Essay: Film Adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest (Julie Taymor)

Adaptations of plays tend to have a drastic change going from paper to screen. There are certain elements of the play that cannot be interpreted onto the screen one of those being power. Everything that is envisioned by the original writer will not be adapted as he or she initially envisioned. That is the case with The Tempest by Shakespeare and the film interpretation of Julie Taymor’s The Tempest. The play is about Prospero and his daughter Miranda who live in an unnamed island, after his brother Antonio banished them and ordered they be killed. When Antonio, Sebastian, Alonso, Ferdinand, Gonzalo and others are out at sea, an enormous storm arises. That storm is caused by Ariel and Prospero’s magic. Throughout the entire play, Prospero uses magic as a way of power, however there are multiple versions of power in both the play and film.
Julie Taymor’s movie is indeed a unique adaptation of the play where the differences are drastic compared to the original play due to the fact that she uses modern and personal touches to transform the play into something more than just a Shakespearean peice. First the characters in the play are modified so that instead of having Prospero be a male, she makes the character a female- Prosper(a). Caliban is of African descent. Ariel does not have a specific gender meaning sometimes Ariel embodies a male and sometimes a female. Taymor explored and changed the characters from the original play so that they better suited what she imagined. Second, Taymor uses a lot of computer generated imagery effects to illustrate and create illusions of the power that are aforementioned in the play. Lastly, which is the most important is that she emphasises on power through nature in the entirety of the film. In the adaptation nature is used as a source of power; whereas Shakespeare used knowledge as a form of power. Despite these differences, the main element of both remained the same; power.
When Shakespeare was writing the play in 1610, he was also creating new words that were added into the English language. In a way, this made him gain knowledge to a certain extent and that is what he did with the character Prospero. Prospero obtains his power through books that give him knowledge. The books are key when it comes to magic because it is through that magic that he has the power that no one else has. In Act 3 Scene 2, Caliban is talking to Stephano, another man that was washed ashore from the shipwreck, saying how if he were to possess Prospero’s books, Prospero would no longer be superior than him rather they would be equals. “Remember first to possess his books; for without them he’s but a sot, as I am, nor hath not one spirit to command. They all do hate him as rootedly as I. Burn but his books”(3.2.95). In order for Caliban to defeat Prospero and get back “his” island, he needs to take Prospero’s books which is like taking his language and magic. The power that is derived from that magic is what keeps Prospero superior from those in that island; without them he would be just like everyone else.
On the other hand there is Taymor’s film adaptation where Prospera uses chemistry as a way of power. She has power over the natural world because she has interaction with science. Her magic comes from science and that is seen throughout the entirety of the film , more specifically when she is in her cell which is like a laboratory. In the laboratory, one can see there are beakers and chemicals which she is constantly meddling with. Taymor gave Prospera three forms of power: chemistry, magic, and nature. “….She creates a feminist version of Prospero’s exile….It wasn’t just her library that was “dukedom large enough” but also her laboratory, for Taymor’s Prospera is a scientist as well as a student of the “liberal arts”(Crowl 177-78). Taymor really wanted to establish the difference between Shakespeare’s work and herselfs through Prospero/a. Not only does the character show a major difference in itself but also in power. Taymor made Prospera obtain more power by putting her to use her knowledge. Prospera actually applied her knowledge in her laboratory and used magic by manipulating nature. In the film, it takes more than just stealing Prospera’s books in order to gain her power, and that is one of the ways Taymor changed the concept of power. Shakespeare lacks giving Prospero multiple sources of power by giving him only knowledge. Although Prospero is able to maintain his power throughout the play, he does not have the same sources of power as Prospera.
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