Shakespeare's Tempest and Journey to the Interior by Margaret Atwood

8/16/2019 Shakespeare's Tempest and Journey to the Interior by Margaret Atwood

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Area Of Study: Discovery

Texts:

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Journey to the Interior by Margaret Atwood

The nature of discovery entails a journey that is transformative and concerns one’s relationship

with one’s self or one’s world. Discoveries can be confronting(surprising) and provocative

(challenging) and can lead to good or bad consequences, ultimately, resulting with a broader

knowledge of self and new perspective on humanity. In William Shakespeare’s play, The

Tempest, Prospero discovers his own future by reflecting on the limitations of his mind and own

power, discovering the importance of love and redemption in redefining one’s place in the world.

The opposing notion between human nature and civilisation through the character of Caliban is

also depicted in the context of the Age of Discovery. ‘Journey to the Interior’ by Margaret Atwood

is a journey of introspection from the exterior reality to the inner depths of the human psyche.

She delves into the mysteries of the human mind and examines human behaviours’ reason;

understanding one’s self and the lack of knowledge of an individual, in the face of conflicting and

dark forces.

Shakespeare’s The Tempest represents the limitations of the mind and power, as characters are

compelled to explore the possibilities of their choices and travel through a voyage of self-

discovery, where the gift of reconciliation, greater knowledge and true authority are received.

The main character, Prospero, discovers the limitations of power based on illusions, fear and

obligation and rediscovers the power of forgiveness and redemption. Shakespeare shows his

transformation through Prospero’s visual and aural illusions to manipulate his enemies and to

explore his true self. Significantly, it is Ariel, a symbol of reason held captive by the abuse of

power, who is commanded to create the illusion of a storm that brings to the island all those

responsible for Prospero’s plight and his future. In Act 5 Scene 1, Prospero morally obliges to

embrace forgiveness and transform into a more empathetic character abandoning his illusions of

power,‘I’ll break my staff/ Bury it certain fathoms in the earth… I’ll drown my book’.Through theconcept of imaginative journey, The Tempest demonstrates the surprising(hidden/ confronting)

discoveries of possibilities as Prospero’s heightened self-awareness is revealed.

In the title, ‘Journey to the Interior’ conveys parallel levels of meaning of the inner journey of self-

discovery and the physical journey inland. Atwood examines our struggle to discover the true

nature of self. She conveys the influence of nature and its appreciation upon our lives and in


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doing so transforms her limits to the achievable. The poem’s structure aids its construction of

meaning - ’There are similarities/ I notice’ ‘There are differences’between the emotional journey,

evaluating the ability of the imagination to adequately express an inner journey. Her use of free

verse and first person persona reflects the introspective nature, where it’s‘endless as prairies’

and how‘there are no destinations’.Her use of the metaphor‘the hills as endless as prairies’ is

symbolic of the vastness of the mind and our difficulty in seeking clarity in our own

consciousness. Atwood allows herself to explore the nature of the imaginative journey as a

process of transformation, resulting in understanding(and uncovering) the individual’s

perception of the world and others.(rediscovering what’s hidden)

In ‘The Tempest’, Shakespeare effectively uses juxtaposition between nature and civilisation in

the setting of an enchanted island in ways that metaphorically stress notions of spiritual rebirth

through the characterisation of Caliban. Caliban, in the play, is a representation of many

Elizabethan perceptions and assumptions about the ‘savage’ natives discovered in the New

World - the Age of Discovery. Initially, Caliban is portrayed through animal imagery fromProspero’s perspective as a‘freckled whelp, hag born… not honoured with human shape’,

echoing the European belief of the inferiority of indigenous peoples. Although, he is

characterised as illiterate and savage by Prospero, as the play progresses, the audience gain a

deeper understanding of his behaviour. Caliban’s rich and sensuous appreciation of nature and

imaginative power is revealed through his use of poetic imagery,‘Be not afeared, the isle is full

of noises/ Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not’.Through his complex

characterisation, he serves as a reminder to the audience of the disjunction between the other

characters’ assertions and what we perceive. Moreover, Caliban himself acts as a motif, to

question and reappraise the differences between the worlds of the monstrous, the natural and

the civilised.

Atwood’s poem expresses the cyclical nature of the inner journey, a stream of consciousness

exploring the dark and confrontational concept of the human psyche through the metaphysical

representation of the Canadian wilderness. The contrasting words‘similarities’and ‘differences’

allow the reader to make connections between the physical world and the internal realm. The

juxtaposition of the natural and man-made world,‘the hills which the eyes make flat as a wall’is

established by the speaker who makes the connection with what is ‘out there’ and the ‘here’. As

‘the hills open as i move’, Atwood implies that she gains more understanding of herself and

challenges the reader to embark on their own inner journey. In contrast, she manifests how the

interior of the mind, like the physical landscape, becomes a multifarious world of danger where

many have trodden, ‘but only some have returned safely’.The irregularity in rhythm, visual and

sound imagery depicts the atmosphere of uncertainty and danger with ‘no destinations’.She

continually expresses the adversity, how the‘cliff is not known as rough except by hand’and

how the journey within ‘is not the easy going from point to point’.Ultimately, Atwood’s layered

approach of techniques allows her to delve into hidden recesses of landscape that are physical

and metaphysical in nature.


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Both in ‘The Tempest’ by Shakespeare and ‘Journey to the Interior’ by Atwood explores the

complex, hidden and transformative discovery on both personal and global levels, confirming the

relatedness of inner and outer worlds in landscape and context. In the Tempest, characters are

faced with various power-based situations to make choices that allow them to further explore the

limitations of the mind and for the audience to be able to question different characters’ attitudes

and the worlds of monstrosity, natural and civilised. ‘Journey to the Interior’ portrays the concept

of discovering as a confronting/ surprising experience, which could result as multidimensional

exploration of self-growth, identity and nationhood.

Documents

Shakespeare's Tempest and Journey to the Interior by Margaret Atwood