The Tempest is so interesting. It’s the only one of Shakespeare’s plays where he invented the plot instead of using one from history, myth, or romance. Instead, it’s inspired by tales of ancient voyages, like Aeneid and Jason and the Argonauts, but also by contemporary accounts of voyages to the New World. The characters are based on stock characters from the popular improv theater commedia dell’arte, only the story isn’t improv because Prospero is directing the whole thing.
Also, it’s one of only two where Shakespeare observes the Aristotelian unities of time and place, which means that the time it takes to act the story on stage is the same as the amount of time that passes for the characters within the story.
In Act 1, scene 2, we meet Ariel for the first time when Prospero calls to him to come and give a report of the work he’s done that day, carrying out Prospero’s orders regarding the storm and bringing the ship’s passengers to land. Ariel has been having a great time doing all that, and gives an animated account of the storm, the wreck, and the passengers’ behavior.
But then Propsero mentions the time -- it’s almost three p.m. -- and says, “The time ’twixt six and now / Must by us both be spent most preciously.” In other words, there’s more work to be done.
Three p.m. is the canonical hour of Nones, the ninth hour after sunrise. It’s the hour at which Jesus died on the cross. It’s the time in the afternoon when the day is drawing to a close, but your work isn’t necessarily done yet, and you’re tired. It’s the hour of temptation. Since it’s connected to death (both Jesus’ death and the approaching death of the day with its memento mori) it’s also the hour for growing in wisdom and maturity, and it’s the hour of forgiveness -- both seeking and giving.
As soon as Prospero mentions more work, Ariel becomes fractious, complaining about the work, and reminding Prospero of his promise to set him free soon. Prospero scolds Ariel, who repents and obeys quickly and enthusiastically the rest of the play.
From here on out, all the characters in this play will face trials and temptations, will be reminded of their sins, will need to seek or offer forgiveness.
Miranda may be the one exception to that -- I’ll need to be watching her as I read the rest of the play with my class.
How interesting! One wonders if something like this was intentional on Shakespeare's part, or if thinking about time in this way was such an ingrained thing that it came out in his play without much conscious thought. I am always curious if the subtle threads that show up in an author's work are there intentionally or if they are woven in by intuition rather than intention.
ReplyDeleteSince time of day is part of the setting I'd think it was intentional in the sense that it was a deliberate choice. But I don't imagine that he had to put much effort into choosing the right time for this play's setting. I only know about the "personalities" of the different hours from a prayer book I used during Lent a few years ago, but I imagine that knowledge would have been much more natural to Shakespeare, more a part of his . . . well, maybe not everyday experience, but surely something he was more accustomed to than we are, since the Church in his day was more woven into daily life than it is in ours.
DeleteSo I'm thinking it was intentional (he could have led into Ariel's backstory by any number of routes -- it didn't have to be this one), but that choice of hour would have been easy and natural, intuitive, as you say, given the nature of the story.
Fascinating! I look forward to your observations on the rest of the play.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I'm just now seeing this. I'm reading through Tempest again today and noticing different things -- connected with the Imagination, this time.
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