The Birth of the Tudor Dynasty

Richard III dramatizes a key turning point in English history: the end of the Wars of the Roses and the rise to power of the Tudor dynasty in the figure of Henry VII. The Tudors continued to rule England in Shakespeare’s day—Queen Elizabeth I, who sat on the throne when Richard III was written, was a Tudor. As a playwright in sixteenth-century England, Shakespeare had to court the favor of those in power.

Motifs

The Supernatural

For a play supposedly based on actual history, Richard III involves an extraordinary number of supernatural elements. Some of these elements are Clarence and Stanley’s prophetic dreams, the continual association of Richard with devils and demons, the Princes’ discussion of the ghosts of their dead uncles, and the parade of eleven ghosts that visits Richard and Richmond the night before the battle.

Symbols

The Boar (кабан, вепрь)

The idea of the boar is also played on in describing Richard’s deformity, The boar was one of the most dangerous animals that people hunted and associated it with aggression and violence.

 

W. Shakespeare: The romantic drama: The Tempest.

Character List

Prospero - The play’s protagonist, and father of Miranda. Twelve years before the events of the play, Prospero was the duke of Milan. His brother, Antonio, in concert with Alonso, king of Naples, usurped him, forcing him to flee in a boat with his daughter. The honest lord Gonzalo aided Prospero in his escape. Prospero has spent his twelve years on the island refining the magic that gives him the power he needs to punish and forgive his enemies.

Miranda - The daughter of Prospero, Miranda was brought to the island at an early age and has never seen any men other than her father and Caliban. Miranda’s perceptions of other people tend to be naïve and non-judgmental. She is compassionate, generous, and loyal to her father.

Ariel - Prospero’s spirit helper. Rescued by Prospero from a long imprisonment at the hands of the witch Sycorax, Ariel is Prospero’s servant until Prospero decides to release him.

Caliban - Another of Prospero’s servants. Caliban, the son of the now-deceased witch Sycorax, acquainted Prospero with the island when Prospero arrived. Caliban believes that the island rightfully belongs to him and has been stolen by Prospero. His speech and behavior is sometimes coarse and brutal, and sometimes eloquent and sensitive, as in his rebukes of Prospero and in his description of the beauty of the.

Ferdinand - Son and heir of Alonso. Ferdinand seems in some ways to be as pure and naïve as Miranda. He falls in love with her upon first sight and happily submits to servitude in order to win her father’s approval.

Alonso - King of Naples and father of Ferdinand. Alonso aided Antonio in unseating Prospero as Duke of Milan twelve years before. As he appears in the play, however, he is acutely aware of the consequences of all his actions.

Antonio - Prospero’s brother. Antonio quickly demonstrates that he is power-hungry and foolish. When he persuades Sebastian to kill the sleeping Alonso.

Themes

The Illusion of Justice:

The Tempest tells a fairly straightforward story involving an unjust act, the usurpation of Prospero’s throne by his brother, and Prospero’s quest to re-establish justice by restoring himself to power. Though Prospero presents himself as a victim of injustice, Prospero’s idea of justice and injustice is somewhat hypocritical—though he is furious with his brother for taking his power, he has no qualms about enslaving Ariel and Caliban in order to achieve his ends. At many moments throughout the play, Prospero’s sense of justice seems extremely one-sided.

The Difficulty of Distinguishing “Men” from “Monsters”

Miranda and Prospero both have contradictory views of Caliban’s humanity. On the one hand, they think that their education of him has lifted him from his formerly brutish status. On the other hand, they seem to see him as inherently brutish. His devilish nature can never be overcome.

Motifs

Masters and Servants

Nearly every scene in the play portrays a relationship between a figure that possesses power and a figure that is subject to that power. “servant” (the Boatswain) and “masters” (the noblemen), Prospero and Caliban; Prospero and Ariel; Alonso and his nobles; the nobles and Gonzalo;

Water and Drowning

Perhaps the most important overall effect of this water motif is to heighten the symbolic importance of the tempest itself.

Mysterious Noises

The isle is indeed, as Caliban says, “full of noises”. Much of the noise of the play is musical, and much of the music is Ariel’s.

Symbols

The Tempest

The tempest that begins the play, and which puts all of Prospero’s enemies at his disposal, symbolizes the suffering Prospero endured, and which he wants to inflict on others

The Game of Chess

The object of chess is to capture the king. That, at the simplest level, is the symbolic significance of Prospero revealing Ferdinand and Miranda playing chess in the final scene. Prospero has married Alonso’s son to his own daughter without the king’s knowledge, a deft political maneuver that assures Alonso’s support because Alonso will have no interest in upsetting a dukedom to which his own son is heir. This is the final move in Prospero’s plot, which began with the tempest.

Prospero’s Books

Like the tempest, Prospero’s books are a symbol of his power.