Yaniga ansforming Shakespeare’s invisible spirit into a romantic hero, and in doing so, re-contextualizing the original character’s attributes and actions.elationship to the level of the sublime, in keeping with the foundations of Romanticism, and so the artistic expression of such a relationship would require a character to match. It’s significant that out of the whole Shakespearean repertoire, stocked with couples such as the ubiquitous Romeo and Juliet, the well-matched Beatrice and Benedick, and the ill-fated Othello and Desdemona, Shelley instead selected Ariel and Miranda, two characters who hardly interact, let alone share a relationship, over the course of their play. In depicting a connection which Shelley believed to be the height
…show more content…
“With a Guitar, To Jane” is Ariel’s dedication as he gifts her with the titular instrument, describing in length the nature of their relationship, and nature itself, which imagines new depths for a character who is given little dimension by Shakespeare.
It may be his marginalized, and somewhat isolated role in The Tempest which makes Ariel uniquely qualified to fill the role that Shelley’s poem necessitates. There are several means by which Ariel is separated from the rest of the cast, the clearest example being that he is the only nonhuman in a play that delves into the question of what a human is. He introduces himself in the first act having created the titular storm and then transported himself back to Prospero to make his report; this ability to fly, teleport, or otherwise travel through the air (this power is not specified by Shakespeare but has been interpreted creatively by many adaptations) gives the audience a sense that Ariel operates on a plane that is, if not higher, than at least very different from …show more content…
Ariel of The Tempest is an ageless being, a detail that does not impact the plot of the play except to provide historical reference for the island and an imagined future for what might happen to the island once Prospero leaves. But in the hands of Shelley, that timelessness provides a tragic, romantic weight to the story of Ariel and Miranda, as Ariel is forced to consciously live through Miranda’s death repeatedly; as he describes, “When you die, the silent Moon/ In her interlunar swoon/ Is not sadder in her cell/ Than deserted Ariel” (Shelley). The pain that Ariel experiences as an immortal being is compared to the pain that Shelley experiences in his love for Jane; indeed, the timeless quality of the poem emphasizes the power of love itself, in its ability to withstand the test of centuries. Shelley also makes use of Ariel’s canonized connection to nature. The extent of Ariel’s backstory provided in The Tempest is that he was imprisoned “into a cloven pine” by the witch Sycorax, and he did “painfully remain a dozen years”; but because Ariel seems happy to be left to himself with the island at the end of the play, it’s likely that his incarceration was only painful because of an inability to move around and be amongst the whole of the island (Shakespeare 17). The play alludes to the idea that
“With a Guitar, To Jane” is Ariel’s dedication as he gifts her with the titular instrument, describing in length the nature of their relationship, and nature itself, which imagines new depths for a character who is given little dimension by Shakespeare.
It may be his marginalized, and somewhat isolated role in The Tempest which makes Ariel uniquely qualified to fill the role that Shelley’s poem necessitates. There are several means by which Ariel is separated from the rest of the cast, the clearest example being that he is the only nonhuman in a play that delves into the question of what a human is. He introduces himself in the first act having created the titular storm and then transported himself back to Prospero to make his report; this ability to fly, teleport, or otherwise travel through the air (this power is not specified by Shakespeare but has been interpreted creatively by many adaptations) gives the audience a sense that Ariel operates on a plane that is, if not higher, than at least very different from …show more content…
Ariel of The Tempest is an ageless being, a detail that does not impact the plot of the play except to provide historical reference for the island and an imagined future for what might happen to the island once Prospero leaves. But in the hands of Shelley, that timelessness provides a tragic, romantic weight to the story of Ariel and Miranda, as Ariel is forced to consciously live through Miranda’s death repeatedly; as he describes, “When you die, the silent Moon/ In her interlunar swoon/ Is not sadder in her cell/ Than deserted Ariel” (Shelley). The pain that Ariel experiences as an immortal being is compared to the pain that Shelley experiences in his love for Jane; indeed, the timeless quality of the poem emphasizes the power of love itself, in its ability to withstand the test of centuries. Shelley also makes use of Ariel’s canonized connection to nature. The extent of Ariel’s backstory provided in The Tempest is that he was imprisoned “into a cloven pine” by the witch Sycorax, and he did “painfully remain a dozen years”; but because Ariel seems happy to be left to himself with the island at the end of the play, it’s likely that his incarceration was only painful because of an inability to move around and be amongst the whole of the island (Shakespeare 17). The play alludes to the idea that