"THE TEMPEST" by Romana Beyenburg MA,Phd (Cologne)
(from "Shakespeare in Performance"(K.Parsons and P.Mason, ed. Salamander Books, London 1995.)
A remote island is the testing ground for a reflective debate upon the influence of nature and nurture.
At the centre of The Tempest is the figure Prospero who controls the plays action. In performance, his age and the nature of his magic influence the conception of the character. In Charles Laughtons serene, majestic octogenarian whose "every third thought" was indeed his grave, Prosperos desire to regain his dukedom was less immediate and disturbing than in Derek Jacobis vigorous middle-aged portrayal. While Prosperos magic is often interpreted as wholly benevolent, it had strong elements of necromancy in both Jacobis and Michael Bryants interpretations. But whereas the attempt at playing God weighed heavy on Bryant and made him yearn for Gods forgiveness, Jacobi found it hard to exchange the role of omnipotent magus for that of a mortal duke.
The creation of the storm which opens The Tempest is the first example of magical powers. Although it surprises the audience ignorant of Prosperos involvement, a production can establish the sense of an omnipotent stage manager by showing him producing the storm, as did Tom Flemings furious Prospero. Cheek by Jowl presented the storm as the result of an improvisation exercise whipped up by Timothy Walkers tyrannical actor-director. Derek Jarman presented the storm as Prosperos dream, thus giving his subconscious feelings as much power as his conscious thoughts. But the storm scene can also establish the powers of someone other than Prospero. Sam Mendes had his Ariel stand on top of a skip swinging a lantern and thereby initiate the storm. Not until halfway through the scene did Prospero appear behind a transparent gauze on top of a stepladder supervising his servants actions. The productions first images introduced a collision of the masters will with that of the servant by presenting an Ariel powerful in his own right, who made it necessary for Prospero to check up on him.
In the long scene following the storm, Prospero is confronted with the passionate concerned reproaches of his daughter Miranda. Neglecting the ambivalences apparent in her impetuosity, inquisitiveness and independence of mind, most productions stress her innocence and obedience as well as her function as a catalyst, she brings out Prosperos potential for tenderness, but also reveals his hidden obsessions. Thus, John Woods and Michael Bryants repeated requests for Mirandas attention during the description of the usurpation signalled the absorption in the past and the intense pain with which Prospero relived the past injustice suffered at the hands of his brother Antonio.
Prosperos servants, Ariel and Caliban, are often described as symbolizing two opposing forces in Prospero and in man in general. Ariel represents art, imagination and the supremacy of the mind, whereas Caliban stands for the gratification of mans animal impulses. Peter Hall substituted the Freudian concept of sublimation and libido for the more general contrast between art and nature through his use of an asexual Ariel and a naked Caliban whose genitals were muzzeld by a male version of a chastity belt. Nicholas Hytner contrasted air and earth in his presentation of Prosperos two servants by juxtaposing a deformed, mud-caked, heavy Caliban with an Ariel whose white wig and trousers decorated with little feathers not only suggested the airy element to which he belonged, but together with his habit of ascending the sides of the proscenium arch made him seem almost to disappear into the blue and white of the cylclorama.
Characteristic of Prosperos relationship with his servants is the rigid control he achieves over them by depriving them of their liberty. Caliban is styed in "this hard rock" and Ariel is warned that Prospero:
will rend an oak,
And peg thee in his knotty entrails,
Till thou hast howled away twelve winters
thereby threatening to aggravate the punishment Ariel had suffered at the hands of the witch Sycorax, who had imprisoned him within "a cloven pine". The horror of this threat was visualised when Alec McCowen presented a cone to Ariel, who seemed to realize with terror that it came from the very pine in which he had been imprisoned. Yet, the play counterbalances the dictatorial control over Ariel with hints of affection, notably in Ariels question, "Do you love me, master? No?", to which Prospero answers, "Dearly, my delicate Ariel". It is the first time Prospero turns to another creature in unselfish affection, apart from his love for Miranda, and the line marks the beginning of the end of his desire for revenge, a development which reaches its climax in his assertion that:
Yet with my nobler reason gainst my fury
Do I take part
because he finally finds that:
The rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance.
However, directed not to one of his fellow human beings but to a spirit he is about to release, these lines highlight Prosperos isolation due to his basic inability to communicate. Thus Ian Richardson emerged as a deeply lonely figure, who, stretching out his hand to reach for Ben Kingsleys completely unmoved Ariel, only grasped the air.
To interpret Caliban as representing the dark side of humanity with his unchecked animal impulses, especially unbridled sexual desire, is, as are most assumptions about The Tempest, only half the story. He also speaks some of the most beautiful lines in the play. Regarding Calibans claim to the island "by Sycorax my mother" as valid and Prosperos contention that he was:
got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam
as prejudiced, has served as a starting point for interpretations sympathetic to Caliban. The most striking examples of such an approach were Jonathan Millers productions at the Mermaid Theatre in 1970 and at the Old Vic in 1988, where the play emerged as a parable for colonisation. Rudolph Walkers enslaved black Caliban exchanged the white master Prospero for the black master Ariel, who at the end of the play reassembled Prosperos discarded staff and held it threateningly over Caliban and his fellow-islanders. In La TempÍte, Peter Brook turned Millers concept on its head. David Bennents dwarfish, white Caliban was an intruder into the serene primitive culture of a black Prospero and Ariel.
The past looms large in The Tempest, as Prosperos extensive reminiscence in his first scene with Miranda suggests. The plays action is a controlled re-enactment of the past with the purpose of avoiding earlier mistakes. Instead of "neglecting worldly ends" as in Milan twelve years before, Prospero now has to act on a tight schedule, for, as he says himself:
my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star, whose influence
If I now court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop.
Recovering his kingdom is tied to the reformation of his enemies, notably his brother and Alonso, the King of Naples. The text leaves open the precise extent to which Prospero has set up the opportunity for Antonio and Sebastian to plan the murder of Alonso. With the help of his spirits, Sotigui KonyatÈ introduced Alonsos and his courtiers "strange drowsiness" and so allowed the opportunity for Antonios second conspiracy, which echoed the past usurpation and provided Prospero with further proof of his brothers evil nature. Alec McCowen reinforced the sense of Prosperos control over this usurpation by appearing again behind the gauze backdrop.
The plot involving Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo comically mirrors past and present conspitracies. The ridiculous failure of the plans of these characters, who end up in a stinking puddle smelling of "all horse-piss", indicates the ultimate harmlessness of their pretensions. Yet there is a streak of nastiness in Stephano and the fact that he thought of Caliban and his conspiracy disrupts the betrothal masque for Ferdinand and Miranda hints at the potential threat that these characters pose to Prospero. David Throughtons Caliban appeared disguised as one of the reapers in the masque, which dispersed when he revealed himself.
Prospero inflicts punishment for past and present rebellion upon most characters in the play. The punishment can result from his desire for revenge or his wish to reform his enemies. Calibans imprisonment has a didactic function, albeit initially ineffectual. His ordeal, however, makes him "seek for grace". Slaving as a "patient logman", Ferdinand learns to appreciate Miranda, "the prize" of his labour. Alonsos supposed loss of his son generates repentance for his part in the usurpation. Productions have tackled the question of Prosperos motivation for punishing his enemies in different ways. While Michael Hordern and Alec McCowen emerged as rather avuncular, schoolmasterly figures pursuing forgiveness rather than revenge from the beginning, Michael Bryant and Derek Jacobi did not consider forgiveness until Ariel told him that his "affections / would become tender (...) were (he) human).
Seeking to reconcile himself with his enemies and to recover his lost dukedom, Prospero assembles all the characters on stage in the final scene. The extent of his success, however, is open to question. While Alonso is truly penitent, Sebastians and Antonios reactions to their experience on the island allow for opposing interpretations. Antonios silence can be a sign of his shame and express contrition. Sebastians words commenting on the appearance of Ferdinand and Miranda, "A most high miralce", may indicate his amazement and acceptance of a benign providence. Both appear to be ready for the final reconciliation. Stressing the personal liberation of all characters on Prosperos island, La TempÍte included the two wicked brothers in the final mood of reconciliation. Most modern productions, however, make Sebastians lines ironic and present Antonios silence as the evidence of his unwillingness to return the dukedom and accept Prosperos forgiveness. James Hayes and Richard Haddon Haines remained stubbornly outside the reconciliatory circle. CHeek by Jowl went as far as presenting an unrepentant Queen of Naples - Alonso became a Margaret Thatcher look-alike, Alonsa. Such an interpretation, however, went against the text and necessitated significant cuts. Other productions have stressed not so much Antonios unwillingness to accept forgiveness as Prosperos difficulty in forgiving, an interpretation warranted by his ambivalent wording:
For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault all of them.
In a production interpreting the play as a journey of self-discovery, Michael Bryant emphasized the hard-won quality of Prosperos forgiveness of his brother. Max von Sydow was even tempted to smash Antonios face with his staff before he decided to forgive him. Prosperos recognition of Caliban as his own, "This thing of darkness I / Acknowledge mine" is often interpreted as acceptance of his darker self. Sam Mendes, however, presented the line as the masters reaction towards a creature who will always need rigid control. In his production Prospero imprisoned David Throughtons repentant Caliban in the skip. As with Cheek by Jowls unrepentant Alonsa, this staging necessitated rewriting Shakespeares text: the pronoun in Prosperos line, "Go, sirrah, to my cell", was changed to "thy".
Prosperos last action is the release of Ariel. This moment can express a close, friendly relationship between master and servant as in La TempÍte, where Ariel almost preferred staying with Prospero to regaining his freedom. But it can also convey Ariels impatience at the prospect of his liberty. Thus, Mark Rylances Ariel had already gone when Propsero spoke the words which were supposed to release him. Sam Mendes offered a startling revision of the entire relationship between Prospero and Ariel. The previously unemotional, efficient servant turned to Prospero and, spitting in his face, released the hatred and disgust accumulated during the twelve years of his servitude. The subsequent epilogue for Alec McCowen became the painful, weary recognition of his projects failure and a true prayer for pardon and relief from the "good hands" of the audience. John Wood turned the Epilogue into the desperate plea of an insecure man for attention and affection. Both interpretations exemplify modern productions efforts to avoid presenting Prospero as the retiring Shakespeares double saying his serene farewell to the stage.