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Aristotle: Tempest As A "New World" Play, Linked To The Colonization of The Americas That Was Taking Place at The Time

The island setting of The Tempest provides a confined space for the action to take place. It allows Prospero to observe and influence the events. The isolation of the island helps Shakespeare abide by classical dramatic unities of taking place in one location and spanning no more than 24 hours. The island is a site of magic where strange illusions instill confusion, sadness and horror. Though the precise location is unknown, theories suggest it could be in the Caribbean linked to colonialism or the Mediterranean reflecting political tensions in that region.

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Arihant Kumar
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55 views

Aristotle: Tempest As A "New World" Play, Linked To The Colonization of The Americas That Was Taking Place at The Time

The island setting of The Tempest provides a confined space for the action to take place. It allows Prospero to observe and influence the events. The isolation of the island helps Shakespeare abide by classical dramatic unities of taking place in one location and spanning no more than 24 hours. The island is a site of magic where strange illusions instill confusion, sadness and horror. Though the precise location is unknown, theories suggest it could be in the Caribbean linked to colonialism or the Mediterranean reflecting political tensions in that region.

Uploaded by

Arihant Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Setting :

The majority of the action in The Tempest takes place on a small, remote island. The island provides a
convenient container for the action of the play, a confined space where Prospero can easily observe and
influence the actions of his enemies. The island’s isolation allows Shakespeare to concentrate the
storytelling and abide by the classical “unities” of drama first set forth by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. The
two unities most relevant to this play include the unity of action, which says a play should take place in a
single geographical location, and the unity of time, which says the action of a play should span no more that
24 hours. Aside from the play’s first scene, which takes place on a ship, the action of The Tempest remains
restricted to the island, and it covers about as much time as it takes to perform the play. The setting
therefore helps give the play a more classical form than Shakespeare’s other romances.
In addition to confining the action of the play, the island is also a site of magic and illusion. With the magician
Prospero in charge of Ariel and his fellow spirits, strange things happen on the island constantly, and these
things tend to inspire confusion, sadness, and horror more often than amazement. In Act I, scene ii, Ariel
conceals himself as he sings a song to Ferdinand. At first Ferdinand feels confused about where the song is
coming from, but his confusion turns to sadness as he registers that the song concerns the death of his
father, Alonso, in the tempest. Another disorienting vision appears in Act III, scene iii, when spirits create the
illusion of a splendid banquet for Alonso and his company. But the enticing vision quickly turns horrifying
when Ariel appears in the form of a harpy to chastise the men. Ultimately, the illusions that populate the
island serve to confuse and manipulate. Although they do no physical harm, they break individuals down
psychologically.

Despite the importance of the play’s island setting, the precise location of the island remains a mystery. The
unknown location of The Tempest has long been a source of debate among Shakespeare scholars. One
theory posits that the island is located somewhere in the Caribbean. Scholars in this camp see The
Tempest as a “New World” play, linked to the colonization of the Americas that was taking place at the time
Shakespeare wrote the play. Another theory posits that the island would more likely be located in the
Mediterranean, probably off the coast of Tunis. Scholars in this camp see The Tempest as an “Old World”
play, linked to the shifting politics and maritime powers of the Mediterranean, which in Shakespeare’s time
remained a region charged with tension between Christianity and Islam. British scholar Gordon McMullan
proposes a compromise between these two theories, suggesting that The Tempest is geographically hybrid,
“[set] in the Mediterranean and in the Caribbean and yet in neither, exactly.”

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