Key Crit!!

"a model of colonial relationships and a metaphor of colonial history"

• Prospero's treatment of Caliban
• Trinculo and Stephano's treatment of Caliban

"A great deal of its substance seems deliberately hidden beneath the surface.” 

• Prospero's manipulation of Miranda and Ferdinand's relationship
• The Masque

"The Tempest is a play about power"

• Prospero's desire for power
• Trinculo and Stephano's desire for power
• Prospero's control over Miranda
• Prospero's control over Caliban
• Stephano and Trinculo's control over Caliban

"Prospero's tragic monologue"

• he has changed and become a New Testament God
• links to Shakespeare: his last play, saying goodbye to theatre

"Prospero holds all the cards"

• Prospero has control over everyone/everything

"Europeans control the land, its resources, its inhabitants: a theatrical microcosm of the imperial paradigm"

• Prospero's control over Caliban
• Stephano and Trinculo's control over Caliban

You get a sense of the sub-plot echoing the main plot, parodying those other characters. Their purpose in the play is important.”

• Trinculo and Stephano's attempted usurpation of Prospero mirrors Antonio and Sebastian's attempted usurpation of Alonso.

"To present Stefano, the drunken butler and Trinculo, the court jester merely as a pair of drunken clowns is to oversimplify their roles"

The sub-plot allows Shakespeare to "reinforce the dark, conspiratorial world of the play, and emphasise the important themes of the master-servant relationship and the elusive nature of power and freedom." 

• mirrors and parodies the main plot
• criticism of colonisation

 "total ignorance of the conventional forms and language of society"

• carries the logs for Ferdinand
• tries to stand up for him (asks him to be gentle/not to hurt him)
• rebels against the conventional ideas of Jacobean women

Prospero can be seen as a "colonial overlord"

• Treatment of Caliban reflect the colonisers' treatment of the natives.

"The Tempest appears at first sight a light-hearted mix of romance and playful humour, but it is also dark at times, cynical, satirical, violent and psychologically disturbing, hinting deep character flaws and suspect motives."

• Stephano and Trinculo's attemtped usurpation and manipulation of Caliban
• Prospero's manipulation and control over Miranda (the Masque)

The Tempest is a play about "the human desire for revenge and our capacity for forgiveness."

• Prospero's journey of redemption and forgiveness (shift from Old Testament to New Testament God)
• Epilogue

The Tempest is a play "about forgiveness and the possibility of redemption."

• Prospero's shift from Old testament to New Testament God
• Epilogue

"Prospero goes through the motions of forgiveness, but his sincerity is lost to us."

• Manipulation to regain his power
• Epilogue

"The Prospero of Acts I-IV represents the stern Old Testament God - harsh, vengeful and punitive . . . . Prospero’s planned revenge, turns at the end to the central idea of the New Testament: forgiveness."

"Prospero undergoes a transformation."

• Prospero's arguable forgiveness
• Shift from Old to New Testament God 

"Ariel and Caliban are representations of dual minor potentialities of Prospero's soul."

• Caliban is a parallel --> shows his darker side of human nature
• Ariel is a foil --> shows his brighter side of human nature

"Learning is a major theme in the play"

• Prospero's shift from Old Testament to New Testament God (more forgiving)

"The final image of Prospero that lingers in our minds is of the mortal creature of the epilogue."

• demonstrates Prospero's shift over the course of the play

"The ideal control, imaged in snow and fire, is sustained throughout the masque."

• Prospero uses the Masque as a demonstration of his power
• Using Miranda and Ferdinand's marriage as a way of gaining power