COVID-19 & Shakespeare’s Tempest 

Savannah Tessier

Currents in Global Literature 

Professor Helms 

COVID-19 & Shakespeare’s Tempest 

Covid-19 and Shakespeare’s Tempest seem to have nothing in common on the surface. Different centuries, messages, etc… however when investigating a little deeper it can be found at times they do go hand in hand. Of course, William had no idea what Covid was, but this piece of literature still finds a way to sneak messages of the way society felt when it draped itself over us for a lengthy quarantine. 

Shakespeare’s Tempest is thought to be one of the last plays he wrote. The first act of this story takes place on a boat, whereas the rest of it takes place on a deserted island. The main character Prospero lives alongside his daughter Miranda, a spirit named Ariel, Caliban who is no more than a monster, and his two servants. 

Caliban is representative of COVID-19 itself. A monster whom society thinks they can conquer over and over again, only for it to be hiding in the shadows to pounce when humans are at their most vulnerable. Caliban’s first words in the play are, “As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushed With raven’s feature from unwholesome fen Drop on you both! A southwest blow on ye And blister you all o’er!” (I.ii.). If Caliban was seen as a personified COVID-19 virus, this quote can be twisted to see the “drop” and “blister” as the illness being spread throughout the population. The coldness in the quote can resemble the carelessness the coronavirus would have as a person; not caring who it harms as it goes through its dangerous and destructive path.

Another quote said by Caliban that represents the coronavirus perfectly is, You taught me language, and my profit on’t  Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!” (I.ii.). The coronavirus learned how to become immune to vaccines, which was why new vaccines, second vaccines, and boosters were constantly being developed. Caliban speaks of how he learned how to curse through learning the language, this virus learned how to grow because of the way it was able to learn the human body. It used human’s anatomy against them to kill and maim. 

People of color have been depicted as diseased and infected throughout literature and society for centuries. Covid racistly being called the “Chinese virus” was a way for white people to put down Chinese people. It was a way for them to feel elite and gain power, just like the characters struggle for power in Tempest. When Prospero exiled the Duke of Milan, it was similar to Americans metaphorically exiling Chinese Americans and isolating them from society. Caliban, who was someone who was a native inhabitant, in Tempest is treated  racistly as well just like people of color were treated infected especially during simply for their skin tone.

Something that differed from the coronavirus though was one of Gonzalo’s lines. “So have we all, of joy, for our escape Is much beyond our loss.” (II.i.) To begin, society has still not fully escaped the clutches of covid. Although it is seen more as the flu now, it is still deadly and killing many. It has been reported the coronavirus has killed 3.4 million people, not counting the ones that committed suicide due to quarentine. Even those who never were infected by the virus still were impacted severely with mental health side effects.

Prospero being stranded on an island resembles the quarantine that the coronavirus put society through. People were made to feel isolated even if “stranded” with people they knew, just as how Prospero wasn’t alone. 

Citations

Jamieson, Lee. “Power Relationships Revealed in ‘the Tempest.’” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 26 June 2019, http://www.thoughtco.com/the-tempest-power-relationships-2985283#:~:text=In%20The%20Tempest%2C%20power%20and,enslaves%20and%20treats%20Caliban%20badly.

Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Analysis of William Shakespeare’s the Tempest.” Literary Theory and Criticism, 9 June 2021, literariness.org/2020/07/26/analysis-of-william-shakespeares-the-tempest/. 

“The Tempest – Entire Play.” Folger Shakespeare Library, http://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-tempest/read/. Accessed Oct. 2023. 

“What Is Sexism?” European Institute for Gender Equality, 10 Nov. 2020, eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/toolkits-guides/sexism-at-work-handbook/part-1-understand/what-sexism?language_content_entity=en.