In his article entitled "Are We Being Historical Yet?": Colonialist Interpretations of Shakespeare's Tempest, Ben Ross Schneider, Jr extends Carolyn Porter's critique of new historicism to recent work on The Tempest. Included in Schneider's study of eight recent analyses of The Tempest, is Stephen Greenblatt's article "Martial Law in the Land of Cockaigne." Schneider argues that by choosing colonialism as a frame, and then "reifying" it as if it were "coterminus with the limits of discourse in general," the new historicists marginalize not only a large field of relevant contemporary discourse, but also The Tempest itself (Schneider 121).

Schneider maintains that the great variety of theoretical underpinning in the

Shakespeare's play signals an institutional circulation of culturally significant narratives. This circulation has as its central concern the public management of anxiety. In his article, Greenblatt demonstrates how the Bermuda narrative is made negotiable, turned into a currency that may be transferred from

Schneider adds to his argument that of Ann Jennalie Cook's, featured in her book The Privileged Playgoers of Shakespeare's London 1576-1642. Cook's evidence suggests that the best educated and most well-read segment of society composed the main body of Shakespeare's audience. Schneider advocates that the field of discourse mentioned above, would have been a major means of communication between Shakespeare and a audience which was "steeped in classical morality" (Schneider 132). This platform provides Schneider with the ammunition for his assertion that Stoicism, like feminist discourse nowadays, acted as the prevalent discourse during the Renaissance period and consequently dominated the way other discourses were understood.

As a significant point of reference, Schneider mentions Ruth Kelso's bibliography of Renaissance books pertaining to the Doctrine of the English Gentleman (1929) and The Doctrine for the Lady (1956). Schneider emphasises the link between Shakespeare's play and Professor Kelso's findings, summarized in her second book: "the bulk of all that these treatises contain is made up of commonplaces, culled mostly from the ancients, whose names besprinkle the pages of all writers .... There is plenty of evidence that these same commonplaces were not of mere academic interest, for the letters, speeches and fiction of the time are full of the same ideas and rules for conduct" (Schneider 130). Schneider points out that since both rhetoric and history were given strong moral emphasis, it may be said that the universities were to a great extent schools of virtue. Furthermore, Professor Kelso's list of those ancients most commonly cited in conduct books consists soley of Plato, Aristotle,Cice!

set of essays fails to produce a corresponding variety of interpretation (Schneider 122). He then proceeds to highlight those areas of the play which provide the common ground for new historicist interpretation. It is not, however, the aim of this paper to analyse the five different areas mentioned by Schneider. What is more important for the author, is the contest that exists between the different theoretical positions as to where the text lies. The new historicists will be represented by Stephen Greenblatt, the opposing theoretical discourse will take the form of Ben Ross Schneider, Jr.

Anger [he says] is temporary madness. For it is equally devoid of self-control, forgetful of decency, unmindful of ties, persistent and diligent in whatever it begins, closed to reason and councel, excited by trifling causes, unfit to discern the right and true (Schneider 133).

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Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)