Ariel the tempest5/7/2023 ![]() ![]() The paper shows how the fear of illegitimate birth not only shapes entire characters such as Sycorax and Caliban, but also infiltrates the language and figures that prevail in Prospero’s orchestrations of the marriage plot, his betrothal masque and his deployment of Greco-Roman mythologies (Hymen, Venus and Cupid). Sycorax is the prominent supernatural figure that the play deploys to depict unpredictable, indeterminate and horrible acts of creation unsanctioned by society. This paper looks at the thematic and rhetorical variations of a fundamental fear that frequently surfaces in Shakespeare’s The Tempest: the fear of illegitimate birth, which may also be understood as the fear of non-contractual sexuality. The paper also considers some arguments based on contemporary affect theory and performance criticism to consider some implications of how Ariel can be perceived by the audi- ence or reader as part of the text. By examining the precise role of the ‘industrious servant’ Ariel in the drama, the paper considers how ideas of artisanal knowledge and theatrical performance are addressed in the play through the per- formance of Ariel. This paper argues instead that Ariel can be better understood as part of an early- modern argument about the argues that Ariel can be interpreted as part of a contemporary argument about the status of labour, especially the traditional pairing of active and contemplative labour. ![]() Some recent eco- criti- cism has argued that Ariel represents a form of nature in direct opposition to technology and productivity. How- ever, critics have also disputed the precise status and significance of Ariel. William Shakespeare’s 'The Tempest' (1611) has been widely interpreted as a play that relates to the history of colonialism and modernity, especially through the iconic character of Caliban.
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