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What You’ll Love about… The Tempest by William Shakespeare
The Tempest has probably my favorite opening scene and first act in Shakespeare. The scene with the Boatswain (pronounced boe-zun) commanding his fancy passengers to keep below decks is a really vital picture of the vanity of human pretenses. It is the working-class Boatswain who has the knowledge and skill to keep his helpless passengers alive, and they have the nerve to be offended at his direct speech. Pitch perfect.
Equally important, I think, is Miranda’s concern for the tempest-tossed ship. “O, I have suffered / with those that I saw suffer” she says, expressing an empathy that needs to be appreciated more.
Miranda’s sensitivity and kindness are contrasted with Prospero’s sternness and cruelty. Even though he clearly loves Miranda, Prospero is an awful person. He essentially enslaves, intimidates, and tortures Ariel, Caliban, and Ferdinand. Prospero’s treatment of Caliban and Ariel has been read as a metaphor for how Europe was treating the native people of Africa, Asia, and the Americas in Shakespeare’s time. Although it can be seen, it’s very understated.
It can be difficult to empathize with Caliban, because he’s kind of repellent. We should say, mirroring Miranda, that we suffer to see Caliban suffer, but I’m not sure how much sympathy we’re supposed to have with him. We are told that…
