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

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. 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. For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, buying us coffee, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod (we earn a small commission when you use our link and shop bookshop.org). Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree. 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.