Finding Quotes for The Tempest PDF

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Summary

Use these notes to find quotes for The Tempest....

Description

The Tempest is a play that primarily explores issues of power. Whether this is power within a Father Daughter relationship, or with a slave, or with those who usurped Prospero’s Dukedom. To this end, you can consider that the capacity to get revenge or forgive comes from a place of power. Those with ambition want power that is not theirs. Those who are the divinely appointed sovereign have power and this should be protected and respected. Those who have knowledge have power over those who do not. Consider this example: Prospero and Miranda land on the Island. Prospero treats Caliban like a son and teaches him how to communicate, ‘language’. In return, Caliban shares his knowledge, the secret places of the Island. One would suggest that this was a mutually beneficial exchange, until Caliban attacked Miranda, and Prospero could no longer trust (or love) Caliban, and treated him horribly, as a slave. Each action demonstrates that both men had power, but Prospero ends up with more power because of Ariel’s loyalty and service.

Each idea listed in the table connects to a contextual worldview or thematic concern that was common during the Jacobean Era. Discovery and Colonisation: linked with power and the perceived superiority of the explorer, and subjugation of the other. Retribution and forgiveness: linked with religious beliefs of Forgiveness, but also this is part of the Tragicomedy genre – no one can die or get badly hurt. Ambition and Corruption: linked with The Great Chain of Being. That everyone has their place in life, and that to seek to change it (via ambitious actions) disrupts God’s preordained order, which was sinful. But consider that you need ambition to overthrow a king or lord or ruler; by being ‘anti-ambition’, this view helped prevent political anarchy. Sovereignty and Virtue: this links back to The Divine Right of Kings. God appoints a ruler and it is a sin against God to depose a king. Also, it suggests that Kings had a greater capacity for virtue and control due to their ordained status. Yet ironically, in ‘The Tempest’, Alonso lacks virtue and suffers through the tempest and Prospero finds the virtuous act only after he has tormented those that hurt him.

Fill in the table. Try to use different quotes and different situations for each idea, as this will help you establish a diverse analysis of the play. Idea: Power & Subjugation (Colonisation)

Language Technique How does your

Eg. A quote about language/education

Eg. A quote about freedom

Eg. A quote that shows hatred towards Prospero

quote show the idea? Idea: Retribution and Forgiveness

Eg. A quote that shows the need for revenge

Eg. A quote that shows that revenge will have an end point

Eg. A quote that shows forgiveness

Eg. A quote that shows ambition (and possible actions one is willing to take)

Eg. A quote that shows the consequence of ambition.

Eg. A quote that shows the consequence of ambition.

Eg. A quote that shows the consequences of betrayal of a sovereign

Eg. A quote that shows things working out for a sovereign and not the other person.

Eg. A quote that shows virtue

Language Technique How does your quote show the idea? Idea: Ambition and Corruption

Language Technique How does your quote show the idea? Idea: the importance of sovereignty and virtue

Language Technique How does your quote show the idea?...