Final Point 4: Critical Conversations and Secondary Scholarship

The Tempest, as with any literary piece, can be read through many different lenses and from many different perspectives.  There is no “right way” of interpreting the play, though there are probably some stronger interpretations than others that can be made.  One of our goals for our edition for high school students is to introduce them to various ways of looking at literature.  After researching scholarly input on the text, we Spear Shakers have consolidated our research into five common critical topics: magic and the fantastic, colonialism, power and politics, gender and sexuality, and the play as autobiography. We have assigned one of these topics to each of the five acts in the play, with our plan being to have the students focus on a different area of criticism for each act.  In this way, they are exposed to different ways of analyzing literature in an integrated and non-overwhelming way.  We purposefully assigned the critical topics to the acts we did in consideration of the plot of each act, and what could facilitate good classroom discussion.

In addition, we have materials for an introduction and afternotes.  The introduction, based off of an article by Robert B. Pierce, introduces the idea of how many different interpretations of the play can all be valid and build understanding, and that there is no right way of reading or not reading the play.  We felt that a short excerpt from his essay (which involves a marvelous polka-analogy) would be a good way to set the tone for our edition.  The materials we have listed in the afternotes section we felt were interesting and valid interpretations, but were not as major or easy to discuss with beginning Shakespeare scholars as the selections we did include.

The essays themselves within each act would be mainly for a teacher to consult in preparation to help guide the discussion in the classroom, but we may include short quotes from some of them for the students themselves to consider.  Since the large majority of our audience are beginning Shakespeareans, we do not want to overwhelm them with pages and pages of critical essays, so we plan not to go into too much detail for each area of criticism.  The main point is to help students be aware of the many kinds of discussions being had about literature.     

Introduction

Pierce, Robert B. “Understanding The Tempest.” New Literary History 30.2 (1999): 373-388. Project Muse. Web. 25 February 2014.  

Act I: Magic and the Fantastic

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. “From Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet philosopher, and critic.” Oxford School 
Shakespeare: The Tempest. Ed. Roma Gill. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. 99-100. Print.

Coursen, H. R. The Tempest: A Guide to the Play. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2000. Print.

Bate, Jonathan. “Introduction.” William Shakespeare: The Tempest. Ed. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen.  New York: The Modern Library, 2008. vii-xx. Print. [specifically ix-xi.]

Johnson, Samuel. “From Dr Samuel Johnson: editor, critic, poet, and scholar.” Oxford School Shakespeare: The Tempest. Ed. Roma Gill. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. 98-99. Print.

Act 2: Colonialism

Maughan, Virginia Mason. Shakespeare in Performance: The Tempest. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011. 98-126. Print.

Taylor, David Francis.  “The Disenchanted Island: A Political History of The Tempest, 1760-1830.” Shakespeare Quarterly 63.4 (2012): 487-517.  Project Muse.  Web. 24 February 2014.  

Act 3: Gender and Sexuality

Hauger, Richard Lynn. "Shakespeare's "Full Realization" in "the Tempest": Maternal Absence and the Mystical Transcendence of Fratricidal Self-Fashioning through the 'Caritas' of Daughters." Order No. 1334092 The American University, 1988. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.

Pask, Kevin.  “Caliban’s Masque.” English Literary History 70.3 (2003): 739-756. Project Muse. Web. 24 2014.

Act 4: Politics and Power

Brower, Reuban A.  “The Mirror of Analogy.” The Tempest. Ed. Robert Langbaum. New York: Signet, 1964. 182-205. Print.

Elliot, N. J. (2004). “Prospero's return: An interpretation of The Tempest." ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Web. 24 February 2014.

Gish, Dustin A. “Taming the Tempest: Prospero's Love of Wisdom and the Turn from Tyranny." Souls with Longing: Representations of Honor and Love in Shakespeare. Ed. Bernard J. Dobski and Dustin A. Gish. Maryland: Lexington Books (2011). 231-260.  Web. 24 February 2014.

Zlatescu, Andrei Paul. "The Tempest as a Pretext: Shakespeare's Last Major Play and the New Allegories of Order." Order No. NR46459 University of Alberta (Canada), 2008. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.

Act 5: Autobiographical Evidences

Coursen, H.R. "Critical Approache." Trans. Array The Tempest: A Guide to the Play. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000. 79-85. Print.

Davies, Anthony. “The Tempest.” The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Ed. Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. 470-474. Print.

Lee, Michelle . "The Tempest." Shakespearean Criticism. 124. (2009): 256-350. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

Phillips, James E. "The Tempest and the Renaissance Idea of Man." Shakespeare Quarterly. 15.2 (1964): 147-158. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

Afternotes: More Ways of Reading the Play

Stage Production: 

Bate, Jonathan and Eric Rasmussen . The Tempest. New York: The Royal Shakespeare Company, 2008. Print.

Dymkowski, Christine ed. The Tempest.  Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Print.

Lindley, David ed. The Tempest. London: Thomson, 2003. Print.

Taymor, Julie. “Rough Magic.” Living With Shakespeare: Essays by Writers, Actors, and Directors. Ed. Susannah Carson. New York: Vintage Books, 2013. 466-482. Print.

Ecocriticism:

Brayton, Dan.  “Sounding the Deep: Shakespeare and the Sea Revisited.” Forum for Modern Language Studies 46.2 (2010): 189-206. Web. 25 February 2014.

Visual Sources:

Garfield, Leon. The Tempest. New York: Shakespeare Animated Films Limited, 1992. Print.

*A general note from the Spear Shakers at large...we tried to MLA format this as best we could, but Blogger hates indentations, so we made do with what we could. Also, if some of the sections are randomly a different shade of grey, we have absolutely no idea why.