Live Journal Entry Week 9
Live Journal 9
Now, before I start, that was not the first time I have seen that film version of The Tempest, but I have to stay that I still cannot get over that interpretation of Ariel. Whether or not it was similar to Shakespeare’s own is irrelevant- I am still struggling to get my head around that performance.
Anyway, apart from that little aside, Ariel was not really the character I wanted to focus on this week. I want to look at Prospero himself. As we discussed in both the lecture and in tutorials, Prospero is a man of more than one face, one personality. There is the obvious- Prospero the magician, Prospero the father, Prospero the former duke. But he is truly an interesting character. I wonder if he is as blameless as he claims. Was he a victim of a usurping brother or of his own weakness? Had he been a better Duke, kept his attention on his surroundings rather than in his magic and books would he not have fallen prey to the events that bestowed him? And does he truly set out to make things right or is he always after retribution? For instance, should we see the romance between Miranda and Ferdinand as one of love, or as one spawn out of Prospero’s manipulation? And if so, does he do it to set the natural order of things right, or gain access to the throne with his daughter marrying into royalty?
Now, before I start, that was not the first time I have seen that film version of The Tempest, but I have to stay that I still cannot get over that interpretation of Ariel. Whether or not it was similar to Shakespeare’s own is irrelevant- I am still struggling to get my head around that performance.
Anyway, apart from that little aside, Ariel was not really the character I wanted to focus on this week. I want to look at Prospero himself. As we discussed in both the lecture and in tutorials, Prospero is a man of more than one face, one personality. There is the obvious- Prospero the magician, Prospero the father, Prospero the former duke. But he is truly an interesting character. I wonder if he is as blameless as he claims. Was he a victim of a usurping brother or of his own weakness? Had he been a better Duke, kept his attention on his surroundings rather than in his magic and books would he not have fallen prey to the events that bestowed him? And does he truly set out to make things right or is he always after retribution? For instance, should we see the romance between Miranda and Ferdinand as one of love, or as one spawn out of Prospero’s manipulation? And if so, does he do it to set the natural order of things right, or gain access to the throne with his daughter marrying into royalty?