The Tempest: Patriarchy, Gender, and Power in Shakespeare’s Play

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In this episode, we explore how The Tempest reflects—and at times challenges—patriarchal power structures in Shakespeare’s world and in its performance history. First, we examine how Prospero’s control over Miranda, Ariel, and Caliban reflects early modern ideas and debates about gender, political authority, and service. Then, we look at how changing the gender of Prospero reshapes the play’s dynamics,  how productions across stage and screen have used gender to reimagine magic, hierarchy, and power, and what the critical response to these productions reveals about modern gender politics. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

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Works referenced:

Goodland, Katharine. “From Prospero to Prospera: Transforming Gender and Magic on Stage and Screen.” Shakespeare and the Supernatural, edited by Victoria Bladen and Yan Brailowsky, Manchester University Press, 2020, pp. 218–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.21996273.16. Accessed 7 Aug. 2025.

Sanchez, Melissa E. “Seduction and Service in ‘The Tempest.’” Studies in Philology, vol. 105, no. 1, 2008, pp. 50–82. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20464307. Accessed 10 Aug. 2025.