Tabling: The Tempest Act III

Join Mitchel Kawash, Will McKay, Jen Greenwald and Ariana Karp as we discuss Act III of The Tempest!

  • The groups which were established in the first and second acts continue in the third act - Miranda and Ferdinand, Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo and the nobles with Ariel and Prospero flitting in and out of the scenes
  • Miranda proposes the marriage - aligning her with other Shakespearean heroines like Rosalind and Juliet
  • Miranda being directly disobedient for the first time in the scene
  • Miranda’s innocence coming from ignorance as opposed to status and breeding
  • The clowns scene - the high level of drunkeness! 
  • Caliban and Ariel have the agendas in 3.2
  • Is Ariel distinctive from the magic of the island? or Is Ariel the magic of the island?
  • Is Ariel appearing as the Harpy Prospero’s ultimate plan for Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian?
  • Is Prospero’s pursuit of power and revenge become on par with Antonio’s pursuit of political power
  • Shakespeare and tapping in the gray area of humanity
  • Supernatural as a manifestation of a concept
Julian Bleach as Ariel in Harpy form in the RSC's 2006 production directed by Rupert Goold. 

Julian Bleach as Ariel in Harpy form in the RSC's 2006 production directed by Rupert Goold.