The Tempest criticism

The Tempest - Authority and Leadership by Neil Bowen

• "A coded, but nevertheless daring critique of Jacobean ideology."
• "Social order thrown into confusion..."
• "The rhythm created is suitably swift and choppy."
• "...the relationship between the characters are violent and stormy."
• "...seeking to change social position... was seen not just as questioning your betters... but also to be going against God himself."
• "In a crisis, authority appears to lie with those able to deal best with the situation."
• "From the very opening of the play, questions of power, leadership and authority are raised."
• "Traditional interpretations... have often seen the play as obliquely criticising King James."
• "The Tempest ends with order emerging from disorder."
• "Modern critics argue that the ending does not neatly resolve the play's issues... they are left open and urgent."
• "...it shows how power can be generated... it challenges us to consider what constitutes good, responsible, wise leadership.

Accessed emagazine, 26/11/15

Interpreting The Tempest by Dr. Sean McEvoy, Varndean College, Brighton

• "The Tempest seemed to stand out from the broadly 'realistic' human world of the histories, comedies and tragedies."
• "Shakespeare's response to the new fashion for 'romances': tragicomedies with a fantastic or supernatural element."
• "Shakespeare himself has shown 'us how he has duped us into believing in a set of patriarchal, monarchical views through his dramatic skills."
• "Argued that The Tempest was about the English colonisation of America... and about colonisation in general.  

Accessed emagazine, 26/11/15

Cambridge University - Dr Charles Moseley, on The Tempest

Prologue

• "Elizabethan drama was "written in a world, and for a world very different from ours, with very different assumptions about ideas of the self..."
• "Jacobean is "intertextual, it’s allusive, it’s non-naturalistic, it’s very often symbolic."
• "Drama and Art are where we explore through myth and through story our deepest concerns and our deepest worries."
• "These late plays are hugely innovative, they’re very profound, they’re breaking lots of new ground, and they’re tackling huge issues, and they go beyond.’

Setting, Symbolism and Magic

• "Prospero is a ruler who failed… concentrated too much on what he wanted."
• "Caliban means ‘cannibal."

Accessed Massolit, 03/12/15