For Friday, February 26, finish
reading The Tempest and write a response paper on one
of the following topics:
Throughout the play, Prospero seems to
be staging little dramas for the various castaways under his power. All
in all, how would you assess Prospero as a dramatist? What do his performances
suggest about drama in general—about its purpose, its powers, its
limitations, its relationship to reality?
Near the end of the play, when the plot
of Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban is revealed, Prospero says to Alonso,
"Two of these fellows you/ Must know and own. This thing of darkness
I/ Acknowledge mine" (5.1.272-274). What does he mean by this? Has
Prospero's perception of Caliban been confirmed, or has it changed and evolved
over the course of the play?
What are the effects of Prospero's "plots" on
the castaways-- Alonso, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, Antonio, Sebastian, Stephano,
Trinculo. Who has changed, and why, and how? Who has not changed, and why
not?
Prospero declares his intention to leave the island with
the others and to "retire me to my Milan, where/ Every third thought
shall be my grave" (5.1.307-308). What has Prospero intended to achieve?
Has he achieved it?
At the beginning of Act 5, Prospero vows that he will soon
give up his "rough magic." In the Epilogue, he addresses the audience
and asks to be "set free." There are many ways to interpret Prospero's
magical powers. What do you take them to represent? Does the play ultimately
stress Prospero's power, or the limitations on his power?
And what is the role of the audience-- or the reader-- in the drama?