The Tempest Critics

Front 1

McDonnell - Caliban's behaviour

Back 1

Believed that Prospero was partly to blame for Caliban's behaviour

Front 2

Dijkhuizen - forgiveness/metatheatre

Back 2

The essay 'Prospero's Dream'

'In one and the same breath, Prospero expresses both forgiveness and a deeply rooted hatred'

'Theatre about theatre'

Front 3

Robinson - time/Ariel

Back 3

'Time is a central element of the form and meaning of the play'

'Ariel is a puzzling and evasive figure'

Front 4

Garrett - time

Back 4

'The Tempest is the only play in the Shakespearean canon that follows the unity of time'

Front 5

Driver - Prospero's position

Back 5

Prospero is an 'analogue of God'

Front 6

O'Toole - Ariel's character

Back 6

'submissive and differential subject'

Front 7

Johnson - Ariel

Back 7

'the sole agent of Prospero's magic'

Front 8

Corfield - Prospero's magic

Back 8

Relinquishing his magic is morally required, not desired, by Prospero

Prospero uses geotic magic

Comments on volte-face

Front 9

Marra - Miranda and Ferdinand/Prospero and reality

Back 9

The love story is one of the two 'lines of action' in the play

'Prospero has a clear perception and awareness of the fragile essence of his constructions'

Front 10

Valdivieso - Miranda and Caliban/Miranda

Back 10

'[critics] have seen Caliban as a symbol of the exploited native but have often underplayed or ignored the specific repression of Miranda'

'Miranda is a subordinate character yet her role is crucial in the developments of events of the play'

Front 11

Berry - Prospero and Ariel

Back 11

'Prospero becomes unusually enamoured with his spirit'

Front 12

Gilman - the masque

Back 12

'Shakespeare's most elaborate stage spectacle'

Front 13

Huxley - illusion and reality

Back 13

'The world is an illusion, but it is an illusion which we must take seriously'

Front 14

Brotton - Sycorax

Back 14

serves the purpose of contrasting Sycorax's magic with Prospero's - we question the severity of his torturous magic

Front 15

Egan - Prospero's art

Back 15

Prosperous art is significant to the play 'all its events and circumstances are either a direct result or consequence of Prospero's art'

Front 16

Barder - Music of the island

Back 16

'The music of the island creates so much mystery that 'Ferdinand is at a loss to unravel'

'Resilience of pure joy that Ariel will return to his natural roots'