Lecture notes

THE TEMPEST A Level English Lit Overview

1 purchase

Module
Drama and poetry pre-1900

Institution
OCR

Book
The Tempest

Full collection of notes from an A* student. Covering genre, readings, a detailed examination of Act 1 and the subplot, contextual points, quotes and LOTS of critics (named and quoted), themes such as imprisonment, discussion of different productions such as Johnathan Miller's 1988 production, and ...

[Show more]

Preview 2 out of 14 pages

View example

Uploaded on May 14, 2023
Number of pages 14
Written in 2022/2023
Type Lecture notes
Professor(s) Paige linderson
Contains Key concepts and detailed study of act 1

cassia2 Member since 2 year 10 documents sold

The Tempest: Overview

Genre
- The Tempest is listed in the 1623 First Folio as a ‘comedy’, and it conforms to the
comedy template in many ways
- However, since the end of the 19th century it has been classified as a romance,
and sometimes even a ‘tragicomedy’

Theoretical approaches
- Marxist reading
• Concerned with the relationship between the lower working class (proletariat)
and upper class (bourgeoisie) and how this is represented in the text

• Examines the ways in which ruling influencers of society oppress the lower
class, for instance exploitation of labour

• The oppression of the proletariat is shown in Prospero’s exploitation of the
native inhabitants of the island, Ariel and Caliban, they are forced to submit to
his power and serve him

• Characters such as Antonio and Sebastian, or Stephano and Trinculo, attempt
to uproot the class system and gain more power for themselves through attack
of the bourgeoisie (Antonio and Sebastian plot to kill King Alonso, Stephano
and Trinculo assert themselves over Caliban and plot to kill Prospero)

- Postcolonial reading
• Investigates the relationship between the colonisers and the colonised subjects
• Caliban and Ariel can be read as indigenous people who are colonised by
Prospero (symbolic of the West)

• This reading imagines the island as a concrete place (as opposed to a symbolic
space) which Prospero can overpower and enforce the values of patriarchal
Jacobean England

• Caliban’s physical presentation does not conform Western standards of beauty,
creating a sense of alienation and ‘otherness’

• The colonised subjects are forced to take on the language of their oppressors,
Caliban resents Prospero for this, “You taught me language, and my profit on ’t
is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you for learning me your language.”

1

, • Prospero often uses possessive language indicating an ownership of Ariel “my
Ariel”, “my brave spirit”, however this could also be indicative of a fatherly
aﬀection on Prospero’s part, a fond familial relationship between them (this can
be used as a counter-interpretation to a post-colonial reading of their
characters)

- Feminist reading
• Lisa Tuttle has defined feminist theory as “asking new questions of old texts”
• A feminist reading is interested in how women are portrayed in the text and
how the text displays power relations between the sexes, exploring patriarchal
oppression, the mechanisms of male control and women as commodities

• Miranda is a complex character to analyse from a feminist perspective, she
displays traits which both challenge and conform to the patriarchal Jacobean
standard of femininity

- She is often commanding and critical towards her father “You have put the
wild waters in this roar, allay them.”
- However Prospero generally maintains authority over her, orchestrating her
romance with Ferdinand throughout the play and even using magic to put her
to sleep in Act 1, scene 2 “Thou art inclined to sleep” (reinforcing the
stereotype of woman as hysterical, his male power is required to calm her
down)

- Psychoanalytic reading
• Interprets texts as allegorical, with the diﬀerent characters representing
symbolic parts of the protagonist’s consciousness

• A Freudian interpretation reads diﬀerent characters as parts of Freud’s model of
the mind, the id, the ego and the super-ego (Caliban embodies the instinctive
and primal urges of the id, Ariel acts as Prospero’s moral conscience or the
super-ego)

• A Jungian interpretation reads Caliban as the “shadow” or “animus” part of
Prospero’s mind which he must learn to accept and integrate in order to
experience psychological transformation and access his truest self “this thing
of darkness I acknowledge mine”

- Christian reading
• Shows how the text follows, or deviates from, the Christian moral framework of
sin, repentance, and forgiveness/redemption/salvation

2

The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.

Quick and easy check-out

You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.

Focus on what matters

Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!

Frequently asked questions

What do I get when I buy this document?

You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.

Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?

Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.

Who am I buying these notes from?

Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller cassia2. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.

Will I be stuck with a subscription?

No, you only buy these notes for £4.48. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.

Can Stuvia be trusted?

4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)

68175 documents were sold in the last 30 days

Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 15 years now

Start selling

Lecture notes

THE TEMPEST A Level English Lit Overview

Document information

Subjects

Connected book

Written for

Seller

Reviews received

Content preview