Beginning this week, my Theatre Appreciation students at East Mississippi Community College and I will be watching a performance of “The Tempest.” We will be discussing it in class and writing MLA-formatted essays on slender-sliced topics about the play.
My topic will be based on Scene 1 of Act I, the action that takes place on a ship at sea with the Shipmaster, a Boatswain, Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo and others.
This week’s Vaughan’s Vocabulary quizzes you on words that I’ll be using in my essay.
1. boatswain (BO-sun)
A. the ship’s captain
B. a merchant ship’s petty officer who’s in charge of hull maintenance
C. a singer on a ship
D. a poet on a ship
The word boatswain is not pronounced the way it looks. Say “BO-sun.” Thanks to Merriam-Webster for the definition. B is the answer.
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2. tempestuous (tem-PEST-chew-wus)
A. tempting
B. fabricated
C. vile, wicked
D. turbulent, stormy
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.3. topmast (TOP-mast)
A. the most important passenger on a vessel
B. second in command to the ship’s captain
C. a long pole or spar rising from a ship’s keel or deck, located above the lower mast
D. None of the above
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4. main-course (MAIN-course)
A. the navigable pathway
B. contretemps
C. a square main-sail, the lowest on a ship’s mainmast
D. None of the above
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5. “As leaky as an unstaunched wench” is
A. a euphemism.
B. a metaphor.
C. a double entendre.
D. a simile.
No. 2, tempestuous, is D. The first stage direction is “A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.”
No. 3, topmast, is C. The Boatswain cries, “Down with the topmast! Yare! Lower, lower! Bring her to try with main-course.”
No. 4, main-course, is C.
No. 5 is D. This is a simile voiced by Gonzalo.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Don Rodney Vaughan is the pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church near Eupora and is on the faculty of East Mississippi Community College, Golden Triangle Campus. Contact him at dvaughan@eastms.edu.
