Style Changes:Figures of Speech

Figures Of Speech

          As shown in in the earlier in the blog under “The Stage is Set” section “Style” it was depicted how Shakespeare uses figures of speech for decoration and amplification for entertainment. Over time Shakespeare gradually learned to use the figures to present the theme, subject, and individual character. He increasingly used his metaphors and images to the needs of the drama itself as opposed to simply just including a simile. (Wright) Prospero in the play The Tempest, is perhaps the best example of this idea in regards to the topic of this blog. Shakespeare uses the figure of Prospero and his magic to present the theme of Renaissance humanism and to say His last good byes.

The play frequently draws links between Prospero’s “art” and theatrical illusions. Prospero is a magician with mystical magical powers. Prospero uses his powers to control the drama and events that occur to the other characters wandering on the island in the play, Prospero continually calls his manipulation of the play using his magical powers, his art. So Prospero’s “art” is him controlling the play with his powers. A play writers art is controlling the drama and events by using your power of writing. Shakespeare was a very famous playwright, thus a very evident connection between Shakespeare and Prospero.  Throughout the play it seems that it (the play) is concerned with its own nature as a play. The ship wreak was a “spectacle” that Ariel “preformed”, Sebastian “cast” in a “troop to act”, Prospero tells Miranda that are their property is now over and refers to the protagonists as “actors”, and in the same act it says “all the world is a stage”. All these lines draw a connection between the action of the play and acting and Shakespeare’s passion was for entertaining using his ability to write plays and act.  The Tempest was Shakespeare last play that he wrote by himself. In the final act Prospero is forced to relinquish his art in order to rejoin the world he has been driven from. We know very little about Shakespeare because “as an actor you know not to give away your secrets.” (Greenblott) Its as if Shakespeare is saying that he will have to let go of his power and skills as an actor and playwright to rejoin or reconnect with the world. The Highest act of his magician Prospero is to give up his magical powers and return to the place from which he came. We enjoy Prospero’s final Goodbye in the last stanza of the play in the Epilogue.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,

And what strength I have's mine own,

Which is most faint: now, 'tis true,

I must be here confined by you,

Or sent to Naples. Let me not,

Since I have my dukedom got

And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell

In this bare island by your spell;

But release me from my bands

With the help of your good hands:

Gentle breath of yours my sails

Must fill, or else my project fails,

Which was to please. Now I want

Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,

And my ending is despair,

Unless I be relieved by prayer,

Which pierces so that it assaults

Mercy itself and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardon'd be,

Let your indulgence set me free.

Because of the close comparison of Shakespeare to Prospero and because this was Shakespeare's last play he wrote himself scholars identify this stanza as Shakespeare’s last good bye. The Encyclopedia Britannica says that

“The Tempest seems to have been intended as Shakespeare's farewell to the theater. It contains moving passages of reflection on what his powers as artist have been able to accomplish, and valedictory themes of closure. As a comedy, it demonstrates perfectly the way that Shakespeare was able to combine precise artistic construction (the play chooses on this farewell occasion to observe the Classical unities of time, place, and action) with his special flair for stories that transcend the merely human and physical: The Tempest is peopled with spirits, monsters, and drolleries. This, it seems, is Shakespeare's summation of his art as comic dramatist.”

            As is mentioned earlier in this section it is also argued that the theme of the play is “Renaissance humanism.”  Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval scholastic education, emphasising practical, pre-professional, and -scientific studies. (Kalleorfnd) Prospero was closely related to his art as shown above, which art came from his power. Prospero’s power came from reading books. In act 3 scene 2 Caliban acknowledges Prospero’s power from books, "First to possess his books; for without them He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not.” The education or scholasticism focused on preparing men to be doctors, lawyers or professional theologians, and was taught from approved textbooks in logic, so books were a big focus for the movement. Scholasticism was a big part of the Renaissance Humanism which also a departure from Christian monastic schools. Magic was a controversial subject in Shakespeare’s day because it was linked to occult studies. Because of the close comparison of Shakespeare to Prospero and Prospero’s close relation to Renaissance humanism, among other reasons, some believe that the Renaissance humanism was a major part of the theme of the play. (Chiu) From the examples above we can see that Shakespeare used Prospero as a metaphor (himself) that assumes an organic function (Renaissance Humanism) in relation to the entire play.

             The example above is also a great example of how we can learn Shakespeare from his later work. However it is also important to be cautious with study’s in regards to imagery as is mentioned in the introduction, conclusion and text book.  However “the images are impossible to quantify, but no less significant in any study of the evolution of Shakespeare’s art.” (Spurgeon) It is dully important to mention that  “The study of imagery can, apart from helping to understand the meaning of the play, give some insight into the poet's mind, because it shows what ideas come to his mind when in need of poetic expression, thus giving some clues as to his background, his upbringing, his social position, and so on.” (Spurgeon) What the imagery tells us is that as Shakespeare got older He thought more of his early life, retirement, artistic, and self expression and less about what appeals to his popular audience. By comparing it to the earlier plays it also shows His personality of freedom from having to succeed to support his family and appeal to the beauty of poetic art. It also shows the character of His mindset of figuring out peoples minds and what appeals to them and writing it as is shown later in the blog.