Philosopher Queens and a Female Prospero(a)

• In Event: The Political Status of Women in Chinese and Greek Classics

Abstract

Several productions of Shakespeare’s Tempest have in recent years explored the possibility and implications of turning the wizard former Duke of Milan who rules over his magical island into a woman, slightly altering Shakespeare’s English so that “she” replaces “he” and “mother” replaces “father.” Whether intentional or not, the character Prospero recalls the philosopher king of Plato’s Republic in his devotion to learning and his books and his disdain for ruling. Directorial decisions to turn Prospero into Prospera comport with the Socratic affirmation that the female can be philosophers and rule alongside the male philosopher kings. Responses by critics to productions of The Tempest that experiment with changing the gender of the lead character have often focused on how such a change captures the empowerment of women who demonstrate their ability to rule and manipulate the natural world around them.
My paper will not focus the issue of empowerment; instead, I will explore how changing the gender of the lead character in Shakespeare’s play becomes a resource for understanding the tensions posed in the Republic when Socrates imagines his philosopher queens. Questions of family and birth unsettle directorial decisions to change Prospero into Prospera and alert the reader to how these concerns bring Socrates’ casual assimilation of the male and the female in his imagining of Callipolis into question. Such an analysis of the fluidity of the genders uncovers the political implications of bringing Socrates’ prescriptions to bear in the imagining of possible political regimes. Though the play – as all of Shakespeare’s plays – provoke meditation on many themes, the Tempest is, as I read it, ultimately a play about the nature of rule and its multiple forms. Prospero’s rule over the island is only one form of rule explored within the play, but its evocation of the Platonic philosopher king/queen allows it to serve as commentary on that work. Re-imaginings through gender fluidity of Shakespeare allow for a re-reading of Plato.

Author

• Arlene W. Saxonhouse, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor