Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Jacobean political contexts.
Item
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Title
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Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Jacobean political contexts.
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Identifier
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AAI9315492
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identifier
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9315492
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Creator
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Mucciolo, John Marc.
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Contributor
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Adviser: W. R. Elton
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Date
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1993
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, English
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Abstract
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Many recent interpretations of Shakespeare's The Tempest have tended, in various ways, to identify it as a play concerned with colonial exploitation. Such critics have responded to words in the play also found in Jacobean exploration accounts--e.g., "plantation" (2.1.147), "Indian" (2.2.35), "still-vexed Bermoothes" (1.2.229). Additionally, it has been argued that the play's first scene derives from William Strachey's account (1610) of the ship wreck off the Bermudas in July 1609. Although these correlations may be suggestive, they do not support the view that The Tempest reflects Renaissance exploration accounts. If such claims for the play's "colonialist dimensions" are questionable, what motivates such insistence upon a "colonialist" interpretation? How is it that an unregenerate Caliban is seen to be the play's hero and Prospero is its tyrant-exploiter? Such criticism overlooks dramatic terms with potential Jacobean Political overtones.;The aim of this study, however, is not to deny Jacobean interests in such notions; rather, it is mainly to examine the validity of the current critical view that The Tempest endorses an imperialist stance. An examination of the evidence in light of potential Jacobean audience responses suggests: (1) that The Tempest's political allusions are interpretable in the context of Jacobean Political concerns; and (2) that the result of such examination would tend to support King James's view of a legitimate monarchy and rule. On the other hand, this study Caliban as a positive figure or hero. If the above conclusions are acceptable, this study supports the view of The Tempest as, to a significant extent, a political drama, sustaining of James's monarchic views.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
