Setting and Set Explore Issues in The Tempest

By Andrew Nicol, Student

Addresses some contemporary social issues in The Tempest in terms of set and setting

An essay hosted at LiteratureClassics.com

The island of magic and mystery that Shakespeare creates in The Tempest is an extraordinary symbol of both the political and social realities of his contemporary society, and of the potential for a reformed New World. Shakespeare’s island is a creation which allows the juxtaposition of real and idealised worlds, and shows his audience both what they and what they ought to be. The seventeenth century was a time of ideological upheaval in Europe, with Medieval ideas of a hierarchical and ordered society being challenged by Renaissance thinkers. For the dynastic powers, including England under Elizabeth I, colonialism was an important opportunity to realise territorial ambition and prove religious pre-eminence. To Shakespeare, colonialism was an opportunity for mankind to explore the extraordinary possibilities of the human mind, free from the conflict and prejudice of real life. Just two years before The Tempest was written, British colonists were shipwrecked on a Caribbean island, and their report of the paradise and magic they found there is one of many popular writings of the time that may have had an influence on The Tempest.

In The Tempest, Shakespeare adheres closely to the classical unities of time, place and action. The unity of place required that the scene should remain unchanged throughout the play. The entire action, with the exception of the first scene, is confined to the island. The storm of the first scene symbolizes a transition in the lives of the characters, and establishes their relationships with each other and with a world in a state of disorder. The initial reactions of the characters when arriving on the island are important metaphors for the ideologies they have carried with them from their society.

Ferdinand scarcely notices his surroundings, absorbed instead by the sight of Miranda. Antonio is morose and cynical, remarking that it is as if the island “’twere perfumed by a fen” and has everything “save means to live”. The most interesting reaction is from Gonzalo, whose comic vision of an impractical but ideal commonwealth is the first utopian dream in the play:

“I’ the commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things; for no kind of traffic
Would I admit…
No occupation, all men idle, all,
And women too, but innocent and pure;
No sovereignty-“

Gonzalo delivers this speech to provide comic relief to his audience, but it has much greater significance. His optimistic attitude, “you have cause, so have we all, of joy” and vision parallels the excitement of the discovery of a New World in the seventeenth century.

Additionally, the island is the perfect setting for Shakespeare to present man as a zealous political animal, free of the façade and superficiality of ordinary society. Antonio and Sebastian plot almost immediately to murder Antonio, considering political gain despite the predicament in which they find themselves. Additionally, Stephano, Trincullo and even Caliban have their own political plot – to murder Prospero. Stephano remarks “this will prove a brave kingdom to me”, and Caliban tells of his dreams of heavenly riches:

“the isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that delight and hurt not…
and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.”
(III.2.136-144)

This passage establishes Caliban as a complex, three-dimensional character – he is not merely the beast who tried to rape Miranda and showed no remorse in the first act for having done so, declaring “I had peopled else / This island with Calibans”. Instead, like everyone else, Caliban has a dream for a perfect society. His is in the past, when he introduced the newcomer Prospero to the beauties of the island:

“And then I loved thee,
And showed thee all the qualities o’th’isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile.”
(I.2.336-339)

Prospero presents his vision of a utopian society in the masque to celebrate Miranda’s betrothal to Ferdinand. He has called Spirits “to enact / [His] present fancies”. Beauty both natural and of the arts is Prospero’s fancy; and his vision is so convincing that Ferdinand says in wonder:

“Let me live here ever;
So rare and wond’red father and a wise
Makes this place Paradise.”
(IV.1.122-124)

Prospero’s vision, however, is shattered as he remembers Caliban’s “foul conspiracy”. He despairs and proceeds to contemplate the vulnerability of human life and the hopelessness of social reform.

“We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”
(IV.1.156-158)

Prospero’s remarkable decision to release his enemies is an astonishing token of the possibility for renewal and reconciliation in the New World. The following interchange between man and spirit is only possible in a magical setting, and the circumstances which have allowed Prospero to manifest this situation are only possible on an island.

“ARIEL: Your charm so strongly works ‘em
That if you now beheld them your affections
Would become tender.
PROSPERO: Dost thou think so, spirit?
ARIEL: Mine would, sir, were I human
PROSPERO: And mine shall.”
(V.1.17-22)

The motif of the supernatural is an important element of setting in The Tempest. The Repetition of the sound-effect of thunder is a continual reminder of Prospero’s supernatural powers. His godlike power is emphasised in the fifth act, with “To the dread rattling thunder / Have I given fire, and rifted Jove’s stout oak / With his own bolt”. As a result, Prospero’s decision to abjure his magic is very much unexpected, and is another testament to the possibility of a renaissance in human psychology. Prospero suffers a “sea-change” in more than one way during the course of the play, and the attitudes of the other characters change too – Alonso is dignified and apologetic to Prospero in the final scene. In the same scene, however, we are presented with proof of the complexities of the human mind. The concept of rebirth and reconciliation is not complete; Prospero’s forgiveness of his brother is cold and severe:

“For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother
Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive
Thy rankest fault.”
(V.1.132-134)

The supernatural aspect of the setting can be extended through the appropriate use of the devices of set; including costumes, props and staging, to compliment the action and dialogue. Prospero’s power would have been visually evident in his magic robes and staff, as well as in his ability to stand invisible during several scenes.

In order to establish the supernatural nature of the island, the stage is likely to have been bustling with other figures and strange sounds. Staging would have been particularly complicated and props and costumes both very elaborate. Furthermore, music and dance are used by Prospero as part of his plan – Ariel’s songs are sometimes of enticement, sometimes alarm. The ending would have been intentionally quiet, with Prospero addressing each man solemnly. The thrust stage of the Elizabethan theatre would have allowed Shakespeare to work simultaneously on many aspects of an audience’s sensibilities. With elements of supernatural music, dance, sound effects and movement in every scene of the play, the audience would never forget that the island is set apart from reality.

As isolated as the island of The Tempest may be, its characters are representative of people in our own society. The social disorder in which they find themselves becomes an exploration of their aspirations – some have unique ideas about a perfect way of life, while others are merely products of a hegemony of political clambering in the imperfect society from which they come. Shakespeare’s last play, The Tempest is more than an artist’s farewell; it explores the endless possibility of our minds and our endeavours, as mankind enters a “brave new world”.