Miranda's reaction upon being unveiled to Prospero's captives and seeing even more people on the island for the first time, "How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world / That has such people in’t!” (3111) is of course an expression of her naivety, but I suspect it is also a wry statement of Shakespeare's injected here. Miranda is receiving traitors, fools, and honest men all together in equal delight; I interpreted this moment as a positive affirmation that humanity, capable of as much baseness as virtue, is something one must marvel at (and forgive, as Prospero did), rather than condemn.
I don't know if I'm on track with this interpretation- that one should wonder at humanity's vastness and not just curse its deficiencies- because it seems like too gargantuan a statement to make for this play. However, our last class discussion touched upon the idea that Shakespeare might have intended to have The Tempest stand out from the others. The Tempest is unique in that it stays grounded in one location, in real time.
I did some light research and found that in the assumed chronology of his plays, The Tempest was first printed much later in Shakespeare's career in 1623, whereas one of his earlier plays, Henry VI, was supposedly printed in 1594. Judging from this, I would venture to think that after decades of creating a medley of characters and people, from the fantastic to the degenerate, Shakespeare might have been in a sentimental mood and was sitting at his desk ruminating on the nature of mankind in general. (I also imagined a candle flickering beside his quill and Shakespeare gazing into the face of the moon.) In any case, I found this final act to be an intriguing one.
As for the epilogue, Prospero seems to begin by stating he no longer practices magic, "what strength I have's mine own" (3115), yet he pleads for the audience to praise and love him. My first reaction to this epilogue and appeal from Prospero was confusion- does Shakespeare need to stoop to begging to get an applause? (Kidding.)
My only guess of the meaning of this epilogue comes from Prospero's lines, "Now I want spirits to enforce/ art to enchant/...unless I be relieved by prayer/ which pierces so, that it assaults/mercy itself/ and frees all faults..." (Lines 13-18, 3115) Again, this might he an overly sentimental interpretation, but where we have just witnessed Prospero demonstrate some sweeping acts of forgiveness among the men who betrayed and imprisoned him in Act V, Prospero seems to be using the epilogue to spotlight the power of mercy as the closest force next to magic that has the power to free men. Prospero has no more spirits, imps, and magic spells, but he as well as all people can get along without magic as long as we practice goodwill and forgiveness.
(sources: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/keydates/playchron.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Shakespeare's_plays)
2 comments:
I like your interpretation of Miranda's line; it is really interesting to think about Shakespeare writing this, his final play, thinking back through his cast of characters and seeing humanity in all its different forms, whether they be virtuous or evil. Prospero is a perfect character to sum all of this up, as he does realize the baseness that humanity can fall too, but instead of sinking to their level, he forgives his former friends so that they may become so once again in the near future.
This is a great reading of Shakespeare's famous line, one that is always used in idiomatic expression in a meaning that is directly opposite to it here. I agree that the play shows how ironic Miranda's words are. There is nothing brave (heroic, but also noble) about the Europeans she addresses here. I wonder why Shakespeare gives Miranda this final moment of naivete at the close of the play--she's going to be queen, after all!
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