The Tempest

            In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, I found it hard to just read the text of the play because I had hard time imagining each scene being played out in my head. I found myself wanting the scenes to be played out with actors and special effects because the play has so much action, which is created with magic. Magic is also something that I think I would rather witness on a stage or in a film instead of reading about it in just plain text. I think having to read the play first then watching certain scenes after I had read it, took away from my experience of the play.

I think watching the scenes after I had read the play took away from my experience because once you have read it, you have already imagine the scene constructed inside your head. I found myself let down a little because the scenes I watched were not like I imagined. Like in Act III, Scene III, when King Alonso and his party are tired from searching and they are visited by these strange shapes bringing in a banquet of food. This is one of those particular scenes that I think you just can’t read about and truly get the full effect of the play. I think with a scene like this one you have to see it because a simple description doesn’t do it justice. I wanted to see the strange shapes that are talked about in this scene. I wanted to see a banquet of food being laid out for these weary men. I wanted to witness the food and drink being made to vanish right in front of these men. I didn’t just want to see it in my head.

 Also the characters in the play that are not considered human such as Ariel and Caliban, I think I wanted to see created with the use of special effects and costumes on screen or on a stage. Just reading about these characters I think did not do them justice as well. It could be my lack of imagination or the fact that countless movies go overboard on spending with the budget for special effects and costumes but I just really wanted to see what could have been done with these characters outside of the text. Overall, I like the fact that this played used magic. I think that is what most attracted me to the play.