The Island as the space of multivocal encounter: multiple discourses în Shakespeare's The tempest

Abstract

This essay applies discourse theory and geocriticism to Shakespeare’s The Tempest in order to show the ways in which the island space is inscribed in the play’s theatrical spatial imagination as an enclosed area engendering multi-discursive meanings. The space of the stage is the site of encounter for multiple dramatic voices and identities, each of them with their own discursive structure and motivational parameters. This multivocal encounter among cultures and allusions to other spaces has contributed to the play’s success in production throughout the centuries, as it has been translated in several languages, produced in many directorial interpretations, and adapted in novels, poetry, movies, manga, videogames, etc. I argue that the play’s multivocal aspect—as manifested in the island space of the theatre—is the result of the sedimentary process that has allowed each character to speak with his/her own voice throughout the ages, while at the same time borrowing various voices and languages from the surrounding culture and the time in which it has been produced or adapted.