Four quadrants? Or just one?

From the activity we did today in class about the "killing lion", the "innocent lamb", the "lying serpent", and the "truthful angel", I was able to evaluate myself in a way that I had never previously pondered or thought.  I had never asked myself, "In extreme (or not so extreme) circumstances, how likely or to what point would you decide to kill or not kill someone else?" or, "What situations would cause you to lie or not lie?"  This process helped me place myself in one of the quadrants pretty easily based on my initial right-a-way answers.  

I seemed to fit in the quadrant of innocent lamb/truthful angel based on my immediate answers to the questions and my overall personality; I am generally a very merciful, optimistic, sympathetic person who tends to want to be pretty easy-going.  However, I found myself somewhat on the border of being close to the innocent lamb/serpent quadrant.  As I began to question which quadrant I really belonged in, I started to see myself being able to fit in each quadrant, if put in very certain and particular "What if?" circumstances that entered my thoughts.  I then began to think about everyone else besides just me.  All of these people defined to a particular quadrant, it just didn't seem human.  I mean, all of us have moments in which we would fall into each category, which leads me to believe that every one's placement on the graph is more or less a "default" or instant reflex response to a common situation.  
And being that we are all human, we all sin and do wrong, meaning we could never be completely on the "truthful angel" side or the "innocent lamb" side.  
This leads me to believe that truly, there is only one quadrant; lying serpent/killing lion, and that it all is just a matter of how close (or far) you are from the intersecting corner. 
I see this process more as an indicator of how much we are willing to kill and lie than a measure of anything else.  I think to myself as if it's asking, "How much are you willing to go from a state of being good/neutral to the point of lying or killing?"

I found this activity very interesting and eye-opening for not just analyzing myself, but also family/friends/acquaintances, historical figures, and current celebrities/cultural icons.  I also found this a good exercise to get the whole class involved and thinking.  It seemed to help get the point across to us each individually since we were able to apply ourselves directly to the situations.  

 This image represents a serpent/lion category charcter (the lion) against a much more angel/lamb character (the lamb).

THE TEMPEST WITH ALLIE: Two Major Themes

LOSS AND RESTORATION

Prospero’s attempt to recover his lost dukedom of Milan drives the plot of the Tempest. But Prospero isn’t the only character in the play to experience loss. Ariel lost his freedom to Sycorax and now serves Prospero. Caliban, who considers himself the rightful ruler of the island, was overthrown and enslaved by Prospero. By creating the tempest that shipwrecks Alonso and his courtiers on the island, Prospero strips them of their position and power, and also causes Alonso to believe that he has lost his son to the sea.

Through their reactions to these losses, the play’s characters reveal their true natures. Reduced to desperation and despair, Alonso recognizes his error in helping to overthrow Prospero and gives up his claim to Milan, returning Prospero to power and restoring order between Milan and Naples. Though he desperately wants to be free, Ariel loyally serves his master Prospero. Prospero, meanwhile, gives up his magic rather than seeking revenge and frees Ariel before returning to Milan. In contrast to Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian never show remorse for overthrowing Prospero and prove to be ambitious killers in their plot to murder and overthrow Alonso. Stephano and Trinculo, in their buffoonish way, likewise seek power through violence. And Caliban, as opposed to Ariel, hates Prospero, and gives himself as a slave to Stephano in an effort to betray and kill Prospero. As Gonzalo observes in the last scene of the play, the characters “found ... ourselves, when no man was his own”.

POWER

From the opening scene of The Tempest during the storm, when the ruling courtiers on the ship must take orders from their subjects, the sailors and the boatswain, The Tempest examines a variety of questions about power: Who has it and when? Who’s entitled to it? What does the responsible exercise of power look like? How should power be transferred? The play is full of examples of power taken by force, and in each case these actions lead to political instability and further attempts to gain power through violence. Antonio and Alonso’s overthrow of Prospero leads to Antonio and Sebastian’s plot to overthrow Alonso, just as Prospero’s overthrow and enslavement of Caliban leads Caliban to seek revenge.

Ultimately, it is only when Prospero breaks the cycle of violence by refusing to take revenge on Alonso, Antonio, Sebastian, or Caliban that the political tensions in the play are calmed and reconciled. After Prospero’s merciful refusal to seek revenge, Alonso and Prospero quickly come to an understanding and unite their once warring cities through the marriage of their children. The Tempest suggests that compromise and compassion are more effective political tools than violence, imprisonment, or even magic.

THE TEMPEST WITH ALLIE: Act 5, Scene 1 Summary/Analysis

        Prospero asks Ariel how Alonso and his men are doing. Ariel reports that he has confined them, spellbound, in a grove of trees. He describes how sorrowful and frightened they are, and adds that the man Prospero calls “the good old lord, Gonzalo,” has tears streaming down his face. Ariel says that if Prospero “beheld them, your affections / Would become tender”. Prospero, moved by the human-like compassion of the spirit, pledges to release his hold over them, saying, “The rarer action is in virtue, than in vengeance”. He sends Ariel to bring the men to appear before him.  In this dialogue with Ariel, Prospero for the first time seems to care what someone else thinks. Ariel’s compassion for the suitors seems to restore Prospero’s humanity. One can now look back and speculate as to whether his plan was to reconcile with his enemies all along, or whether he had planned on revenge until this conversation with Ariel changed his mind. 

           Alone on stage, Prospero invokes the various spirits who have aided him, describing the many incredible feats he has accomplished with his magic—“graves at my command have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ‘em forth” and says that after performing this last act he will give up his powers, breaking his staff and drowning his book of magic.

Here Prospero catalogs his feats of magic, in the same way that you might imagine Shakespeare, at the end of his career, would look back on his long career as a playwright and list his triumphs in the theater. 

           Ariel leads the courtiers onto the stage, still spellbound by Prospero’s charm. Prospero addresses them - praising Gonzalo for his goodness and loyalty and scolding Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio for their cruelty, treachery, and greed - and then forgives them.  Noting that the spell is lifting, Prospero has Ariel bring him his old clothing so that the courtiers will see him as the Duke of Milan when they come out of their spell.  Then, he orders Ariel to go fetch the Boatswain and mariners.

By changing into the clothes he wore as duke, Prospero is not using magic but is still using illusions by carefully crafting his image.  He shows that although he lost power, he is still the real Duke of Milan.  The change of clothes also indicates that Prospero plans to assert political rather than magical power from now on.

            Prospero releases Alonso and his men from the spell.  Alonso, shocked and confused at seeing Prospero, immediately begs Prospero’s pardon and relinquishes his claim to Milan. Prospero then embraces Gonzalo, whom he calls “noble friend…whose honor cannot be measured or confined”.  The restoration of order, which was upset when Prospero was overthrown, begins when Alonso apologizes and returns Milan to Prospero.  Gonzalo is finally treated with the respect he deserves. 

          Prospero next addresses Antonio and Sebastian, condemning them for overthrowing and exiling him and for plotting against Alonso.  He goes on, however, to forgive them. Antonio and Sebastian do not respond, and are virtually silent for the rest of the play.

The silence of Antonio and Sebastian is telling.  Like Caliban, they are sullen and angry in their powerlessness.

          Alonso laments the death of Ferdinand.  Prospero responds that he, too, has “lost” a child.  Alonso assumes that Miranda has also died.  Prospero invites Alonso to look into his cell, however, and reveals Ferdinand and Miranda sitting at a table playing chess.  Ferdinand and Alonso rejoice to find each other alive.  The word “lost” (and variations of it) is used numerous times in the Alonso and Prospero’s dialogue. 

           Miranda marvels at the handsome men arrayed before her, saying, “How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world that has such people in’t!”.  Prospero replies, “Tis new to thee”. Ferdinand tells his father of his recent marriage to Miranda, and Alonso gives his blessing.

Miranda’s words reflect her naiveté—some of the men she admires are morally corrupt. Prospero’s comment “Tis new to thee,” implies that Miranda will learn that people aren’t really so “beauteous” at all.

           Gonzalo observes that this voyage has served to unite people with each other and with their true selves.  He says, “O rejoice beyond a common joy…in one voyage…Ferdinand…found a wife where he himself was lost; Prospero, his dukedom, in a poor isle, and all of us ourselves, when no man was his own”.  Gonzalo’s speech focuses again on the Christian idea that loss leads to redemption.  This might explain why the characters who accepted loss cheerfully or repentantly were rewarded—the loss was a spiritual test that they passed.

          Ariel enters with the mariners. The Boatswain reports that the sailors awakened to find the ship miraculously restored to perfect condition.  Next, Prospero asks Ariel to release Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo from their spell and bring them forward in their stolen absurd clothes.  Prospero relates how the threesome has plotted against him, and he asks the courtiers if they recognize Stephano and Trinculo. Of Caliban, he says, “This thing of darkness, I acknowledge mine”.  The aspirations of the three conspirators seem ridiculous as they stand in front of the true king and duke, yet their ambitions mirrored those of Antonio and Sebastian.  It’s unclear whether Prospero’s comment about Caliban suggests that he sees him as his property, or that he takes some responsibility for what has happened to Caliban.

             The courtiers and Prospero mock Stephano and Trinculo for their drunken state and foiled ambitions.  Prospero orders Caliban to take the two men to his cell and prepare it for the guests, saying, “As you look to have my pardon, trim it handsomely”.  Subservient again, Caliban complies, saying “What a thrice-double ass was I to take this drunkard for a god and worship this dull fool!”.  Even Caliban is given the hope of freedom, or at least pardon, as long as he follows Prospero’s orders faithfully and well, as Ariel and Ferdinand did.  Yet it’s hard not to pity Caliban’s ignorant naiveté when he curses himself for worshipping Stephano.

            Prospero invites Alonso and his court to spend the night in his cell, where he promises to tell the story of his time on the island. In the morning, he says, they will all return to Naples, where Miranda and Ferdinand will be married.  From there, Prospero says, he will return to Milan “where every third thought shall be my grave”.  Prospero has restored political order by regaining his dukedom and by establishing his line through the marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda.  Now when he dies, the dukedom will pass to Ferdinand.

          Prospero gives Ariel the final task of ensuring the ship a safe, speedy voyage back to Italy, then grants Ariel his freedom.  Ariel has served Prospero well.  Now he gets freedom, his reward for loyalty and for his willingness to surrender his autonomy.