship 2017 Voice and Agency in William Shakespeare's The Tempest and Aimé Césaire's Une Tempête Sophie Fahey Scripps College Recommended Citation Fahey, Sophie, "Voice and Agency in William Shakespeare's The eT mpest and Aimé Césaire's Une Tempête" (2017). Scripps Senior Theses. 906. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/906 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Scripps Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scripps Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. VOICE AND AGENCY IN SHAKESPEARE’S THE TEMPEST AND AIMÉ CÉSAIRE’S UNE TÉMPETE by SOPHIE R. FAHEY SUBMITTED TO SCRIPPS COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS PROFESSOR DECKER PROFESSOR SHELTON DECEMBER 16, 2016 I. Introduction In both William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Aimé Césaire’s 1965 adaptation Une Tempête, a character’s power is directly linked to how much of a voice he or she has throughout the text. Both texts deal very explicitly with power, although Shakespeare focuses more on Prospero regaining his power through a position in European society, while Césaire is concerned with the effects of colonial figures (represented by Prospero) on the colonized (represented by Ariel and Caliban). Césaire explores in depth the character of Caliban who serves as the protagonist, instead of his antagonistic role in Shakespeare’s play. Césaire explicitly casts Caliban as a black slave and Ariel as a mulatto slave, bringing the ideas of colonialism to the forefront of the play.
    [Show full text]
  • Read the Following Passage and Answer the Questions That Follow
    Class 11 Answer Key The Tempest Act1 Scene 2 Extract 7-10 Extract 7: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow How came we _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ my dukedom. 1.Where are Miranda and Prospero? How did they reach the shore? Ans. Miranda and Prospero are on the uninhabited island. Prospero was oust from his dukedom with his three years old daughter in a dilapidated boat by his brother Antonio. According to Prospero, they reached ashore by Providence divine i.e. by the loving care of God. 2. Who was Gonzalo? How can you say that Gonzalo was the man with some concern for Prospero? Ans. Gonzalo was an old honest courtier in Alonso's court. When Prospero was expelled from his dukedom, Gonzalo, the incharge of the plan, helped Prospero by not only keeping rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries in his boat but also books from Prospero's library which he valued above his dukedom. 3. What did Gonzalo provide Prospero with for the journey? Ans. Gonzalo, an old courtier, was the incharge of the design planned by Antonio and Alonso i.e. to expel Prospero from his dukedom. Gonzalo helped Prospero by keeping rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries and books from Prospero's library which he valued above his dukedom in his dilapidated boat for his journey. 4. What was above Prospero's dukedom among the things provided by Gonzalo? How did Prospero make use of it? Ans. Among the things provided by Gonzalo, Prospero' books were above all other things which he kept in his dilapidated boat .
    [Show full text]
  • Modern Reflection in Shakespeare's Plays
    International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 1, January 2020 456 ISSN 2250-3153 Modern Reflection In Shakespeare’s Plays Md. Abdul Qader Lecturer, Department of English, Tarash Honours College, Tarash, Sirajgonj DOI: 10.29322/IJSRP.10.01.2020.p9771 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.01.2020.p9771 Abstract- William Shakespeare, the pioneer of English literary contemporary and his plays have immortalized him. world, is a universally famous dramatist whose creations and Shakespeare’s dramas can be divided into three sections. literary contributions became more in the Elizabethan period than First Section: The dramas of this section were written in in Jacobean age. This is why; he is identified as an Elizabethan 1590-1600. They are 22 in number. They are Henry-VI (1st part), dramatist in English literature although he is a Renaissance and Henry-VI (2nd part), Henry-VI (3rd part), Richard-III, The Comedy modern thinker. Modernism is reflected in his plays to a great of Errors, Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, Love’s extent. Shakespeare has written thirty-seven plays in his life time. Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Out of them, only twenty-five plays were written in the The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, King John, Richard-II, The Elizabethan Age (1558-1603). He wrote his twelve important Merchant of Venice, Henry-IV (1st Part), Henry-IV (2nd Part), plays in the Jacobean Age (1603-1625). Yet he is an Elizabethan Much Ado About Nothing, Henry-V, Julius Caesar, The Merry and not the Jacobean.
    [Show full text]
  • Module A, Textual Conversations: Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood
    MODULE A, TEXTUAL CONVERSATIONS: HAG-SEED, MARGARET ATWOOD AND THE TEMPEST, SHAKESPEARE - It can be argued that Atwood’s postmodern text ‘Hag-seed’ is a modern day extrapolation of Shakespeare’s seminal text, ‘The Tempest.’ Atwood's appropriation aids in illuminating Shakespeare's underlying themes by reinterpreting them for modern audiences. - Example Introduction: Although a quality text will explore universal human concerns, all texts are fundamentally influenced by the values of the respective composer’s context, and therefore will not easily transcend time without the act of appropriation. Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, has enduring value as it both reflects and criticises the standard perspectives of his Jacobean era. Margaret Atwood has effectively appropriated this text within her novel, Hag- Seed, by adapting Shakespeare’s concerns to a modern era and utilising it to critique her own societies context. Atwood transposes the exploration of the treatment of marginalised people from the ostracised figure of Caliban to the disadvantaged group of prisoners that Felix seeks to direct. She also translates Shakespeare’s temporal commentary of gender roles within the patriarchal society of 17th century England as depicted through Miranda, into the feminist character of Anne-Marie. Finally, Atwood has reflected the provocative discoveries made by Prospero, as he experienced a reassessment of previous perspectives in order to evaluate new perceptions, through Felix, who undergoes a similar transformation of self. In this respect, Atwood’s text transcends time through effectively becoming a portal which draws concerns from the Jacobean era and translates them so that modern audiences can reflect on themselves and their own respective milieu.
    [Show full text]
  • Performing Shakespeare in the Original Pronunciation Final Submission2.Docx
    Performing Shakespeare in the Original Pronunciation David Barrett A submission presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of South Wales for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2013 1 Contents: Abstract 4 Acknowledgements 6 Chapter 1 Introduction 7 Chapter 2 Original Pronunciation in Context 2.1 Historically Informed Performance 15 2.2 The Shakespearean Voice 90 2.3 Accented Shakespeare 104 Chapter 3 3.1 Shakespearean Original Pronunciation in Performance in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries 123 3.2 Macbeth at the Mermaid Theatre 181 Chapter 4 The Linguistic Context, Phonological Research and Reference 193 Chapter 5 5.1 Transcription Policy 225 5.2 A Comparison of Transcription Styles 276 Chapter 6 Testing the Transcription Policy/ Developing a Method through Workshopping 290 Chapter 7 Conclusion 388 Works Cited 416 2 Textual Note: Unless stated otherwise, all Shakespearean quotes are from: Clark, W.G. and Wright, W.A. (1865) The Works of William Shakespeare (Globe Edition), Cambridge and London: Macmillan. Available at: http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/plays.php (accessed 12.09.210) Macbeth: The complete works of William Shakespeare [electronic resource] Created by Jeremy Hylton; Operated by The Tech., Cambridge, Massachusetts (From Grady Ward’s Moby Shakespeare). Available at: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/index.html (accessed 10.08.2011) The Romeo and Juliet Transcription: based on the First Folio (1623) from the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. Available at: http://web.archive.org/web/20080504221015/http://etext.lib.virginia.e du/toc/modeng/public/ShaRJF.html (accessed 24.06.2010) I share the view of Stephen Orgel, who views the acting text, prepared for performance, as the “authentic text” (2002, 237).
    [Show full text]
  • Vindicating Sycorax's Anti-Colonial Voice. an Overview of Some
    VINDICATING SYCORAX’S ANTI-COLONIAL VOICE. AN OVERVIEW OF SOME POSTCOLONIAL RE-WRITINGS FROM THE TEMPEST TO INDIGO XIANA VÁZQUEZ BOUZÓ Universidade de Vigo The aim of this essay is to place the Shakespearean character Sycorax as a symbol of anti- colonial and anti-patriarchal resistance. Throughout the analysis of this figure in The Tempest and its re-writings, I suggest a change from the theories that turned Caliban into an antiim- perial symbol towards a consideration of Sycorax for this role. I analyse the possibilities that this character opens in terms of re-writing, as well as the relation of the figure of the witch with her community. I also compare the ideas that Caliban personifies (including sexual violence), with those represented by Sycorax (the struggle against imperial and patriarchal forces). I ultimately defend that Sycorax fits better the position as a resistance symbol, since the strug- gles against masculine dominance must be addressed at the same level as those against imperi- alist oppressions. KEY WORDS : The Tempest , Sycorax, Indigo , anti-colonialism, anti-patriarchy. Reivindicación de la voz anti-colonial de Sycorax. Estudio de algunas reescrituras postcolo- niales desde The Tempest hasta Indigo El objetivo de este ensayo es proponer al personaje shakespeariano Sycorax como símbolo de resistencia anticolonial y antipatriarcal. A través del análisis de esta figura en The Tempest y sus reescrituras, sugiero un cambio desde las teorías que convirtieron a Caliban en un símbolo antiimperialista hacia una nueva consideración de Sycorax para este papel. Analizo las posibili- dades que este personaje abre en términos de reescritura, así como la relación entre la figura de la bruja y su comunidad.
    [Show full text]
  • Extremes of Gender and Power: Sycorax's Absence in Shakespeare's the Tempest
    The University of Akron IdeaExchange@UAkron Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Literary Magazines Conference November 2014 Extremes of Gender and Power: Sycorax’s Absence in Shakespeare’s The eT mpest Brittney Blystone Northern Kentucky University, [email protected] Please take a moment to share how this work helps you through this survey. Your feedback will be important as we plan further development of our repository. Follow this and additional works at: http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/spovsc Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, and the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Blystone, Brittney (2012) "Extremes of Gender and Power: Sycorax’s Absence in Shakespeare’s The eT mpest," Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference: Vol. 5 , Article 6. Available at: http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/spovsc/vol5/iss2012/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Literary Magazines at IdeaExchange@UAkron, the institutional repository of The nivU ersity of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. It has been accepted for inclusion in Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference by an authorized administrator of IdeaExchange@UAkron. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Extremes of Gender and Power: Sycorax’s Absence in Shakespeare’s The Tempest Brittney Blystone, Northern Kentucky University n William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Prospero and Sycorax are extreme ends in the spectrums of power and gender. The I patriarchy that Prospero enforces is not an independent or coherent system; rather, it reacts to its opposite, which Sycorax symbolizes.
    [Show full text]
  • Sycorax's Absence in Shakespeare's the Tempest
    Extremes of Gender and Power: Sycorax’s Absence in Shakespeare’s The Tempest Brittney Blystone, Northern Kentucky University n William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Prospero and Sycorax are extreme ends in the spectrums of power and gender. The I patriarchy that Prospero enforces is not an independent or coherent system; rather, it reacts to its opposite, which Sycorax symbolizes. Although some dismiss Sycorax as “long dead by the time the play’s events take place” (Thompson 339), she still shapes the characters’ perceptions of power and gender. While one can analyze male characters directly by their actions on stage, one can analyze Sycorax only by her influence on these characters. With Sycorax absent, Prospero envisions her as his female opposite. Through Prospero, Sycorax symbolizes everything that may question patriarchy. Sycorax exists only in male characters’ accounts; however, Sycorax influences the men’s perception of power because she is absent. In The Tempest, the only woman on stage is Miranda, who is both assaulted and honored for her virginity. The lack of women on stage leads Ann Thompson to wonder, “what feminist criticism can do in the face of a male-authored canonical text [The Tempest] which seems to exclude women to this extent" (339). Women are so utterly missing on stage that Stephen Orgel calls his essay “Prospero’s Wife” merely a “consideration” of “related moments and issues” (1). According to Orgel, The Tempest provides enough evidence about the women in the play for us to speculate about them, but not enough for us to make any justified conclusions or arguments.
    [Show full text]
  • Sycorax Character Profiles
    SYCORAX WANING: CHARACTER PROFILES By Russell Norris 2011 SYCORAX Background: Sycorax is a potent old witch of indeterminate age. She is banished to a remote island 18 years before The Tempest takes place and is dead long before Shakespeare’s tale begins there. To avoid execution in Algiers, Sycorax lets the sea-god Setebos impregnate her with an unholy child. She gives birth to her son Caliban, a half-human monster, alone on the island – where she lives out the closing years of her life. Sycorax is a powerful witch who draws her power from the moon via her god Setebos. While she can channel these dark lunar energies, she can’t necessarily control them. There is evidence that Shakespeare based Sycorax on the sorceress Medea from Greek mythology and I aim to colour Sycorax’s backstory with elements from Medea’s life. Among other heinous crimes, Medea murdered her own brother and children. In ancient Greece, murder of one’s own family was the most awful crime of all and three special demons were reserved to punish it: The Furies. Sycorax, for the murder of her brother and children in her youth, has been hunted by The Furies for most of her life. She has grown old moving from country to country and now, on this desolate island in the middle of the sea, The Furies are finally about to catch up with her. The “Medea” backstory: It’s worth going over the Medea legend just to fill in a few details: readers will not necessarily need to be familiar with this legend, but hopefully Sycorax Waning will inspire them to go away and find out more.
    [Show full text]