The Power of Words

Wise men have always cautioned us of the power of words. In discussing The Tempest with a friend, I finally saw these words of wisdom springing out of the text, like Shakespeare was holding a big neon sign that said "This is what I'm getting at!"

 I guess I'll start by sharing my awkward conversation on the topic.

I started out talking to my friend, Addie. It was all pretty rushed because I only had 30 minutes between classes and other appointments that day, so I leveled with her and basically said "Okay, I have to talk to someone about what I'm reading in my Shakespeare class and then write about it . . . ready, go!"

 

I wasn't really sure what to talk about at first, so she just asked about the basic plotline of "As You Like It." Which, as simple of a plotline as it is, it took a while to really get down to the point of it. Surprising really. I'd had her read my blog posts before about the themes in it, but I'd already gone through explaining them so deeply before (In that ridiculously massive post that took hours to write, never doing that again) so the conversation kind of died as I felt I was just beating a dead horse.

So. . .after a few vague and uninsightful questions on the subject were answered, we moved on to the Tempest. 

This time I didn't bother to explain the plot in detail as much. She asked me about themes/motifs I saw in this show, and I really had a hard time coming up with anything, as I have before. As much as I like this show, it's a little harder to pull from. The only words I seem to be able to muster up are "Forgiveness" and "Spectacle" but beyond that it's all a bit fuzzy. We sat for a minute, stumped, and finally she just randomly asked "When were these plays written?" And then finally something struck me.




Me: ". . . I don't know. You mean the year or chronologically in his life?"
Her: "Whichever"
Me: "I really have no idea what year.  I think As You Like It was one of his earlier plays, and the Tempest was his very last play."
Her: "Ooooh, that's intense" (Haha, she's adorable) . . . I guess, what do you think Shakespeare was thinking when he wrote these?"
Me: *lightbulb* "OOOOH! I just made a connection here. . ."

Craig Wroe as Prospero.
Photo by Alexander Weisman.

I then went on to talk about the whole thing with Prospero's books. . . how he uses books to learn magic, and how the power he gains from them gets out of control (or at least thats how they portrayed it in the production we saw) and that's why he renounces magic and breaks his staff in the end. Like he's gotten a taste of how much power is in his hands. . . and it scared him.

 Also worth looking at is a quote from Caliban:

[Act 1, Scene 2]

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!

John Pribyl as Prospero in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2007 production of The Tempest. (Photo by Karl Hugh. Copyright Utah Shakespeare Festival 2007.)

John Pribyl as Prospero in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2007

production of The Tempest. (Photo by Karl Hugh. Copyright Utah

Shakespeare Festival 2007.)

I also saw that when I was looking up pictures from the 2007 production they did of the Tempest in Cedar City. Prospero's magic robes are covered in writing, as well as the backdrop behind him. Obviously, this was no accident. The director obviously had a strong concept of the power of language, words, and learning.

The last thing that this question brought to mind was the movie Anonymous that I've been hearing so much about. I don't necessarily give Roland Emmerich's theories any credit, but I'm really interested in seeing the movie and have been trying to hear both sides of the story. I watched this video of ten reasons why he believes Shakespeare was a fraud, and a big one for him was that when Shakespeare "retired" he just stopped writing completely (supposedly). Emmerich felt that, especially from his point of view as an artist and director, that he could never bring himself just to stop doing what he loved. I see where he's coming from. . . but what if he had a reason?

Now to tie this all together, we see Prospero, a character in his FINAL play, who has gained all this power from learning, but it gets out of control and he begins to fear his own abilities. Did Shakespeare write the character of Prospero as parallel to his own life? Did he feel and fear the power of his influence in some way? (If so, it would be a good argument against another one of Emmerich's points; he felt that it was fishy that Shakespeare wrote about nobles all the time instead of stories that related to himself and his own class). This is one of those days when I really wish I could really learn more about his life.
I think it would help me understand some of the more cryptic shows SO much better.

 Who are some people in society today who don't know the power of their own words? I remember having a discussion in my Biology lab last friday, and we were talking about how some people refuse to take vaccinations because they are worried that it is linked to autism. This hype is all based on a pretty inaccurate study done by a man named Andrew Wakefield. My Biology T.A. evidently has very strong feelings about this subject, here are the notes I took in class:

"Andrew Wakefield is a Jerk"

Published a paper in the British medical journal Lancet where he reported the observation of 12 children (very small sample size) 9 of whom developed autism days after receiving MMR vaccine

only five of those children were actually diagnosed with autism

• several of those children diagnosed with behavior problems prior to this
• got children from a birthday party
• at the same time, he was developing a vaccine alternative 
• article was later retracted
• mercury in shot was not the kind that is detrimental to  body
• mostly used in developing countries where refrigeration is not an option
• because of his article, companies started pulling vaccines and redoing them, and then started redoing them
• put vaccines in developing nations behind several years

We've talked a lot in that class about how unfounded his research was, and the kind of impact the study he published has had. My TA strongly believes in the importance of herd immunity, which is when at least 80% is vaccinated, the ability of a virus to cause a pandemic or epidemic is nearly eliminated (and those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons are far more protected as well.) She also mentioned how problematic it is sometimes for well-known people or politicians who might say something like "We shouldn't require vaccinations because they are linked to austism" just as a way to get votes and gain popularity without really understanding what they're talking about, and then not realize the huge negative impact it might have.

Who are some other examples of people in today's society who underestimate the power of their words, and have had a negative impact?