Cultural Adaptations of William Shakespeare's The Tempest: A Study of John Dryden's and William Davenant's The Tempest; or, The Enchanted Island (1667)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Lecturer - Department of Al-Alsun - Faculty of Mass Communication and Al-Alsun - Misr International University

Abstract

This research paper aims at explaining the lexical, literary, and cultural definitions of the term 'adaptation'. It also presents the opinions of multiple adaptation critics, focusing mainly on Edward Said, Roland Barthes, Julia Kristeva, and Gérard Genette. The paper, moreover, offers an explanation of the meaning of 'cultural adaptation' and highlights the various adaptation strategies used in analyzing adapted texts. This research also presents an analysis of John Dryden's and William Davenant's The Tempest; or, The Enchanted Island (1667), a seventeenth century rereading of William Shakespeare's last play The Tempest (1611). Through the analysis, the paper highlights the features of neoclassicism as applied to the play, as well as offers a comparison between both the renaissance original text and the restoration adapted version so as to satisfy the literary tastes of the seventeenth century audience.