Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Adaptation of The Tempest by William Shakespeare to...

The Adaptation of The Tempest by William Shakespeare to the Film Prosperos Books When adapting a play for the screen, a director’s primary responsibility is to visualize an enactment that remains true to the original work’s perception. In addition to this task, the director must also build upon the foundations laid by the script; without this goal, (s)he would have no reason to have undertaken the project in the first place. Providing an innovative reading of a well-known play is undoubtedly a challenging task, but few directors have met the challenge so successfully as Peter Greenaway in Prospero’s Books, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. Greenway’s most compelling accomplishment in the film is his elegant†¦show more content†¦Many of the scenes take place in his imagination, while others occur in the surreal palace around him. This impossible setting is full of dancing spirits, shimmering pools of water, monsters, and mountains of books. The palace appears to be analogous to Prospero’s mind ; certainly, the film is independent of the workings of the real world. This fantastical existence is a labyrinth of memory and evolving reality, which transforms in order to accommodate Prospero’s desires. While Prospero’s dramatic vision is certainly the most apparent example of artistry in Prospero’s Books, Peter Greenaway himself takes extensive liberties with Shakespeare’s story in order to present himself as a master filmmaker. In the opening scene, Greenaway demonstrates his artistry by depicting Prospero arranging the tempest and its resulting shipwreck. With help from Ariel and a large cast of nude spirits, Prospero sinks a tiny toy boat in a pool within his palace, seeing the fear of the boat’s crew only in his head. There is no indication that the storm occurs anyplace besides Prospero’s imagination. Greenaway stages this fantastic scene with soaring music, flickering lighting, and layers upon layers of action; there are, literally, frames within frames, and the movie screen is broken up into many layers, suggesting three-dimensional depth. Although much of Greenaway’s direction takes liberties withShow MoreRelatedThe Tempest By William Shakespeare1920 Words   |  8 PagesThe Tempest, by William Shakespeare, has been adapted numerous times, in various formats. 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