The Significance of Setting

The first sentence of the course description reads, "Shakespeare never wrote for a classroom; he wrote for an audience."  So, it was no surprise when, one day, Mr. Kiczek pulled the clunky projector down in room 312 and began to show us a film clip; it had become commonplace in the course. When he began to show a part of the Globe Theater's production of The Tempest, I noticed something quite unique.  Caliban, Prospero's "poisonous slave" (1.2.383), entered the stage covered from head-to-toe in clay-colored paint.  Interestingly, the colors of the paint perfectly matched Caliban's clay-colored cave and various other parts of the stage.  This simple gesture taught me an invaluable lesson: one's surrounding environment plays a pivotal role in one's development.

In the Globe's adaptation of The Tempest, the use of color tells an incredible amount about Caliban's development, and how his experience with his environment (the island) has shaped him.  In one of his first lines, Caliban says to Prospero, "This island's mine by Sycorax, my mother, / which thou tak'st from me.  When thou cam'st first, / Thou strok'st me and made much of me" (1.2.397-399).  Clearly, Caliban claims that the island is his; it belonged to his mother, so he feels that he is the rightful owner.  The Globe's version realizes the import of this fact and, by painting Caliban the same color as the stage, constantly reminds the viewer of Caliban's roots in the island.  Caliban also includes his relationship with Prospero as part of his current disposition: Caliban feels that Prospero has mistreated him, that the colonizer has oppressed the colonized.  By painting Caliban, the Globe emphasizes Caliban's supposed innocence as the victim of Prospero's persecution. In addition, Caliban's coloring matches the great vertical columns, suggesting that he seeks to rise to power once again, and to reestablish his claim to the island.  All of his animosity towards Prospero, mixed with his lineage, lead him to seek power.  Thus, the Globe's decision to paint Caliban reveals so much about the character's situation. Shakespeare plays with this idea of environment many a time in his plays, especially those encountered in this course.

The setting of A Midsummer Night's Dream explains so much about each of the characters.  Helena, Hermia, Demetrius, Lysander, and Theseus all come from Athens, a prominent Greek city, where power lies in the hands of the duke.  On the other hand, Puck, Oberon, Titania, and all the fairies come from the woods, where magic reigns.  Thus, when the Athenian characters enter into the woods, it becomes quite clear that the power remains in the hands of the magicians; simply put, it is the fairies environment, and they can control it.  

In Hamlet, Hamlet's entire downfall is caused by his unstable environment.  He begins the play as an unbalanced character, but his insecurities only become magnified as he is pressured by his environment.  He feels the burden of his father's recent death.  He grows angry at his mother's lack of mourning and her all-too-quick marriage to Claudius.  The coming of his father's ghost.  These unwanted changes in his life open the door to his tragic end.  

And, of course, setting plays possibly the largest role in The Tempest.  Although Caliban wears the colors of the island in the Globe's production, it is clear to all that Prospero controls every aspect of the isle.  He causes the shipwreck.  He has power over each person who sets foot on that island. Yet, environment plays an even greater factor in this play than what meets the eye.  After all, what caused Prospero to leaved Milan in the first place?  Those around him, namely his brother Antonio, had forced him away.  These events were totally outside of Prospero's authority but, when he moves to the island, everything is inside his realm of power.  A change of setting has transformed him from a man with nothing to a man with everything.

Through Shakespeare's works, the meaning of environment has become abundantly more clear to me. After viewing that fragment of the Globe's production, I have realized the extreme importance of setting in everyday life.  There are an incalculable number of factors in a person's "setting" today; as in Shakespeare's plays, "setting" constitutes much more than physical location.  It also encompasses wealth, family situation, friends, and countless other parts.  But, is it really possible to define a person independent of setting?  No--the real Caliban can never remove his discoloration.