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Dubliners by J.Joyce (riferimento a 'Eveline' e 'The dead')

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“Dubliners” is a collection of fifteen short stories written by James Joyce in which the author analyses the failure of self-realisation of inhabitants of Dublin in biographical and in psychological ways. The novel was originally turned down by publishers because they considered it immoral for its portrait of the Irish city. Joyce treats in “Dubliners” the paralysis of will in four stages: childhood, youth, maturity and public life. The paralysis of will is the courage and self-knowledge that leads ordinary men and women to accept the limitations imposed by the social context they live in. In “Dubliners” the style is both realistic - to the degree of perfectly recreating characters and idioms of contemporary Dublin - and symbolic – giving the common object unforeseen depth and a new meaning in order to show a new view of reality. Joyce defines this effect “epiphany” which indicates that moment when a simple fact suddenly explodes with meaning and makes a person realise his / her condi...
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Shakespeare's comedy: The tempest

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The plot

In this comedy, the main characters are :
  • King Alonso: king of Naples;
  • Ferdinand: king Alonso's son;
  • Prospero: he is a magician and lives on a desert island, where he does different illusiones such as a tempest. He was Duke of Milan, but he lost his dukedom because of a plot set up by his wicked brother, Antonio, together with Alonso;
  • Ariel: a spirit and Prospero's attendant;
  • Miranda: Prospero's daughter. She remembers nothing about her past but she knows his father was once the Duke of Milan;
  • Caliban: a sort of half-man, half-beast because he was initially a companion to Miranda, but, then, rebelled against Prospero's authority and became his servant.
King Alonso's ships are shipwrecked on a desert island because of a tempest.
All are saved except Ferdinand, who has disappeared.
The tempest is raised by Prospero , a magician and the master of island, with the help of his attendant spirit, Ariel.
With Prospero there is his daughter, Miranda, who has grown up on the island and knows nothing about her past.
Prospero was once the Duke of Milan but he lost his dukedom because of a plot set up by his wicked brother, Antonio, together with Alonso.
When Prospero arrived on the island, Miranda was three years old.
He, using his magic, subdued all spirits of island and took two of them into his service: Ariel, a spirit of air, and Caliban, a sort of half-man and half-beast.
The shipwrecked noblemen and marines have several adventures: everything that happens to them is the product of Prospero's magic arts.
Meanwhile, Miranda and Ferdinand, who was captured by Prospero , fall in love at first sight.
The love of Ferdinand and Miranda resists the many tests that Prospero subjects them, so the man decides to abandon his intentions and bless their union with a masquerade characterized by many spirits disguised as Greek gods.
All Prospero's plans have worked: Ferdinand and Miranda have fallen in love, Alonso is devastated by grief, Antonio is unmasked and Caliban punished together with the two roguish sailors.
At this point the magician gives up the magical arts and brings together all characters in his cave.
At the end of play, there is a reconciliation:

Prospero returns to being Duke of Milan, and his dukedom will be united with the Kingdom of Naples with the marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda;
Alonso earns his forgiveness;
Caliban, having realized how noble Prospero is, swears to Prospero his fidelity.
Ariel will be free when he'll realize Prospero's last favour: to ensure calm sea and favorable wind for the ship that will leave the island the next day.At this point Prospero turns to the audience and, in a famous monologue, asks that actors also be let loose with applause.

Comment

The Tempest belongs to the last phase of Shakespeare's production, that of the romances: works in which he re-elaborates already treated themes (in the great tragedies or comedies) placing them in a mythical and sacred dimension.
The recurring themes in romances are generally death and rebirth, atonement followed by forgiveness, and sins of fathers redeemed by their children.
This is the only work of Shakespeare in which the units of time, place and action of the classical drama are (almost) respected.

The Tempest treats the relationship between civilized Europeans and indigenous peoples through Prospero and Caliban.
Prospero defines Caliban an inferior being, a savage; in fact, Miranda teaches Caliban her language, in the way that he understands better the orders given.
Caliban feels that he has been robbed of the island that his mother left him as an inheritance and that he has been reduced to a slave.
So, he plot against Prospero.
Even the English name "Caliban" could be the anagram of "canibal" or "cannibal" (cannibal) to indicate precisely the inhabitants of the New World subdued by the Europeans.
The figure of Caliban is associated with the myth of the "noble savage", a good and innocent man who has a close contact with nature and far from civilization.
In 16th century, the period of voyages, exploration and colonization, people began to realize the existence of different races and cultures that were not corrupted by progress and society.
Another important theme is the constant allusion to the theater through the Prospero'assimilation to Shakespeare.
The character's renunciation of magic, therefore, would symbolize the farewell to Shakespeare's scenes. From this point of view, Prospero is seen as an incarnation (the last and greatest) of the mask of Hamlet: the one who enacts his own revenge instead of executing it.
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