Related text: the tempest - William Shakespeare
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full fathom five - ben whishaw (the tempest movie, 2010)
Ben Whishaw performing Ariel's monologue in the 2010 film The Tempest.
The Tempest - William Shakespeare
The title SeaChange is suggestive of a line from a song in The Tempest:
“Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell.
Hark, now I hear them: ding dong bell.”
(Shakespeare V.II.395-402)
“Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell.
Hark, now I hear them: ding dong bell.”
(Shakespeare V.II.395-402)
The tempest and how it relates to seachange
William Shakespeare’s, The Tempest, was first performed in 1611 and is primarily observed as being his last ever written play. The Tempest is centralized around the character of Prospero, thus it is through his relationships with other characters that themes such as freedom, love and chastity, music, nature versus nurture, retribution and transformation, resonate throughout the play.
The function of music within the play is a powerful metaphor in determining harmony and disintegration. The Tempest can be seen metaphorically as being one long concert with Prospero as the conductor, in which conflicting elements of nature are gradually resolved into concord. The relationship between Ariel and Prospero is central in determining the harmony of the play, as it is through Prospero’s wielding and Ariel’s obedience that people come into contact with their human nature. In Act I, Scene II, Ariel who is an ethereal spirit of the air, symbolically sings about a “sea-change” (Shakespeare I.II.399), emphasizing the notion of cleansing, renewal and transformation.
The sea-change experienced by the character, Laura Gibson, has stemmed from the concept William Shakespeare penned in his play The Tempest, whereby a person escapes to seek solace in a place where they can undergo holistic transformation under dire circumstances. The setting of Pearl Bay seemingly emulates the desert island on which the characters in The Tempest are marooned. Furthermore, the notion of being ‘marooned’ is apparent in SeaChange where the broken bridge into Pearl Bay is seemingly a recurring image relating to the themes of isolation and surrealism. Similarly, SeaChange relates to The Tempest through depicting elements of magic, mystery and supernaturalism, which enables Cox and Knight to accentuate past stories, misdeeds and untruths in the episode Manna From Heaven.
The function of music within the play is a powerful metaphor in determining harmony and disintegration. The Tempest can be seen metaphorically as being one long concert with Prospero as the conductor, in which conflicting elements of nature are gradually resolved into concord. The relationship between Ariel and Prospero is central in determining the harmony of the play, as it is through Prospero’s wielding and Ariel’s obedience that people come into contact with their human nature. In Act I, Scene II, Ariel who is an ethereal spirit of the air, symbolically sings about a “sea-change” (Shakespeare I.II.399), emphasizing the notion of cleansing, renewal and transformation.
The sea-change experienced by the character, Laura Gibson, has stemmed from the concept William Shakespeare penned in his play The Tempest, whereby a person escapes to seek solace in a place where they can undergo holistic transformation under dire circumstances. The setting of Pearl Bay seemingly emulates the desert island on which the characters in The Tempest are marooned. Furthermore, the notion of being ‘marooned’ is apparent in SeaChange where the broken bridge into Pearl Bay is seemingly a recurring image relating to the themes of isolation and surrealism. Similarly, SeaChange relates to The Tempest through depicting elements of magic, mystery and supernaturalism, which enables Cox and Knight to accentuate past stories, misdeeds and untruths in the episode Manna From Heaven.