Commedia dell’Tempest: A Marxist Study of Shakespeare’s

Commedia dell’Tempest: A Marxist Study of Shakespeare’s

Historical Intent with The Tempest

Sarah L. Clinch

ENG 311/ Literary Study and Research

Dr. Livinus Odozor

12/15/08

Sarah Clinch

ENG 311 / Dr. Odozor

12/12/08

Marxist criticism regards literature “not as works created in accordance with timeless artistic criteria, but as ‘products’ of the economic and ideological determinants specific to that era” (Abrams 156). When viewing William Shakespeare’s The Tempest through a Marxist lens, the “economic and ideological determinants” significantly impact the Bard’s tale. The Italian theatre form of Commedia dell’Arte employs “stock characters” to create “largely improvised dialogue around a given scenario” (Abrams 42), and through the relationships of these stock characters in terms of the characters of The Tempest, these “economic and ideological determinants” can shine light on Shakespeare’s intentions for the population of his play. The Commedia dell’Arte art form flourished in the mid-1500s, well before Shakespeare was believed to have written The Tempest (c. 1610-11), and so its influence had already pervaded the culture by the time Shakespeare penned his classic play. Interestingly, Shakespeare placed the setting of his play on an isolated island, which brings all his characters into a close and intimate confrontation with each other (an element common to the theatre and Commedia dell’Arte); the island serves as the stage on which Shakespeare places his scenario.

To begin the comparisons, the main character Prospero, usurped Duke of Milan (which, interestingly, is a city in Italy, where Commedia dell’Arte was born), learns the spells and secrets of the supernatural, becoming a mage of sorts. He also, because of his magical skills and also because of his noble authority he preserved after his banishment, asserts himself as the monarch of the island, assuming leadership and mastery over the natives of the island, supernatural and mortal. Prospero mimics the characteristics of the Commedia dell’Arte character Pantalone. Pantalone, portrayed as a patriarchal figure of power (Allardyce 253), resides at the top of the hierarchy ladder and attempts to control everyone and everything surrounding him. While not every trait of Pantalone mimics that of Prospero (such as his lecherous nature (Oreglia 79)), the similarities are enough to hint at the influence the Commedia dell’Arte character had on the former Duke of Milan.

Pantalone’s main objective in the lazzi (or loosely-structured scenarios commonly acted out by the Commedia dell’Arte characters), besides controlling the flow of money, is to marry off his daughter to a wealthy man (Oreglia 80). Comedic conflict arises when the daughter, commonly named Isabella (Oreglia 116), falls in love with a young, beautiful and somewhat juvenile man, commonly named Lelio or Fabian (Oreglia 116). Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, closely resembles the daughter of Pantalone from Commedia dell’Arte: Isabella. While Prospero does not attempt to marry Miranda off to an older, wealthy man (he in fact avoids pairing her with Caliban, the only other male Miranda knows other than her father at the start of the play), he does accept Miranda and Ferdinand’s love with a grain of salt: he forces Ferdinand to prove his love by working for Miranda’s hand. Miranda’s love-struck sickness for Ferdinand matches the emotional plight of Isabella; while she loves Fabian, she wants to please her father, which would mean marrying the older man (commonly Il Dottore (Oreglia 80)). Miranda’s circumstances are comparable to that of Isabella, and these parallels set the stage for further conflict in The Tempest, like Isabella’s do in Commedia dell’Arte lazzis.

Ferdinand’s love for Miranda transcends any physical struggle, for he works diligently as Prospero’s help in order to win his love’s hand. His toil for the one he loves mirrors the fidelity of the lover Fabian of Commedia dell’Arte. Fabian, while usually a character of noble birth, humbles himself through his infatuation for Isabella, similar to Ferdinand’s humbling of himself as Prospero’s servant to win Miranda. Because of the deep infatuation the characters feel for each other, Commedia dell’Arte’s stereotypes Isabella and Fabian often have trouble expressing thoughts (due to nerves and excitement, or confusion, when together) (Oreglia 116). Miranda and Ferdinand often become nervous and unintelligible when they meet: when Miranda boldly proposes to her lover, she has to firmly collect her wits by calling for “cunning” and “plain and holy innocence” to strengthen her before she proceeds. Ferdinand from The Tempest closely resembles the love-struck Fabian from the collection of stock characters of Commedia dell’Arte.

Ferdinand, the son of Alonso, King of Naples, closely resembles Fabian in that the stock character’s father, commonly Il Dottore (Allardyce 257), strongly bears a resemblance to the King of Shakespeare’s play. Alonso, along with Ferdinand and others, shipwrecks on the isolated island after Prospero sent forth the tempest. While he stands with Antonio and the other conspirators who had banished Prospero from his position as Duke of Milan, he greatly regrets his influence in the events, and wishes to have no more part in them. Il Dottore commonly contrasts Pantalone as either a friend, mentor or adversary (Oreglia 86). Alonso in Shakespeare’s interpretation exists as all of these roles: because he knows not how he stands in terms of favor with Antonio or Prospero, his potential for any of these roles exists. Because Alonso arrives on the island with Antonio, he begins the play as one of Prospero’s rivals; however, because Prospero forgives all the conspirators at the end of the play, his role shifts into that of friend (and perhaps mentor, because King is a step up in hierarchy from Duke). Because of Alonso’s evolving standing throughout The Tempest, he mimics the Commedia dell’Arte character Il Dottore, because the Doctor (as the Italian translates) himself shifts in roles depending on the lazzi and what the events require of him.

Alonso’s brother and co-conspirator on overthrowing Prospero as Duke of Milan, named Sebastian, follows the roles and responsibilities inherent in the Commedia dell’Arte character Il Capitano. Sebastian, much like his Commedia dell’Arte counterpart, speaks brazenly and without a thought to how others will receive his words (such as when he confronts Alonso and accuses him of creating many widows in Milan and Naples: he blames the shipwreck on Alonso because he believes the king foolishly married his daughter off to an African (2.1. 99-111). His bold appearance and words, however, wane dramatically when audience members realize his arrogance only covers his cowardice. Il Capitano from Commedia dell’Arte stereotypically represents a military official with all bark and no bite (Allardyce 248), and Sebastian embodies these qualities strongly in The Tempest. Sebastian not only covers his cowardice with overconfidence; he also excuses his behavior as laziness (2.1. 88-89). Whether through pride or laziness, Sebastian’s cowardice reveals itself through, in one of the most obvious instances, Sebastian’s hesitation in striking Alonso dead. Once everyone awakens, he explains away the sword in his hand as protection from “bulls, or rather lions” (2.1. 276). Alonso’s brother Sebastian imitates Il Capitano through his cowardice hidden by a poorly-hung cover of arrogance and supreme complacency.

The main antagonist throughout the story of The Tempest, Antonio, is Prospero’s brother and main conspirator who threw his kin out of Italy and to the isolated island the mage calls home at the time of Shakespeare’s play. Antonio manipulates the other characters that travel with him into doing his will, and acts as the ultimate schemer toward obtaining his desires (disguised as good for the group). As a manipulator and schemer, he echoes the Commedia dell’Arte character Brighella. Brighella is “self-seeking” (Allardyce 283); he pursues what he does not possess, and does anything to achieve his goals. Antonio wanted his brother’s office, got him banished, and took his place as the Duke of Milan. His schemes and plans get him what he wants until he arrives on the island, where his disorientation forces him to focus on survival and control over those people he is with (which is, in fact, still a focus on what he desires to have). Like Brighella, Antonio is the ultimate mastermind and plotter, and makes a brilliant nemesis to Prospero’s protagonist role in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

While the previous characters discussed from The Tempest were of a higher class, the following three characters and their similarities to Commedia dell’Arte characters belong to a lower class, below the statuses of everyone else in the population of the play and the company of characters in the Italian theatre style. Trinculo, a jester who shipwrecks upon the enchanted island with Antonio, Alonso and Sebastian, serves his lords by entertaining them. One of the most entertaining characters from the Commedia dell’Arte collection of stock characters is Arlecchino (Oreglia 56) (who is so popular he has been “Americanized” into the fairly well-known Harlequin-jester character). The quintessential costume of Arlecchino is the brightly colored, often diamond-like pattern (Oreglia 57), which still is connected with Harlequin characters today. Diamond patterned clothing often represents the jester as well, and so in understanding Trinculo as Arlecchino, the costuming of the stock character

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