This is the 400th anniversary of one of William Shakespeare’s most celebrated and influential plays “The Tempest.” It was first performed in November, 1611, and is the only play by the Bard (arguably the world’s greatest playwright) which has connections to the New World. It has provoked more adaptions, music, poetry and other artistic and critical inspirations than perhaps any of Shakespeare’s other works, which is no small matter when it is considered that Shakespeare also wrote “Hamlet,” “MacBeth,” “Othello,” A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream,” “All’s Well That Ends Well,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Julius Caesar,” “King Lear,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “Twelfth Night,” “Taming of the Shrew,” “Antony and Cleopatra,” “Coriolanus,” “As You Like It,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” and twenty-one other plays known the world over.
With Hurricane Irene now raging through the U.S. East Coast from its Caribbean origins (supposedly “The Tempest” was set in the Caribbean), I could not help but think of Shakespeare’s play with its iconic storm created magically by the play’s main character Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan. Although it remains to be seen how “historic” and great a storm Irene will be, it has certainly gripped in advance of its path the justifiable concern of millions of Americans who are likely to be affected by it, and the entire rest of nation watching from “a safe distance.”
One of the most famous visual images of this play was the painting “The Shipwreck” by the most celebrated 18th century portraitist George Romney. Yes, current frontrunner for the Republican nomination Mitt Romney is a descendant/kinsman of George Romney the painter, and that got me to thinking about a second tempest now going through the United States, a fellow named Rick Perry who is also the current governor of Texas. In only a few weeks, Mr. Perry has announced his late entry into the presidential contest, and has already emerged as Mr. Romney’s main challenger. Liberal Democrats seem not to regard Mr. Perry as a storm, but rather as Caliban, the disfigured and scary character who is another principal figure in the play. (Mr. Romney’s supporters, no doubt, hope that Mr. Perry is only a “tempest in a teapot.”)
The reader might think I am depending too much on coincidences here in drawing Mitt Romney and Rick Perry into this (how about Michele Bachmann as Ariel?), but of course, Shakesepeare’s 17th century plays are is so full of coincidences and references to other sources that I feel no compunction to hold back my devious way to bring up the current state of the 2012 presidential election and the contest for the GOP nomination.
While everyone hopes that the damage from Hurricane Irene will be minimal, there are many who wish that Tempest Perry will cause maximum damage. Some conservatives, unhappy with the bona fides of Mitt Romney as a true out-and-out man of the right are hoping that Mr. Perry will derail the Romney candidacy. Some liberals, fearful of a terrible defeat in November, 2012, hope that a man perceived as too far to the right, i.e., Mr. Perry, will be nominated, thus giving President Obama a better chance to win re-election.
Just as we do not know Hurricane Irene’s full course (as I write this), the impact of Tempest Perry is also unclear. He will now be subject to extraordinary scrutiny, and as he has already discovered, every word he utters will be examined under a political electron microscope. (Some of Mr. Perry’s recent utterances would indicate he is perhaps more like Caliban than his supporters would wish.) Mr. Perry will now have to stand on the stage with his rivals, and answer questions from the media and debate moderators that will contrast him to Mr. Romney, Mrs. Bachmann, and that most formidable GOP debater of all, Newt Gingrich.
I don’t know if it will be a tragedy, a comedy or a history, but it almost certainly will be quite a play to listen to and watch.
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-Please visit Mr. Casselman’s personal site, The Prairie Editor Blog.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:22 am
“He will now be subject to extraordinary scrutiny, and as he has already discovered, every word he utters will be examined under a political electron microscope.”
LOL!!!!!!!
Whose microscope? Not Fox News!!!! Not talk radio!!!!!
August 28th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Until Perry gets any sort of negative narrative going on Fox or Talk, he’s the nominee, I’m afraid. Fox and Talk control the GOP voters.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Barry, thank you for bringing Shakespeare to Race. He belongs everywhere. I like to think of Obama as Richard III: a ruthless, power-hungry tyrant who lacks the actual skill to run an empire.
As for Perry, you wrote: “…liberals, fearful of a terrible defeat in November, 2012, hope that a man perceived as too far to the right, i.e., Mr. Perry, will be nominated, thus giving President Obama a better chance to win re-election.”
I think you’re right, but they should be careful what they wish for; I thought the same thing about Obama in ’08 (only to the left, obviously), that he’d be easier to beat.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:48 am
It’s not that Perry is too far to the right.
It’s that he’s a corrupt bastard with a tendency to sell out Americans in favor of his global elite and donor friends.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:50 am
Your high school level reading of Shakespeare is risible, and you seem to be blissfully unaware of the first principles of developing a structured analogy, so your post can only be read as fantasy. But this part made me laugh out loud: Gingrich? A formidable debater? The man has no discipline behind a podium–microphones cause his brain to shut down–and his principle analytic device is the unstructured list–he’s like Romney that way–to listen to Gingrich, or Romney, is to listen to someone read you a series of poorly organized powerpoint slides. It’s sleep inducing.
Romney? Conservative “bona fides”? The man has none. He has no record of conservative governance on which to stand. He’s an north-east establishment figure that even the establishment can’t unite around. He’s through. He’s toast. He just doesn’t know it yet because he’s a little bit thick that way. He seems to want to repeat 2008.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:57 am
Don’t do drugs.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:57 am
casusit… I’m guessing you’ve never payed much attention to Romney.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:10 am
5. LOL! Most Romnots at least try to include the smallest piece of reality or truth before spinning it wildly.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:14 am
Ah….no. Sorry, but that’s not even remotely true.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:29 am
5.
BINGO!
August 28th, 2011 at 11:51 am
The problem is, that this tempest is carrying A TRUNK. This trunk is weighed down with all sorts of little demons just waiting to escape. Want to help?
August 28th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
lol, this reads like a high school essay
August 28th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Not even. A high school essay would have a coherent thesis. This is nothing but a Mittwitt fantasy wish-projection in the form of a complete misreading of Shakespeare’s Tempest by way of the cliche, “tempest in a teapot,” or something–in the actual drama the storm changes everything, places all the players from their places of misappropriated potential and into the rightful places, which is precisely what is happening to the GOP field now that the governor from Texas has declared his intentions.
August 28th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Perry’s biggest problem in my view is that the only thing he knows is Texas….That is his world….never lived anywhere else and has never been exposed to the cultural differences of other people and other states….To make matters worse he’s been in Government for 29 years……..Bottom line……He may not play well in Peoria!
August 28th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
At least he can win elections. Do you remember when Romney ran against Kennedy for Senator and claimed that he was a more effective supporter of gay rights than … Kennedy? Why, that’s comedy gold!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9IJUkYUbvI
Romney in this clip claims to have had relative die from a botched illegal abortion–and yet he changed his mind on this issue?
August 28th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Adam X = Sojourner Truth = casusit
You can hide your name, Adam, but you can’t hide your commenting style.
August 28th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
#15…….Perry has flip flopped on a number of issues…more than Romney. You’ve never really listened to Romney about his explanation on abortion. You really aren’t looking for any truth…….just to ridicule and undermine.
August 28th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
Okay, commenters who complain about the writing style of FPPs are a personal pet peeve; if you’re such a brilliant Shakespeare analyst, go start a Shakespeare and politics blog of your own, and dazzle us all with the brilliance of your comparisons between Rick Perry and the deus ex machina leaders from Shakespeare. Otherwise, shove off.
3: Richard III–the historical one–gets sort of a bad wrap from Shakespeare; given that the ruling queen was the granddaughter of the guy who beat him at Bosworth, this probably isn’t that surprising. IMO Obama’s more like any number of the weak and indecisive leaders in Shakespeare.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:45 pm
18:
That’s an arrogant comment and should be ignored and/or scorned by all.
August 29th, 2011 at 7:47 am
19: Not sure if you’re referring to my comment or the original I was responding to. I’ll just say that starting a blog on wordpress or blogger is pretty much free, so people who believe they are as talented as casusit obviously does, it’s pretty easy for them to actually do something to prove it.
August 29th, 2011 at 7:48 am
*if people*
August 29th, 2011 at 8:23 am
20:
Y’know, I can’t hum a tune any better than Rebecca Black. Guess what? She still sucks. I couldn’t write a song like Trapped in the Closet. Guess what? I wouldn’t want to. I don’t have the skills to direct a movie like Battlefield Earth. Guess what? The world’s a better place for my not trying.
And anyone self-absorbed enough tells me it’s a pet peeve of there’s that I have an opinion on any of those things. They can bite me.
August 29th, 2011 at 9:33 am
Yeah, and none of those things are nearly as straightforward to break into as blogging. You sign up for an account on blogger or wordpress, and you start writing. None of us who write for R412 are getting paid; we’re doing it because we enjoy politics, and enjoy writing about it, unlike everyone else you mentioned. Nor do you need any credentials of any sort, just opinions. Criticizing someone else’s writing as amateurish, or belittling someone for not being a Shakespeare scholar when referring in passing to a play is cheap and low when you can’t be bothered to actually make an attempt yourself. It’s a freaking blog, not a multi-million dollar movie. Disagreeing with somebody’s point is one thing, but the level of snobbery you have to show to criticize something someone else is doing basically gratis for your entertainment is mind-boggling. And just because you’re on the internet is no excuse for incivility.
August 29th, 2011 at 10:08 am
23:
You don’t get it. It has nothing to do with access or money. People are allowed to criticize stuff even if they don’t do it themselves. Heck, even if they’d be terrible if they tried. That’s not snobbish.
What’s snobbish is trying to dictate who can and cannot say anything.
August 29th, 2011 at 10:10 am
BTW, how do you know that he doesn’t blog somewhere else?
August 29th, 2011 at 11:53 am
Look, I never said you’re not free to criticize. The freedom to do something doesn’t mean you should do so though. Of course you’ve got a perfect right to criticize whoever you want. I just happen to find the kind of snide, personal comments casusit and others have made about FPPs on r412 particularly rude and obnoxious. Disagreeing with an argument is one thing, but personal insults against writers and writing style on a political blog where content is basically created for free seems childish and discourteous, and yes, snobbish. People have a perfect right to be rude. But casusit has already made a number of disparaging comments on this and other threads about the quality of analysis of this blog. If that’s how he really feels, first of all why is he bothering to read, and second of all what has he done to demonstrate his own skill as a writer/analyst? That kind of sniping isn’t constructive, doesn’t further discussion and I personally find it a pet-peeve. Sorry if that offends your tender sensibilities, but just as anyone has the perfect right to criticize, I have a perfect right to find that criticism annoying and generally worthless.
August 29th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
You’re trying to shut it down by saying that it’s snobbish.
And you’re doing it for poor reasons. Everyone who writes in a public forum is open to criticism, I don’t care if what they’re providing is free or not. If you don’t like that, you really need to find something else to do with your time.
In this case, I rather agree with the basic thrust. This was a poorly thought-out post that should have been abandoned as “not working”. Furthermore, anytime you invoke Shakespeare you are opening yourself up to a high standard and you better have your ducks in a row or you will look silly. If you can’t handle that level, stick to pop culture references.
And once again you go to this well.
IT DOESN’T MATTER
March 20th, 2012 at 9:06 pm
I am not very excellent with English but I line up this real easygoing to interpret .