Book Review: Ariel

This book review is the first in a series of reviews of teen novels that adapt Shakespeare. As I explore what adaptations can do to enchance the Shakespeare experience for teens, I look at how Grace Tiffany's adaptation interprets the characters of The Tempest.

Please note: Book reviews will contain spoilers, so if you want to read the book you might want to do so before reading my review. 

Summary

Ariel is born out of the mind of a dying sailor in the first century AD. A spirit of whimsy and magic, she dominates her island and creates other spirits whose names reflect her nature: Madness, Mind, and Fantasy. She thrives for centuries on the power that the sailor gave her, but when she realizes that she cannot cross a barrier onto the other half of the island, she becomes determined to find new people who will strengthen her with their belief in her power.

She latches hope onto a human girl who lands on her island, but Sycorax is practical and has no use for the fantasies that Ariel creates in the air, and when Ariel refuses to help Sycorax through her difficult childbirth, Sycorax traps Ariel in the form of an ant and imprisons her in a tree. Ariel's only hope is that she can convince Sycorax's son, Caliban, to believe in her power and let her go. She tricks Caliban into murdering his mother, hoping that with Sycorax gone the spell will be broken. When Caliban realizes what Ariel has done, he turns on her and leaves her helpless--until yet another man shipwrecks on her shore. 

Prospero releases her and his imagination makes her stronger than ever. She wipes away all the mundane details of his former life and formulates for him a romantic past. In return, he promises that if he returns to Milan, he will take her along and they will conquer and rule it together. As the years pass, Miranda and Caliban, who Prospero has adopted/enslaved, begin to fall in love. Ariel, in her hatred, twists Prospero's vision and he drives Caliban away.

A year later, The Tempest begins. As the events unfold, however, we see that Prospero's revenge is driven by Ariel's desire for power. She blinds Miranda and Ferdinand into loving one another and fuels Prospero's hate. But when he sees his brother again, he remembers the truth: he left of his own free will, and he has no reason to hate Antonio. He forgives him, and they prepare to return to Milan. Disappointed, Ariel rages against him, but he lulls her to rest until she can find what she is looking for. All her spells fall away; Ferdinand does not remember Miranda, Prospero forgives Caliban, and Miranda and Caliban are free to fall in love.

Centuries pass, and Ariel sleeps, until she is awoken by the man she has been waiting for, the man whose belief and fire and imagination give her the power she needs to conquer the world: Christopher Columbus.

Comparisons to The Tempest
The purpose of adaptations and spinoffs is to enrich and enlarge the world of the original text, giving new insight into situations and characters. Ariel does so admirably. Its interpretation of the characters isn't the only valid one, but much of it works seamlessly with Shakespeare's The Tempest. 

Ariel's greatest strength is the portrayal of the title character. Grace Tiffany presents us with a character who is not human and does not have human morality, who is both endearing and frustrating. As in the original text, Ariel delights in spectacular displays:

I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flamed amazement:
...
Jove's lightnings, the precursors
O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning were not; the fire and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake. (I.ii)

She dove into the sea and cavorted with striped and golden dragon-fish. When it pleased her, she made more fish, flying things of fantastic colors and shapes....They swam races, which she always won, and for this she was applauded and cheered by the golden and purple and orange fish, who clapped fantastically with their fins and yelled impossibly, with watery voices. When she tired of playing with the fish, she blinked, and they disappeared. (p.6)

As fantastical as she is, she is also dark and manipulative. Since she exists entirely to please herself, she has no qualms about destroying people to get what she wants: namely, more power. I always thought that Prospero's lines about Ariel's nature were beautiful:

Thou, my slave,
As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant;
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine. (I.ii)

I interpreted "too delicate" and "abhorr'd commands" to mean that Sycorax wanted Ariel to perform terrible deeds. Tiffany disagrees. In this version, Sycorax isn't wicked at all: she only desires only that Ariel will help her through childbirth. Ariel refuses, both unwilling and incapable of the task.

Much that goes on in the original play is revealed as Ariel's manipulation, not reality. For example, Prospero accuses Caliban of trying to rape Miranda:

I have used thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child. (I.ii)

In Ariel, Prospero is deceived by Ariel into believing that this is what has occurred because Ariel wants Caliban to go away:

Miranda was laughing up at Caliban, who looked slightly abashed. Suddenly the girl took his chin her fingers and kissed him. No tomorrows danced in Miranda's eyes. She saw only this minute, wanted only this kiss. He raised his own hands to take her by the elbows, either to steady her or to push her away. For a moment, uncertainly, he held her.As he touched her, Ariel cast her spell.

Bestial, she whispered in Prospero's ear. Twisted, stooped, and dark.

And suddenly Prospero saw a monstrous, ravening, half-naked beast, seizing his darling fourteen-year-old daughter with the clear intent to ravish her. (p. 136-7)

It would be easy to hate this Ariel, the Ariel who ruins lives without a thought, who causes shipwrecks and separates families to aid a man's revenge. But this is also an Ariel who doesn't understand humanity. This Ariel does not know what death is. When Caliban visits his mother's grave, she believes he will be able to bring her back (133). Although she plays freely with Prospero's imagination, she is barred from understanding his grief (108-9). This Ariel can be no more than what she is. 

And this Ariel needs more than Prospero. Because Shakespeare made Ariel an immortal spirit, her story stretches beyond her experiences with him, and Ariel describes her relationship with Prospero as short of her ultimate destiny. Her power is not limited to creating a tempest; she is capable of terrible, marvelous, grand adventures.

Save me, she whispered urgently as she slept. Come, my champion from the east! Together we will cross the mountains, and none will stand in our way. Come, my champion from the east!

And he came.

On a night in autumn--though the island knows nothing of seasons--the boats sailed into her cove.

...

She awoke. 

From the tree where she sat she could see him clearly. His eyes were as blue as the eyes of Sycorax, and his head held a thousand dreams.

...

When his blue gaze met her purple one, she hung their shared visions in the air. For an instant the placid sky was filled with dark demons and pale gods, with burning mountainsides and exploding trees. Swords shone and guns flared...And above the musical fray this blue-eyed man stood triumphant, holding aloft his silver-hilted blade.

The vision faded. She smiled and leaned close to the wide, wondering eyes of Cristobal Colon.

"Come, my lord," she hummed in his ear. "Let's march inland." (p. 231-2)