Can you justify?

[tuppera shiva]

Refer lines 351 to 361 of the Tempest Act one scene two.
See the comment of Roma Gill of the oxford university in this regard
[Quote] “The hatred and the revulsion expressed in this speech shows an unexpected side to the hitherto placid and docile Miranda---and many editors of the eighteenth and nineteenth century re-assigned the words to Prospero” [unquote]. First let us begin with the examination of the words placid and docile. The meaning of the word placid is mild or peaceful or not easily disturbed [see page no 781 of the oxford dictionary seventh edition edited by JB Sykes]. Now see the meaning of the word docile “teachable or submissive or easily managed [see page no.282 of the oxford dictionary cited earlier].
It is okay for the daughter to be mild while addressing her father and be submissive and take his commands willingly, but would it be reasonable to expect a girl to be placid and docile while dealing with a man who had attempted to rape her? In the management science we find a term “zone of acceptance”. Some people may have a very broad zone of acceptance but we cannot expect an intellectual like Shakespeare to have such broad mindedness to make his characters to be placid and docile to rapists. Can you justify?

[conartist]

It's always funny to hear critics describe how Caliban has been victimized unjustly. If you mention the attempted rape, they'll either say that Prospero has distorted the facts (unlikely, seeing as Caliban remembers the event gleefully) or that, seeing as Caliban is an outsider of western culture (or, 'The Other') he was ignorant of rape's unlawfulness and so could not be judged for it.

As for the quote you've used, it's ridiculous. It speaks of Miranda having an 'unexpected side' as though the play had been going for a few acts and we knew her quite well, when in reality it's talking about the first scene she appears in and I doubt that by that point she'd spoken more than a few dozen lines. As you say, there is no reason to be surprised at her speaking as she does to her attempted rapist. If she were placid and docile it would be far more jarring.

[kiki1982]

POsssibly what the critic means, but expressed quite awkwardly, is that Miranda, in their 18th and 19th century minds, was supposed to be placid and docile, thus they could not see how she would have spoken those words. So they assigned them to a man, a woman was after all not expected to feel anything while having sex so she could also not feel wronged at being raped (if it was any), where a man could (Prospero a relation, by any chance? Haven't read the play, you see and saw the play long, long ago is a bad Dutch translation).If she wasn't raped, the 18th and 19th century editors would certainly not have approved of out of wedlock sex, so both ways the situation was a no-no.

There were other plays they changed, like King Lear (they made Cordelia live), and I think The Life and Death of King John. The Magna Carta was there treated as the greatest thing on earth (which it is), or even added I read somewhere, but Shakespeare did not think about in that way.

[OrphanPip]

It's always funny to hear critics describe how Caliban has been victimized unjustly. If you mention the attempted rape, they'll either say that Prospero has distorted the facts (unlikely, seeing as Caliban remembers the event gleefully) or that, seeing as Caliban is an outsider of western culture (or, 'The Other') he was ignorant of rape's unlawfulness and so could not be judged for it.


Well, Prospero did enslave him in his own home. The rape is hardly relevant, Caliban is not a nice character, but you don't have to be nice to be a victim.

If we take from the post-colonial reading, Prospero is a bit of a benevolent dictator. Some are happy to serve him, like Ariel and Miranda, who obey without question and benefit from it. Caliban resists and is punished. Some might say that it is good that Caliban's "evil" character is contained. However, doing so would require that we approve of Prospero's autocratic control of everyone who lives on the island. If Caliban was living alone on his island would there be an issue of his sexual violence? Is it impossible to understand why Caliban resents Prospero and Miranda?

Edit: I'll add to this that Shakespeare chose to give Caliban a few speeches in flowing iambic pentameter, usually when he is speaking of nature and of his island. Most of the time he speaks in crude prose. Shakespeare certainly seems to have meant us to see a connection between Caliban and the island, and to recognize that there is maybe something noble inside of him below the monstrous facade.