---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Varadhu Rajan <varadhu.g...@gmail.com> Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2013 16:30:31 +0530 Subject: Fwd: [englishteachers_du] Abstract sent to Shakespeare Society of India To: varadhurajan9898 <varadhurajan9...@gmail.com>
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Vandita Gautam <vandita_gau...@yahoo.com> Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2013 19:15:24 -0800 (PST) Subject: [englishteachers_du] Abstract sent to Shakespeare Society of India To: "englishteachers...@yahoogroups.com" <englishteachers...@yahoogroups.com> Cc: "vasantsharmad...@gmail.com" <vasantsharmad...@gmail.com> hai friends, read and enjoy this analysis of tempest. The Tempest- A Banana Republic Dr. Vandita Gautam Associate Professor, Dept. of English Motilal Nehru College (University of Delhi) William Shakespeare is at his enigmatic best in The Tempest. The play is a miasma of subtle interpretations which verberate in tandem to the diachronic slant of the reader-critic. One common denominator that underscores the variety of criticism on the play is its inter-racial inflection. This paper will explore the dynamics of slavery and cultural shifts in the play which lead the dramatist to a guilt-ridden conclusion that cultures are universally complicit in creating social tragedies, no matter how missionary their stance. Our first and foremost cue to the conflictual nature of The Tempest is its name and setting. The play’s setting is a desolate island discovered by chance. The landscape of this island is rough where caves and grottos abound. The immediate climate setting of the play is tropical marine. The weather of the island is very varied: sunshine, snow, rains and tempests abound. A close reading of the flora and fauna of the play clearly cues us to the region, which is in all probability, the Americas – the New World recently discovered. The Tempest is set in Central and upper South America, i.e. Mexico and the Caribbeans, imaginatively limned by Shakespeare who had read the travelogues of the contemporary voyagers and mariners. It is by design that the island Prospero makes his home is inhabited by a witch from Algiers -Sycorax, and her son whom Prospero aptly namesCaliban. Sycorax is a moon worshipper, which connects her to Mexico since in Nahuatl language, Mēxihco translates to navel of the moon. Caliban is clearly a derivative of the Kalinago or Carib people from Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. The Caribs are of African, American Indian and mixed ethnicity. Prospero’s daughter is aptly namedMiranda. In Latin mirandus means alternatively, ‘she who must be admired’ and a ‘watchtower’ or a ‘vantage point’. In 1519 the Spaniard, Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico where war and small pox ravaged the natives but left the conquering Europeans unharmed. The Mexicans took this as a miracle and there was mass conversion to Christianity. European perception of their selves was messianic at its colonial best. ‘Miranda’ has ominous overtones – the young lass symbolises the New World which holds enormous potential for Europe but is a beacon to future crisis since colonisation howsoever gloved with the zeal to civilize will involve dispossession, displacement and manslaughter. Ariel, the wind sprite who is promised conditional freedom is clearly a Native American Indian exploited by the Europeans. Ariel’s appearance as a Harpy re-affirms this since Harpy eagles are mainly found in Central America. The Tempest is a cultural chiaroscuro where Shakespeare paints complex characters in an ambiguous setting. The play is a dark comedy with a baffling beginning and a charismatic ending. The play begins with a discussion on 'Utopia' laced with paradoxes; the end is dystopian - the protagonist hurls the craft of his passion and vocation, his magic wand, into the deep sea. This final act impounds Prospero’s nobility and his magic to witchcraft. The play plays with cultural sensibilities and questions our societal status quo which lets us be complacent and above the guilty parley all cultures acquiesce to. -- with kindness and smile S. Varadharaj Assistant Professor Department of English Shaheed Bhagat Singh College University of Delhi Sheik Sarai Phase 2 New Delhi 110017. mobile no. (0) 9871926764. Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
