The Storm

William Shakespeare

Written in the last years of the playwright's life, The Tempest is undoubtedly William's testament.
Shakespeare, this is the work through which the playwright intended to bid farewell to the world of theater.
Shakespeare escapes in The Tempest into a world of pure essences, where the spacetime coordinates
and teleological-causal reasoning no longer finds its validity in the old feudal society. It is a new world that
prepare in a utopian space, an unknown island, where sleep and spells are all-powerful.
The magician Prospero, Duke of Milan, and his daughter, Miranda, were isolated for 12 years on an island.
due to the envious brother of Prospero, Antonio. Gifted with magical powers, Prospero is assisted by a spirit,
a spirit, Ariel, who establishes at the level of the dramatic thread a world of original myths. The connection between spirit and
the former duke of Milan is explained by a kind of duty, as the spirit was saved from the revenge of a
witch
The play begins on board a ship at sea, with a shipwreck, orchestrated by Prospero through magic.
The infinity of the sea, as a space untouched by the human gaze, is associated with auditory images of 'the storm with thunder and
"thunder.” The ship on which the usurper Antonio, King Alonso, his brother Sebastian, and Alonso's son are present,
Ferdinand, along with a group of courtiers, fails on the shore of the island. The sailors are captive in the unleashed nature.
no longer hopes except in salvation through prayer. From this moment, the action of the play is divided into three parts. Through
spells, Prospero separates the shipwrecked, focusing especially on Alonso and Ferdinand, making each of them
to believe that the other is dead.
Scene 3 (Act I) takes us to the front of a cave where Prospero, the usurper, and his daughter have lived for several years.
Yes, Miranda. The father told his daughter how he lost the ducat and how they ended up on this deserted island. Uncle
usurper, Antonio (Cain), knew how to 'entwine the princely trunk' of his brother and to suck 'his greenness'
and the flock,” exiling him to this island. Now the moment has come for “coincidentally, merciful destiny” to
lead the enemies to this realm for a new confrontation. Once upon a time, Prospero was the master of a
Today he masters matter and its laws.
Sleep, hallucinations, and magic play a fundamental role in this part of the play, where forces
unleashed, Ariel, Caliban, take control of the entire atmosphere. Therefore, the hypnotic sleep is the bridge of
communication between father and daughter, the favorable state of transmission through reiteration of the biblical sin committed by Cain
against Abel. Prospero orchestrates or controls a good part of the actions with the help of Ariel. This
prevent the murder of King Alonso, appearing in the form of a harpy.
The play takes on the appearance of a significant labyrinth, whose dramatic course is far from being
rectilinear, precisely because of the oscillation of the subject between reality and myth, between the beneficial and the malefic. It is a writing
with multiple values, in which myths and social aspects are intertwined in a learned spiritual initiation.
The formulas and stylistic procedures, the complex aspects of dramatic text, converge towards the temptation of cancellation.
the spatial and temporal coordinates of being in the Universe. The island becomes a mandalic space, configured differently,
in the sense that in Act II another part of the island is revealed, bringing to the stage Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo and
by Alonso, who mourns his supposedly dead son (Ferdinand).
On another level, the dramatic action acquires a higher significance through the appearance of the spirit Ariel at
the ear of Gonzalo, to whom a hypnotic song is sung, like 'a buzz', even though the other companions are
shaken by "fearsome moans". Caliban and Ariel represent the two halves that define his personality.
Prospero. In the end, it provokes memorable auditory images expressed through 'roars' and 'thunders' meant to
amplifies an endless inner turmoil.
 Act III centers on Ferdinand (the son of King Alonso), troubled by the hardships of existence, suggestion
offered by the log he carries on his back. A noble spirit, Ferdinand defines life as a 'difficult game',
whose complaint is intensified by her toil. He appears in the role of the slave in love, who in the name of love is
the ability to "move thousands of logs".
The punishment will be 'rewarded' in Act I, when Ferdinand receives Prospero's 'light of the eyes'.
Miranda, the wife. It's time for the mythical characters Iris, Ceres 'spotted witch' to enter the scene.
Junona, who "blesses" the two newlyweds.
The last act presents Prospero and Alonso face to face through Ariel's intervention, which brings them from
mournful surprise of a storm. Dazed by sleep, the heroes do not believe what they see, the paradox of revenge consisting of
the arrival through "the darkness of the storm" in this "palace-cave" ruled by Prospero.
The replica of Ferdinand "the seas threaten and forgive," kneeling before Alonso, emphasizes
the superiority of the son who takes on the mistakes of the father unable to grasp the mysteries of existence, sometimes dominated
of magic, of sorcery, which can dissolve the evil in people.
The prologue belongs to Prospero who announces the dissolution of spells, renounces spirits and magic, asking to
"uncovered".
W. Shakespeare is the most representative of all those who illustrated Renaissance ideas, in
the characters' beings gather the great questions of man, the chilling agony of uncertainty, the submission to
the pains of love, the descent from celestial light into the dark earthly existence. The profile of the hero from
The Tempest, Prospero, is the profile of the Renaissance man who can survive through culture and introspection.
confident in the future.
The topos of life as a great stormy sea, as an existence permanently subject to mistakes, dominates.
the entire dramatic diegesis of Shakespeare's work, in which aspects of tragedy can often be identified
antique, with Aristotelian echoes: hamartia.
This mistake, the hamartia, is committed by Antonio against his brother, but fate wants that
the truth should come to light, and then the ending can be interpreted in a positive sense as the path we are following,
representing the failure at the end of the road. Not Prospero's desire to take revenge for the injustice committed with
Twelve years ago by Alonso and Antonio constitutes the fundamental theme of the work, but artistic creation, the role
the creator in the Universe. Prospero can be interpreted as an alter ego of Shakespeare, a symbol of the artist,
in general. The shipwreck can represent its creation, over which it has total control. The island is actually a
scene where Prospero, playwright and director, builds an elaborate show, the last and most perfect one of
he sells salt.
Benedetto Croce admires the exceptional storm and the poetic ease with which reality takes shape.
of appearance, and appearance suddenly changes into reality.

bibliography

Aesthetics
Grigore, Dan, Shakespeare in modern Romanian culture
Kott, Jan, Shakespeare, Our Contemporary
Liiceanu, Gabriel, The Tragic, A Phenomenology of the Limit and Overcoming, Bucharest, Humanitas, 1993.
Răulescu, Mihai
 Don Quixote

Don Quixote of La Mancha is a literary work ofthe writer'sspanishMiguel de Cervantes

Saavedra. The first part appeared in1605under the name of The Ingenious Nobleman Don Quixote of La
Manchaș i enjoyed great success from the audience, being a masterpiece of literature.
Spanish literature. The second part was published in 1615 under the title El ingenioso
Sir Don Quixote of La Mancha. The novel is currently one of the most translated works.
of the world, surpassed only by the Bible.
Although it was conceived as a satire on popular chivalric tales, the story]
the small nobleman Alonso Quixano (Don Quixote) from La Mancha who, influenced by his readings, ends up
to believe oneself a knight in search of adventures, becomes a fresco of Spanish society and a reflection
on human behavior.
The pattern from The Glass Administrator is repeated, so that Don Quixote, although considered by others
madness proves to be closer to the truth, due to the nobility of its thinking and actions, than
the people considered 'normal'.

The subject of the novel

Alonso Quixano (or Quijano), a poor nobleman approaching the age of 50

("hidalgo", in Spanish, comes from "hijo de algo" - the son of someone who was someone, of noble lineage)
lives together with his granddaughter in an unknown part of La Mancha. A passionate reader
of chivalric romances, Don Quixote comes to regard himself as a "wandering knight" and thus sets off
on horseback riding his mare, Rocinante, armed with cardboard weapons. Just like the hero from
the adventure novels he read, Amadis of Gaul, he chooses a lady to whom he will dedicate
victories in battles: Dulcinea del Toboso, a peasant woman from a neighboring region, by her real name
Aldonza Lorenzo, who in reality was neither noble nor beautiful.

First adventure

On his way, he first stops at an inn, which he takes for a castle, and confuses
a hangman with a castellan asks him to knight him, a holy ceremony that will take place.
place in the barn. He then meets some merchants from Toledo, whom he asks to proclaim Dulcinea.
I am the most beautiful lady in the world, but they insult her, and one of them beats Don Quixote.
he is found and helped to return home by a neighboring peasant, Pedro.
Alonzo.
The second adventure

After recovering, Don Quijote plans to embark on a second adventure. In the meantime,
his niece, the maid, the priest, and the barber have thrown into the fire a large part of the chivalric books
the carriage, telling him that a magician came riding on a cloud accompanied by a dragon, he stole
he picks up the books. The hero chooses as his 'squire' a peasant named Sancho Panza, to whom he promises that
At the end of the hike, he will become the governor of an island, and they both embark on a second adventure.
He fights against the windmills, taking them for giants, and imagines that in the carriage they accompany.
A few Benedictine monks find a kidnapped princess, being beaten again.
Throughout their journey, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza will encounter innkeepers, prostitutes, shepherds,
soldiers, priests, escaped convicts and even lovers, with various love stories. Don Quixote
intervenes violently in stories that do not concern him, and his habit of not paying his debts under the pretext that
this is the lifestyle of the "wandering knights" leads to humiliations, beatings, and the lack of things that one has.
more Sancho must endure. Also in this first part of the novel, we are told two
love stories (Grisostomo and Marcela; Cardenio and Lucinda). In the end, Don Quixote
let convinced to go home. The author suggests the existence of a third adventure, but claims that they have
lost the documents.

The second part of the novel

This second part represents a continuation published 10 years after the original novel. Don
Quixote and Sancho Panza have now become very well-known due to the stories in the first part of
of the novel. Now the theme of disillusionment is treated more deeply. Don Quixote becomes a mockery.
of many, and even Sancho deceives his master. Being forced to find Dulcinea, he ...
he presents to Don Quixote three poor peasant women, whom he claims are Dulcinea and her companions. For
that Don Quixote sees only peasant women, and not a noble lady, Sancho claims that he is enchanted
that is why he cannot see the "truth." In the end, Sancho is named governor of the island.
Barratoria, and although he proves capable, he gives up. Don Quixote returns home, where he falls into a.
he sleeps deeply, and when he wakes up, he is healed from madness. His health deteriorates.
but, so that he dies, Sancho lamenting their whole adventure.

The relationship with Sancho Panza

The relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza has been seen by many critics as illustrating 'the relationship
antagonistic reality-unreality, as the master embodies exalted idealism, while Sancho —
platitudes and triviality. However, the two complement each other to such an extent that at
At the end of the novel, we will observe a reversal of roles: there is a shift from ascendant to
descendant in the case of Don Quixote, who gradually regains his lucidity (...) and from
descendant to ascendant, in Sancho's case, who at the end of the novel laments the healing of
the madness of Don Quixote, wishing to renew the adventure.
Răzvan Codrescu compares the madness of Don Quixote with that of Prince Myshkin from
the RomanianThe idiotof himDostoevsky, arguing that "Don Quixote and Prince Myshkin represent madness
"exemplary" of two specific but complementary spiritualities, with Don Quixote embodying
"the constitutional activism of the Western spirit", while Prince Myshkin illustrates "contemplativism"
traditional of the Eastern world, without tricks without weapons, resigned and confident in the perspective
of eternity.” This madness will ultimately succeed in reaching Sancho as well, for there is an occurrence
transfer. Gradually, Don Quixote returns to his initial state (which, however, is not presented anywhere in
roman), and the 'common sense that characterizes the squire gradually fades away 'into the sea of fantasy in which
"his master forces him to drown," for him the island represents a concrete illusion, just as for
Don Quixote's restoration of the institution of wandering knights represented an abstract illusion.