A Shipwreck in a Storm
1 2017-03-21T13:28:00-07:00 Vimala C. Pasupathi ceefc20a3151658461abeb1911f30e5d016aa34b 10126 1 "A Shipwreck in a Storm," Jean Pillement (French, Lyons 1728–1808 Lyons) plain 2017-03-21T13:28:00-07:00 The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1782 Image 56.7 Pastel on gessoed canvas Vimala C. Pasupathi ceefc20a3151658461abeb1911f30e5d016aa34bThis page is referenced by:
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2017-03-21T07:45:21-07:00
The Tempest
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Page introducing unit/module on The Tempest
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2017-04-07T14:17:51-07:00
What is The Tempest About?
For a plot synopsis, see the Folger edition's opening page. For a real understanding of the play, you'll need to read Shakespeare's The Tempest using the assigned edition for your course, a specific edition required by your professor (strongly recommended). If your professor has not required a specific or hard-copy edition, you may choose your own from your favorite library or read the digital edition (linked previously) produced by the Folger Shakespeare Library. Avoid relying on internet summaries or modern-language re-tellings.
With respect to genre,The Tempest is a Romance, a generic category that scholars began using to describe plays in the 19th century. Shakespeare and his contemporaries might not have used this term, and the plays we typically identify within this category––Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale Pericles, Henry VIII, or All is True and The Two Noble Kinsmen––at first glance don't seem to have much in common with one another. But, we can make a few generalizations about how these other plays work that also resonate with The Tempest. First, their plots all center around loss and restoration, but even though they have happy endings and are missing the blood and death we associate with tragedies, they are not necessarily comic in tone. Characters in them typically travel significant distances, and the plots tend to be sprawling both narratively and geographically. Moreover, those travels are often travails--that is, characters in romance must undergo great hardship before they are allowed happiness. Moreover, because of the extreme nature of their hardship, restoration often requires something more significant than mere human agency; typically the conclusions in romances are enabled by divine providence or other supernatural means. Finally, though romances may feature couples in their plots, the focus our playwright is trained on families or dynasties more so than the young lovers. While two people may get together, we are supposed to see what their union means for some larger unit involved, not because we actually like them or care about them as individuals in love.
The play explores the following larger themes and concepts:
Relationships between Parents and Children (And Other Family Relationships)
Like most of Shakespeare’s Romances, The Tempest explores the general dynamics of the family more so than the internal or psychological workings of the individual. There are aristocratic as well as royal families in the play, but the familial relationships depicted therein are not always conventional (or “nuclear” families, in our modern sense). Pay attention to the ways in which Shakespeare presents familial bonds and hierarchies within families.
Old and New Worlds: Bermuda, Milan, Tunis, Argier, England
Characters in The Tempest all find themselves on an island, but Shakespeare tells us that a variety of circumstances occasion each person’s arrival there; the play charts geographical movement from European locales to regions that were considered exotic and strange to Shakespeare’s audiences. Note the ways in which characters talk about the island itself––the “brave new world that has such people in it” (as Miranda says)––and other places.
The Theater of Magic, and the relationship between Power and Spectacle
Prospero loses his dukedom while spending too much time with his books of magic; he re-claims it through his own use of magic and that of his servants. In many Consider the other characters in the play who have access to supernatural (vs. natural) resources and forces or have other forms of power. To what extent are characters able to exercise political authority without magic? To what extent is there a hierarchy of magical powers? What kinds of magic do we see in the play? Consider, too, the ends for which characters use magic; often, its use produces some kind of spectacle for an audience. How does magic serve the acquisition or loss of governing power and the authority to rule?
Servitude and Slavery
The play stages multiple forms of labor relations that range from filial or chivalric service to indentured servitude and slavery. How does The Tempest construct the dynamics of physical and mental/intellectual labor? What kinds of practices does it attempt to naturalize as right, appropriate, and normal? To what extent does the text suggest that master-laborer relations are unjust? To what extent do laborers have rights to liberty, and how much room do they have to negotiate the limits of their service? What are the rewards of service, and how might service differ from servitude?
Monsters, Cannibals, and Dead Indians
Related to the play’s exploration of servitude and service is the play’s treatment of Caliban. Considered by many scholars to be a dramatization of a colonial encounter with the Americas, The Tempest offers a portrayal of a culture indigenous to the island (or at least pre-dating Prospero’s arrival there). How does Shakespeare suggest Caliban’s basic humanity? How does Shakespeare’s depiction suggest his monstrousness? Is there an argument in the play about whether England is justified in colonial expansion? -
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2017-03-16T13:40:38-07:00
Changes of Habit: Suits and Conversions in Merchant of Venice
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Analyzing Word Choice in The Merchant of Venice
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2017-03-23T13:37:07-07:00
Changes of Habit: Suits and Conversions in Merchant of Venice
I. “For the four winds blow in from every coast / Renowned suitors, and her sunny locks / Hang on her temples like a golden fleece, / . . . / And many Jasons come in quest of her.” (1.1.168-72).
II. Portia and Nerissa on the “princely suitors that are already come”: they are “oddly suited” (1.2.72; 102).
He is a proper man's picture, but, alas, who can
converse with a dumb-show? How oddly he is suited!
I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his round
hose in France, his bonnet in Germany and his
behavior every where. (1.2.67-71)
You need not fear, lady, the having any of these
lords: they have acquainted me with their
determinations; which is, indeed, to return to their
home and to trouble you with no more suit, unless
you may be won by some other sort than your father's
imposition depending on the caskets. (1.2.95-100)
III. Shylock to Antonio: “Moneys is your suit” (1.3.117)
IV. Launcelot Gobbo’s suit begins as a petition to Bassanio (just as Old Gobbo’s
dish of doves) at 2.2.135 but is converted to a debased “livery more guarded than his fellows’” (153-54).
Gobbo: I have here a dish of doves that I would bestow upon
your worship, and my suit is—
Launcelot: In very brief, the suit is impertinent to myself, as
your worship shall know by this honest old man; and,
though I say it, though old man, yet poor man, my father.
(2.2.126-31)
V. Bassanio (to Launcelot)
I know thee well; thou hast obtain'd thy suit:
Shylock thy master spoke with me this day,
And hath preferr'd thee, if it be preferment
To leave a rich Jew's service, to become
The follower of so poor a gentleman.
VI. The suit makes the man, or “Christian fools with varnished faces” (2.5.33)
1. Notice how Gratiano follows hard on Launcelot’s suit to Bassanio with one of his own: “I have a suit to you” (2.2.174), which by a linguistic trick becomes the
“sober habit” that Gratiano will “put on” in Belmont as though religion were
merely a matter of “Wear[ing] prayer books in my pocket” (187).
But for now, Bassanio encourages Grataino’s “boldest suit of mirth” in
preparation for the night’s festivities, the masque mentioned at 2.4.22.
3. Lorenzo on Jessica: “What gold and jewels she is furnished with, / What page’s suit she hath in readiness” (2.4.31-32).
VII. The cold suit contained in Morocco’s hot blood (2.1) as he chooses the golden casket:
“Fare you well, your suit is cold” (2.7.73)
VIII. “So may the outward shows be least themselves; / The world is still deceived
with ornament” (3.2.73)
- Bassanio’s choice reflects his consciousness of “treason” in courting Portia
2. Once she has given all, “Myself, and what is mine, to you and yours / Is
now converted” (2.2.266-67) Portia will find it necessary to change her habit,
not “To live in prayer and contemplation” in a “monast’ry” (3.4.28), but to use “what notes and garments” (51) she can to recover the “semblance of [her] soul” (20). She’ll also “seem accomplished with what [she] lacks.”
IX. Conversions of value and meaning: Lorenzo (of Launcelot): “O dear discretion, how his words are suited!” (3.5.64)
- Shylock’s ring is exchanged for a monkey (3.1.110)
- Jessica on Lorenzo: “I shall be saved by my husband. He hath made me a Christian” (3.5.19)
X. Shylock’s “losing suit” (4.1.62) and Portia’s assessment of Shylock’s case:
“Of a strange nature is the suit you follow / Yet in such rule that the Venetian law
Cannot impugn you as you do proceed.” (4.1.176-8).
- Shylock’s “losing suit” culminates in his forced conversion (4.1.386).
Instances of Suit:
act 1, scene 2: ... their home and to trouble you with no more suit, unless you may be won by some other act 1, scene 3: ... stranger cur Over your threshold: moneys is your suit. What should I say to you? Should act 2, scene 2: ... that I would bestow upon your worship, and my suit is-- Laun. In very brief, the suit is impertinent to myself, as your worship shall ... I know thee well; thou hast obtain'd thy suit: Shylock thy master spoke with me this ... Gratiano! Gra. I have a suit to you. Bass. You have ... entreat you rather to put on Your boldest suit of mirth, for we have friends That act 2, scene 4: ... she is furnish'd with, What page's suit she hath in readiness. If e'er act 2, scene 7: ... been inscroll'd: Fare you well; your suit is cold. Cold, indeed; and labor lost act 4, scene 1: ... bear Antonio, that I follow thus A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd? ... Por. Of a strange nature is the suit you follow; Yet in such rule that
Senses of Suit:
1) attendance
2) a prosecution at law, an action brought against a person: that I follow thus a losing suit against him,” Merch. IV, 1, 62. “of a strange nature is the suit you follow”
3) petition, address of entreaty : “moneys is your suit.” Merch. I, 3, 120.
I have a suit to you,” Merch. II, 2, 186
“I know thee well; thou hast obtain'd thy suit” (2.2.135)
OED II: Pursuit; prosecution, legal process.
a. Pursuit, chase; also, a pursuit. Phr. to follow, make suit. fresh suit (see fresh adj.1 2c), pursuit made without delay. Obs.
b) amorous solicitation, courtship; sometimes proposal of marriage:
For the four winds blow in from every coast /Renowned suitors (1.1)
“But what warmth is there in your affection towards any of these princely suitors that are already come?” (1.2
4) dress, apparel “a page’s suit” (Jessica), 2.4.33
Metaphorically: “to put on your boldest suit of mirth,” Merch. II, 2, 211
1)vb. To clothe, to dress: 1.2.69: “How oddly he is suited”
b) to fit, to adapt: “O dear discretion, how his words are suited,” Merch. 3.0
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2017-03-21T13:11:14-07:00
Henry IV Part I
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Introduction to a module on I Henry IV
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2017-04-07T14:16:59-07:00
What is 1 Henry IV About?
For a plot synopsis, see the Folger edition's opening page. For a real understanding of the play, you'll need to read Shakespeare's 1 Henry IV using the assigned edition for your course, a specific edition required by your professor (strongly recommended). If your professor has not required a specific or hard-copy edition, you may choose your own from your favorite library or read the digital edition (linked previously) produced by the Folger Shakespeare Library. Avoid relying on internet summaries or modern-language re-tellings.
With respect to genre, I Henry IV is a history play.
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2017-03-25T13:07:06-07:00
The Winter's Tale
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Page introducing unit/module on The Winter's Tale
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2017-03-25T13:07:06-07:00
What is The Winter's Tale About?
For a plot synopsis, see the Folger edition's opening page. For a real understanding of the play, you'll need to read Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale using the assigned edition for your course, a specific edition required by your professor (strongly recommended). If your professor has not required a specific or hard-copy edition, you may choose your own from your favorite library or read the digital edition (linked previously) produced by the Folger Shakespeare Library. Avoid relying on internet summaries or modern-language re-tellings.