Mazursky's Interpretation of Shakespeare by Taylor Boone

The drama of Shakespeare’s Tempest is throughout the entire play. Miranda and Prospero have been pushed out to sea by Prospero’s brother Antonio and by Alonso, the king of Naples, and this is what starts the drama. Then the drama continues as Prospero uses his magic to lure Alonso and Antonio to the island and destroy their ship. The drama continues when Miranda and Alonso’s son Ferdinand fall in love. The drama is then ended by Prospero, who confronts Antonio and Alonso, demands his reign back, and then forgives the traitors. He then returns to Milan triumphantly. Shakespeare presents the experience of greed. All Prospero was concerned about was returning to Milan and being the ruler again. He used his magic to get exactly what he wanted. He didn’t care who he hurt along the way. His brother had taken his leadership from him, so Prospero then used his magic to get his reign back. Both of the brothers were greedy in that all they were concerned about was their reign.

The drama in Mazursky’s Tempest is more on the romance end of the spectrum. The movie begins with romantic drama, and that drama is continued throughout the entire movie, and is truly the focal point of the film. Phillip is going through a mid-life crisis and leaves his wife, moves to an abandoned island, and meets a new lover, Aretha. He seemed happy with Aretha until an unexpected twist occurs. His ex-wife and her lover appear on the same abandoned island after a shipwreck.
Mazursky’s film shows a love triangle. He shows the intense, crazy relationship between a father and daughter. He also shows a mid-life crisis and how it affects those around Phillip. Mazursky made the play very modern in a way, and he made it very relatable. Aretha was compelled to make Phillip love her and commit to her in the serious way she wanted. I also think that Phillip was compelled to make himself happy and to do whatever he wanted, not what people wanted of him. I also think Miranda was compelled to be herself. She didn’t want to be told what to do and she was very independent in her manner.

I think Mazursky’s interpretation of the play was wonderful. It was successful because he managed to take Shakespeare and turn it into a modern drama. The film portrayed the play well and he switched the drama focus up a little, which made it more interesting. He did a good ob of keeping the dramatic theme throughout the entire movie so it was easy to stay focused. Mazursky made the drama with Phillip very funny, but at the same time a huge deal throughout the movie. From his mid-life crisis to his love triangle, the drama with Phillip really made the plot of the movie.