Shakespeare’s Demiurge. New Origins and Old Tricks in "The Tempest"

In the first part of this chapter, after a brief over- view on Plato’s fortune in early modern England, I will put forward evidence of the similarities between Shakespeare’s Prospero and the divine- like ‘Artifex’ that Plato had presented in his most famous cosmological work, the Timaeus. I will further argue that Prospero embodies some of the tenets of Platonism and its Renaissance re- elaborations. At the same time, while underscoring Shakespeare’s undoubted debt to Plato, I will also analyse Prospero’s passion- ate – and therefore anti- Platonic – nature and its Machiavellian implications. I will thus maintain that Prospero does indeed stand out as Shakespeare’s attempt to put Plato’s detached Demiurge and Machiavelli’s ‘earthly’ Prince together. Particularly, I will highlight how he made deft use of this character so as to send to James i – the likely counterpart of Prospero – a subtle message on the precariousness of his rule. Be it by comparison or contrast, I will show how The Tempest undoubtedly testifies to Shakespeare’s use of Plato’s myths of origins and their Renaissance fortune as patterns of fruitful literary creation.