Gender issues in The Tempest The modern NBC miniseries adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest shares many similarities and differences on certain issues. The miniseries is an Americanized version, set during the period of the Civil war. Many issues involving gender were changed in the miniseries to reflect the new setting. The result is a more believable and understandable Tempest to which people can relate. The gender issue changes make the characters reflect modern individuals, and to remove the absurd characters the play forces us to believe in. First, the characters in The Tempest have some basic differences in gender in the adaptation.
In the play, the only beings that Miranda knows are her father, the nonhuman spirit of Ariel, and the half-man-half-monster Caliban. In the miniseries, the only people Miranda knows are her father, a black slave Ariel, and a human variation of Caliban: Gator Man. The miniseries uses male forms of Ariel and Caliban, which does not force the viewer into believing in non-human characters, which makes them easier to understand. In addition, in the miniseries, Miranda has relationships with these human characters, which is not seen in the play. Ariel is a companion of sorts to Miranda and Prospero in the miniseries, unlike the play, where Ariel is a spirit who can only be seen by Prospero. Ariel’s black slave character provides a masculine character that is a companion to Miranda and Prospero.
The Term Paper on Society Imposes On Her As A Woman Rosalind Miranda Play
Rosalind - Rosalind dominates As You Like It. So fully realized is she in the complexity of her emotions, the subtlety of her thought, and the fullness of her character that no one else in the play matches up to her. Orlando is handsome, strong, and a bad but affectionate poet, yet still we feel that Rosalind settles for someone slightly less magnificent when she chooses him as her mate. ...
Although he is a male, he is still portrayed as inferior to Miranda and Prospero because of his race. He serves as a huge source of labor, and security for Prospero and Miranda. Anyone, who knows the history slavery in the United States, can understand the difficult position that he has been put in. In the miniseries, Miranda has an active role in survival on the island.
She is seen doing chores, such as collecting the traps for food in the swamp. Mirand working is barely seen in the play. In the play, upon seeing Miranda gathering logs, Ferdinand makes the statement “I had rather crack my sinews, break my back, than you should such dishonor undergo while I sit lazy by” 3. 1.
30-33. ) Ferdinand was very upset that Miranda was working, and would rather do the work himself. The fact that Miranda has an active role in their survival in the swamp is more characteristic of a modern society, compared to the belief that woman were not supposed to perform manual labor in the past. When the play was written, it was probably not been acceptable for young woman to work at all, which is why Ferdinand was compelled to say something about Miranda’s chores. Miranda does something in the miniseries that shows courage and strength that she does not display in the play. Miranda attempts to run away from her father with Ferdinand in the miniseries.
In the play, Miranda does not exhibit any self-determination, and follows along with everything her father does. Miranda’s willingness to run away with her boyfriend is very characteristic of a young female of our present society. In the past, such an act by a young female may have been unimaginable, because women were expected to follow the lead of males. Gator man is a portrayed as a lower class male, compared to Caliban, who is an inhuman monster. In the play, Prospero states he is inhuman; he was “a born devil,”got by the devil himself upon thy wicked dam” (a devil when he say ” sounterpart in the miniseries, Gator man, is an unintelligent, poor, and love deprived male. Both characters are portrayed as being evil lower class individuals.
The Term Paper on Study Of Women Male Men Societies
In this essay I will look at whether the inequality between men and women is a human universal, or whether there are or have been societies in which women shared power equally with men, or even exercised power over them. In order to do so, I will look at the writings of a number of anthropologists. In "The Subordinance of Women: A Problematic Universal", author Ruth Bleier indicates that a central ...
Because of Caliban’s physical appearance, and the fact that he attempted to rape Miranda in the past, he is viewed as a threat. In the miniseries, Miranda is too trusting of Gator Man, before the rape attempt because he is a human, and has not harmed her in the past. Her character reflects a modern teenager, who does not know any better to not trust someone. In the end however, both Gator man and Caliban represent threats to Miranda The miniseries adaptation of The Tempest provides a more modern look of the original play in a more modern setting. To accomplish this task, the physical genders of the character were changed, and with that, more modern social attributes to go along with their gender changes.
The result is an easily believable adaptation of a normally difficult to understand work of art.
