Humor in Shakespeares The Tempest

A detailed Summary of Humor in Shakespeares The Tempest

In Shakespeare's play The Tempest, the cast of characters are squeezed into some archetypal roles. Prospero is our noble hero, Miranda is the beautiful maiden, Antonio is the closest thing we have to a villain. It's our temptation as readers to categorize these characters as roles and not as people, perhaps out of convenience . However, Shakespeare gave his creations the gift of humor, a tool that allows us to see the subtle details of their minds; A glimpse at the inner workings of a character's personality. it is through the humor that Shakespeare employs , that we are able to see new dimensions in characters that could be otherwise doomed to exist as 'professions' or 'categories'. Shakespeare uses humor to give his players new life, to help them expand beyond the bounds off mere characters and turn into real people.

Miranda is a good example of a character whose humor enriches her personality. At the beginning of the play, it is explained to us, largely through Prospero's exposition, that Miranda is perfect child. She's compassionate, beautiful, well educated and obedient; She's the apple of Prospero's eye. At the beginning of the play of Act I sc ii , however, she comes off s being too perfect. Perfect to the point of ann

oyance. Perfect to the point of being sterile. despite her assets , she's no more then a china doll. Throw Ferdinad , our handsome prince, into the mix , ND she becomes much more interesting. Gone is the virtuous maiden, replaced by a goggly eyed , puppy headed, hormone stricken teenager, smitten with love. She is so ga-ga over Ferdinad that she refers to him as a 'noble creature'. He is so perfect to Miranda that she insists that " nothing ill can dwell within such a temple" (Act I, sc ii ) . She dotes on him s if he were a Conrad Birdie. It's a wonderfully musing transformation, to watch Miranda, the envy of women around the world, go bananas over a boy to the point where she is volunteering to carry gigantic wooden logs for him. This humor allows us to see the Miranda underneath the class act and obedient demeanor, the lonely, man craving vulnerable little girl. Her transformation shows her as any other girl fumbling to impress someone. Miranda is really a wonderfully goofy person who in any other situation, as not being stranded on an island, would have her wall decorated with sketches and paintings of young, charming nobles.

Shakespeare uses his gift for humor and goofiness to reveal new facets of his characters. By making his players laugh and be stupid, we get to see them as actual , complex people with thoughts and vulnerabilities and weird agendas. He uses humor as the tool nessecary to make humans out of words, as opposed to roles.

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Approximate Word count = 982
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels