Art and Non-Verbal Techniques in The Tempest

By Andrew Nicol, Student

Dramatic texts are written to be performed, and therefore do not rely solely on dialogue to produce meaning". Addresses this question by reading the text as an exploration of art and reality.

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The Tempest is a self-reflexive play that explores the boundaries of art and reality. Shakespeare’s island is a realm controlled by the artist figure; where the fabulous, the ideal and the imaginative are presented as both illusory and palpable, and where the audience is held in an indeterminate state, a “strange repose”. The juxtaposition of the world of art with political and social realities explored by representative characters is the central contrast of the play, and is foregrounded by the use of non-verbal techniques. These techniques allow the audience to appreciate the art that facilitates the spectacle they watch, as well as understand that the ideal remains an illusory state impinged on by concerns of the real world. This contrast does not resolve itself; rather, it remains inconclusive and leaves us, according to Russ McDonald, in a “marginal condition between expectation and understanding, affirmation and skepticism, comedy and tragedy”.

The opening storm scene represents the collapse of all the civility and social order of the known world. The effectiveness of the storm is made possible by the opening “tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning” which pre-empts the events to come. The storm immediately catapults the reader into an understanding of the characters on board the ship. It exposes us to the way in which the characters’ social assumptions capitulate when they are exposed to adversity; and leads us to expect that on their arrival on the island they will be reformed. However, quite the reverse is true – in the second act we are presented with men who appear even more zealously political now that they are free of having to maintain the façade expected in their society. Antonio and Sebastian plot almost immediately to murder Alonso, considering political gain despite the predicament in which they find themselves. Additionally, Stephano, Trincullo and even Caliban have their own political plot – to murder Prospero. These subplots of usurpation are presented in a mimetic style and their sheer number has the effect of giving The Tempest its characteristic density and brevity. Brought about by Prospero’s art, the storm is the first non-verbal technique to which the audience is exposed; giving us the opportunity to understand the way in which the characters of the play are archetypes who are representative of their society.

The initial reactions of the characters when arriving on the island are important representations of the ideologies they have carried with them from their society. Ferdinand scarcely notices his surroundings, absorbed instead by the sight of Miranda. Antonio is morose and cynical, remarking that it is as if the island “’twere perfumed by a fen” and has everything “save means to live”. The most interesting reaction is from Gonzalo, whose comic vision of an impractical but ideal commonwealth “t’ excel the Golden Age” is the first utopian dream in the play, with clear similarities to Thomas More’s utopia. His view of the island setting as idyllic and full of promise is given credibility by madrigals, short lyrics dealing with aspects of pastoral life, which present images of pastoral beauty. The most famous Madrigal, “Where the bee sucks, there suck I” presents the image of a “cowslip’s bell”. The Tempest as a Romance functions to present these utopian visions in a setting far removed from the concerns of everyday life.

Prospero presents his vision of a utopian society in the masque to celebrate Miranda’s betrothal to Ferdinand. He calls Spirits “to enact / [His] present fancies”. The spirits of the island function as the externalisation of Prospero’s magic art. In the acclaimed production of The Tempest by Peter Hall at the National Theatre, Ariel first appears by flying down on a stirrup and hovering above Prospero’s head. The effect is to present Ariel as the embodiment of Prospero’s “rough magic” rather than a character in his own right. In the masque, Ariel and his “meaner ministers” transform Prospero’s fancy into an artistic reality. The vision is so convincing that Ferdinand says in wonder, “Let me live here ever; | So rare and wond’red father and a wise | Makes this place Paradise.” Prospero’s vision, however, is shattered as he remembers Caliban’s “foul conspiracy”. The premature ending of the masque represents the notion that art can only continue to expand insofar as it remains free from the concerns of the real world. Plato excluded artists from his ideal society, writing that their illusions were dangerous; and in a similar way temporality interferes with utopian dreams in The Tempest. Prospero’s famous contemplation, “We are such stuff | As dreams are made on; and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep” foregrounds the fragility of the “insubstantial pageant” that is art.

The props used by Prospero assist in constructing the opposition between art and reality. Pun on the word art is used throughout the play to draw the audience’s attention to the nature of Prospero’s art. Prospero himself identifies the connection between his magic and his platonic art, which champions mind above matter, when he personifies his cloak, remarking “lie there, my art”. His staff becomes an important symbol when he abjures his magic. Just as Prospero’s plans were falling into place, and he confirms “At this hour | Lie at my mercy all mine enemies”, he decides after speaking to Ariel that “the nobler action is in virtue than in vengeance” and abjures his magic, breaking his staff. With this action, Prospero both celebrates the art that allowed for an ideal world where reconciliation, forgiveness and true love were in ascendancy; as well as delineates its limits.

The Tempest was one of the most technically ambitious plays of its era, and an extraordinary variety of theatric techniques were employed by Shakespeare to assist the audience in understanding its key concerns. The central opposition between art and reality is developed simultaneously by dialogue and a series of non-verbal techniques.