• About
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Institutional Repository Home
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Institutional Repository Home
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Institutional RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    “Play the Men”: A Study of Pedagogy in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest

    Boyko, Wesley Michael
    : https://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/etd-09272019-135842
    http://hdl.handle.net/1803/14246
    : 2019-10-15

    Abstract

    In this paper I consider the theatricality as a mimetic mode in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. I aim to explore how various scenes of pedagogy and misprision intersect with each other at the site of hierarchy and the regulation of social roles—and also how these instances correspond to humanist practices of imitation which dominated the educational institutions of the Renaissance. I find that the social relationships among the characters frequently develop as pedagogical relationships, with the teachers of the play, most notably Prospero, Gonzalo, and Stephano, securing and reinforcing social order through their teachings. These lessons depict a certain theatricality of social order, by which several characters come to ‘learn’ and perform their appointed roles in society. In the latter half of my analysis, though, I look at the moments where the regulation of social scripts proves to not be totalizing and begins to break down. Sebastian, Antonio, and Caliban are all characters/students who mishear the lessons imposed upon them and obtain a certain amount of freedom to renegotiate their positions in society. I also turn to Jacques Lacan’s theories of metaphor for insight into this process of misprision and how characters are able to deviate from their assigned scripts while still being implicated in the theatricality of social order. I conclude that the themes of pedagogy, imitation, and misprision all compose a major part of characterization throughout The Tempest, and to appreciate the play’s representation of social dynamics, we must likewise reflect upon these questions of theatricality.
    Show full item record

    Files in this item

    Icon
    Name:
    MAThesisSubmission.pdf
    Size:
    202.9Kb
    Format:
    PDF
    View/Open

    This item appears in the following collection(s):

    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations

    Connect with Vanderbilt Libraries

    Your Vanderbilt

    • Alumni
    • Current Students
    • Faculty & Staff
    • International Students
    • Media
    • Parents & Family
    • Prospective Students
    • Researchers
    • Sports Fans
    • Visitors & Neighbors

    Support the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries

    Support the Library...Give Now

    Gifts to the Libraries support the learning and research needs of the entire Vanderbilt community. Learn more about giving to the Libraries.

    Become a Friend of the Libraries

    Quick Links

    • Hours
    • About
    • Employment
    • Staff Directory
    • Accessibility Services
    • Contact
    • Vanderbilt Home
    • Privacy Policy