The Perfect Storm

The Tempest was (arguably) the last play Shakespeare alone ever wrote, his "swan song" according to the back cover of my copy. It is unlike any other play he wrote in that it played by the rules. Aristotle's Three Unities from the Poetics, about how plays should be written:

The unity of action: a play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few subplots.
The unity of place: a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.
The unity of time: the action in a play should take place over no more than 24 hours.

Shakespeare had grown famous writing shows with multitudes of subplots taking place all over the continent, over weeks and months of time. I guess he wanted to have a go at something more traditional. Regardless, at the time it was written, the Tempest was viewed as universally unimportant. Now everybody loves it.

The storyline is pretty well known, from the shipwrecks to the innocent young daughter who has never seen a man other than her father falling in love, games of chess being played, etc, etc.

What interests me however, is the fact that on this happy-go-lucky Gilligan-esque island, we have a heckuva lot of supernatural stuff that Maryann never had to deal with.

The play prominently features two spirits, Ariel, the sprite, and Caliban the demon.

Caliban has an interesting backstory--he was once a deformed monster, the only inhabitant of the island before Prospero and Miranda shipwreck. When they arrived, the "adopted" him, teaching him their language and religion, while he helped them learn to survive on the island. However, all good things must come to an end, and as Miranda grows up into the ravishing beauty that she is, Caliban can't help but notice and be entranced. Yep, you guessed it, he attempts to rape her. Not a good idea, considering that her father is a powerful sorcerer--BOOM--now Caliban is their demon slave. Pretty sad stuff.

Ariel is another story entirely. Her spirit was trapped in a tree on the island by an African witch. She dies long before Prospero and wee Miranda arrive. But when they do, Prospero divines Ariel's presence, and releases her from the tree in exchange for eternal servitude--sort of a genie in a bottle deal. He continually postpones the date of her freedom from servitude, but at the end of the play everyone gets to leave the island except she (although Ariel is asexual, she appears as nymphs and harpies, female mythological figures, throughout the show, and has some pretty awesome innuendo with various male characters) and Caliban.

Reading this play, I just can't bring myself to like Prospero. It seems to be the trend of those with power (in this case magic) that they cannot keep themselves from ordering the lives of those around them. Prospero dictates the events of the play like the proverbial man behind the curtain, and sure, everything turns out okay, but there is a certain bitterness left behind. This is a good example of Shakespeare's insight into human character. In life, humans are not meant to play God, even for the convenience of plot.

Current Play Count: 19/37
Days Till Trip: 25

I'm trying to reconcile myself with the idea I may have to finish up after the trip. Then again, I will need things to read to keep myself from exploding from excitement!

Till next time,

Molly