The Tempest, William Shakespeare

Heroes represent the inherent goodness of humanity and inspire society to be better, however the artistic lense manipulates society’s perceptions of what makes a hero. The portrayal of heroes in Shakespeare’s works, particularly The Tempest, directly reflect heroes from Greek literature, suggesting that the relationship between hero and society is impartial to time, but shaped by the views of both the people and the artist. The base of the paintings portrays famous heroes from both Greek literature and Shakespeare’s society, while the embroidered overlay portrays heroes present in The Tempest to represent the connection between society’s values and how they translate into their heroes, as well as the parallels between Shakespeare’s heroes and those of both Greek and 17th Century English societies. 

The leader of the island, Prospero, in The Tempest is one of the most manipulative leaders in literature. The power of the position he put himself into corrupts his being into thinking he is much stronger than he actually is. It even connects to the real world, and it reflects onto how the world’s leaders can grow power hungry and corrupt to the point where they don’t focus on the people but instead, focus on themselves. This film will show the daily life of Prospero, and how he treats the people around him. It will show that when someone focuses only on themselves, and doesn’t take in the feelings of others, they get trapped into an orb of selfishness.

The Tempest demonstrates how the different aspects of betrayal such as pain, guilt, anger and suffering relate to real life examples. Caliban betrays Prospero by defecting to Stefano for alcohol similar to how when soldiers or people defect to other countries for material gains such as money. To portray this visually required soft emotionally stirring music while still having harsh points. This piece shows how betrayal looks and feels through musical sound waves.

Prospero is an example of someone who abuses their power by manipulating Ariel, Caliban and Miranda with his magic. This manipulation of perception is an attempt to gain more personal power as a way to put his place above everybody else. This will be portrayed through a theatrical dance in combination with spoken word from “The Tempest” and connected sources that is being reflected by the movement.

This is an original music piece set to a choreographed dance created through studying The Tempest. The storyline of the dance portrays different elements of power: understanding the surrounding environment enables more power, colonialism causes a shift in power that oppresses free will, less government control allows more individual power.

Prospero controls the storm and also takes advantage of Caliban and the nobles in order to seek revenge. Prospero’s ultimate goal is to gain back the power he once had. Our dance shows this vengeance by using movements that mimic; one dance is in control of the other and uses harsh, sharp movements to represent the feelings of Prospero. Power has the ability to control and manipulate people’s thoughts and feelings, also how anger is used as a tool and empowers the user to hurt others. 

William Shakespeare’s The Tempest represents the fight for control in government in 17th Century England by depicting a world of conflict. Prospero created a world of fear and manipulation in order to gain the power he felt he lost. This multi-movement symphonic work depicts The Tempest through an overall tone of the events happening in the play: fear, control and manipulation. 

In Shakespeare's The Tempest there is always underlying talk of a power higher than Prospero, but the reader can only assume this through vague clues alone. The reader will often hear talk of Sycorax through the eyes of a Propsero, a thorn lens. The disappearance of this powerful witch surely is a mystery on its own, which implores me to now offer up the possibility that Sycorax is the island itself, or she offered herself up to the island to protect those who had already lived on it (Caliban). After banishment to the island from the people of her own land she soon after dies, in her dying moments, she gives her powers to the island, to protect him and ensure his safety. Her entrapment of Ariel, was then to keep Prospero from gaining this leverage over her son.

Freedom of thought, action, and self expression are rights that all individuals should be allowed. In The Tempest, Prospero manipulates both Caliban and Ariel to serve him because he believes that he has done both of them great deeds that must be repaid: “When thou cam'st first, Thou strok'st me and madest much of me,” (1.2) and “When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape the pine and let thee out,” (1.2) respectively. My paintings showcase the struggle of imprisonment and the hope for freedom that these characters carry. 

Persuasion through knowledge is a theme that reoccurs in The Tempest. This theme is often portrayed by the thirst for power that Prospero and Antonio both have. This theme is seen in Act 2 Scene 1 where Antonio persuades Sebastian to kill Alonso with him. It is also seen in Act 1 Scene 2 where Prospero speaks of how Ariel came under his command. The split between the canvas of Prospero on the right along with who is under his control, Antonio on the left showing who is under his control, and showing how they came to be in the position they are. The separation between warm and cool colors depicts the conflict between the characters, and the difference in size between Antonio and Prospero and those beneath them show who has more power and why.

The Tempest is a book about the manipulation of the indigenous creatures and beings on the island. How were the characters such as Ariel and Caliban used for the agenda of the colonists such as Prospero and Alonso. Were they stripped of their rights and identities when the colonists came? We will be discussing these issues in our project.

Shakespeare’s The Tempest gives multiple interesting portrayals of power structure and societal hierarchy, even beginning with a debate between royalty and boat workers within the first act. This visual piece takes a look at these shifting power roles and provides alternate points of view on them through classic elements of art such as texture, pattern and color, giving representation to the structures of power in society.

In The Tempest the inhabitants of the island put themselves in a state of blissful ignorance to exclude themselves from Prospero’s hostilities. We each have created three different pieces that all connect with the idea of ignorance?. The 3D plot chart shows where each of the characters stand on the scale of their own blissful ignorance. The sculpture/drawing personifies the idea of character perspective in the novel with a perspective structure. When looking at it one way it will show Miranda’s perspective of life on the island. The other way represents Caliban’s understanding. The sculpture is symbolic of the different layers of social hierarchy. The several layers represent the many characters who are influenced by Prospero. The different placements and appearances of the faces represent how Prospero controlled the narrative, therefore is the center of the sculpture. All of these projects come together to make a bigger picture, and shows how blissful ignorance impacts the perspective of social hierarchy. 

The Tempest is a story about stories. It examines the human tendency to rely on narratives for meaning and control, and the powerlessness that ensues when those narratives are altered or suppressed. Prospero manipulates the narratives of Miranda, Ariel, and Caliban to gain power for himself, and strip the other characters of their agency. This interactive visual art piece poses questions about manipulation and the significance of narrative in The Tempest, as well as in current and historical circumstances, to depict the inextricable connection between power and the ability to tell a story.

In society and throughout stories the storyteller holds the power to the truth, being held responsible and having the convenience in what is true and what is not. Prospero in The Tempest has the ability of convincing others that his version of the truth, is the truth whether or not that actually be the case. Through my visual art piece I have conveyed the idea of truth and the way truth is told through The Tempest in the midst of the storyteller himself, Prospero.

Power is a thing to be sought after in The Tempest, but is power even real? The constructed idea of power gives those in charge such as Prospero a perception of absolute power, by manipulating characters like Miranda or Caliban to believe that they are nothing, In order to accurately display our interpretation we created a poster that has elements of power connecting to governmental situations.

In my project, I wanted to recreate The Tempest with a massive Sci-Fi theme. My original goal was to create a story within the Halo video game series given how open ended its expanded universe is. Many Characters, technologies and general concepts share major similarities to Shakespeare’s play.