An Appropriated Antipodean Monstrosity Revisited: Jane Campion’s The Piano as a Comment on Shakespearean “Salvage and Deformed Slave” and The Tempest

Abstract

The article revisits the question of Jane Campion’s The Piano as an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It is argued that The Piano can be considered an adaptation, but one that – in terms of adaptation studies – can be classified as both a case of appropriation (Sanders 2006) and a second-order adaptation (Lanier 2002). Special attention is paid to Campion’s adaptive strategies and her treatment of monstrosity, which appears to be as ambiguous as it is in Shakespeare’s play, especially in view of recent post-colonial criticism of the tragicomedy. A particularly interesting aspect is the director’s rendering of the characters of Stewart (Prospero-figure), Ada (Miranda/Prospero/Caliban-figure), Baines (Caliban-figure), Flora (Miranda-figure) and the Maori characters (or spirit-of-the-island figures), in that Campion reconstitutes and restructures the Shakespearean characters by creating modern, feminist-sensitive and post-colonial adaptations.

Keywords

• the piano
• the tempest
• appropriation
• sexuality
• monstrosity
• shakespeare
• adaptation
• jane campion