Rediscovery Of Humanity In Shakespeare's The Tempest

The nucleus of the plot in Shakespeare's The Tempest revolves around Prospero enacting his revenge on various characters who have wronged him in different ways. Interestingly enough, he uses the spirit of Ariel to deliver the punishments while Prospero delegates the action. Prospero is such a character that can concoct methods of revenge but hesitates to have direct involvement with disillusioning his foes. In essence, Prospero sends Ariel to do his dirty work while hiding his involvement in shipwrecking his brother, Antonio, from his daughter, Miranda.

The Tempest is about an ousted Duke of Milan ,Prospero, who has been living in exile on a remote island for the past twelve years with his daughter Miranda. He is a powerful magician, who happens to be the master of Ariel and Caliban, and a guy who really likes his books. When Prospero's enemies wash up on shore, he uses his black magic to seek revenge and restore himself to power. The Tempest belongs to the genre of Elizabethan romance plays. It combines elements of tragedy with those of romantic comedy, and like one of Shakespeare's plays previously, it asks deeper questions that are not completely resolved at the end. The tone that seeps into the play is one of wonder, amazement, and admiration. Mystery is still present , but the magic performed is not black and scary. The version that seems to grasp my attention more, would have to be the Utah Valley University interpretation because it takes Shakespeare’s main purpose and tone but shows it in its own unique way. Furthermore, with its silly drunkards, the play has a certain lightness to it and even the so called killers of the King tell hilarious jokes and are lighthearted. But there is also the tone of revenge and reconciliation in the play. We feel a revenge burning in Prospero while, at the same time, a wish for forgiveness and reconciliation with those who have wronged him.

     In Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero's magic is the means that Prospero teaches his lessons to the plays various characters. Whether or not those lessons were learned or not is irrelevant. The main issue is that Prospero's character is indeed a complex one, and one that deserves much attention. Two essays that look at the complexity of Prospero and his magic are Stephen Miko's "Tempest," and Barbara Mowat's "Prospero, Agrippa, and Hocus Pocus." Both of these essays, in dealing with Prospero and his magic reveal things about Prospero that only enhance the mystery of his character.

    In William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero lives with his daughter Miranda on a deserted island.  On the surface, he appears to be a benevolent leader doing his best to protect and care for the inhabitants of the island, especially for Miranda.  On closer inspection, however, Prospero plays God, controlling and creating each individual to fit the mold he desires.  He takes advantage of his authority over the people and situations he encounters while wearing a facade of integrity and compassion to disguise his wily intentions and to retain love and respect.

Shakespeare's "The Tempest" forms a world within itself. Within this world, many topics regarding government, power and colonization are addressed. Shakespeare tackles the discovery of new places and races, the relationship between the colonized and the colonist, old world ideologies on new soil, as well as theories on civilization and government. These aspects at the core reveal a very clear struggle for political power. Prospero's first major monologue creates the foundation of such a theme. In 1.2 lines 30-175 Prospero tell his story recounting the usurpation of the power he had as Duke of Milan, then quickly

The play, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare is a very cleverly thought out piece of work. Shakespeare very deliberately inter-relates several different forms of power during the course of the play. There is political power, shown through the plethora of political characters and their schemes, while at the same time parodied by the comic characters. The power of magic and love, and its ability to reunite and absolve also plays a major role in the play. Throughout the play, Prospero, the main character, takes great advantage of his power and authority, both properly and improperly. The epiphany of this however, is realized at the end of the play.

In Shakespeare's play, “The Tempest”, Prospero, the main character, is the rightful Duke of Milan. He found refuge on a distant island after his brother, Antonio, seized Prospero’s title and homeland. These events and experiences of being exiled advance character to become isolated and enriched at the same time. As a comic hero, Prospero start off as being frustrated and vengeful due to his separation from his title and homeland, but is later refined due to those experiences.

   A production of The Tempest should emphasize the idealized methods in which Prospero uses magic to solve the problem of revenge which is so prevalent throughout his tragedies, perhaps the production might be a direct allegory for the magic of the theatre itself.   In this conception of the play, the scattering and bringing together of the characters in the script is significant in that theatre also could be said to bring people together and allow them to share in an experience of emotion, magic, and finally, of resolution. In this way the production could be used as a vehicle for conveying the idealistic virtues of forgiveness, compassion, and of course knowledge. In his book, A

Love, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a “strong affection”, a “warm attraction”, an “unselfish loyal and benevolent concern” for another. It is “to feel a passion, devotion, or tenderness” for another. Love is simple and yet so utterly complex. Love is that which has the power to build you up and when taken away has the potential to knock you down. The Tempest by William Shakespeare is a political play with a love story woven throughout it. This tale of passion is one that is presented through Prospero’s daughter Miranda and Alonso’s son Ferdinand. Miranda and Ferdinand set themselves up for what they believe to be a life of bliss, but is it merely a spell cast upon them by Prospero, is he

Throughout Shakespeare’s The Tempest, we are able to view Prospero’s intrapersonal- discovery as an aged man through the coming of age. Using his knowledge Prospero orchestrates the action of the play in order to restore the moral balance and injustice of his usurpation. However, along the way, he does become lost in his quest for vengeance and his pride. Yet, by the epilogue he has come full circle; while the opening tempest resonates with his own internal tempest, the final act sees him “promise…. calm seas”, suggesting that he has returned to his humanist values. In this sense, Prospero has shown us that he moves from immaturity to maturity. Contrastingly, both Holden and Prospero’s process through the coming of age exhibits similarities of the development of maturity. Despite the significant age difference between them, they

     Through the years there has been much debate as to whether Shakespeare’s The Tempest is an Allegory to European colonization and colonial life, or if it is his “farewell to the stage” with a complete overview of the stage and a compilation of all of his characters into a few, in which the playwright himself being presented as Prospero. Is The Tempest an allegory to European colonization, or is it Shakespeare, presenting his formal farewell to the stage?

Shakespeare's Use of Language, Imagery and Setting to Illuminate Prospero's Journey from Revenge to Reconciliation

Throughout the years since The Tempest was first published in the 1623 Folio, there has been much debate among Shakespeare’s contemporaries and critics as to the significance of the figure of Prospero and other major characters featured in the work. In this paper, I want to examine the figure of Prospero and his relationship with the character Ariel. In doing this, I want to show how Prospero is a figure for the artist, how Ariel is a figure for the poetic imagination, and how the relationship between Prospero and Ariel explores the relationship between the artist and his or her poetic imagination. By showing this, I wish to argue that Shakespeare’s intention in portraying

Prospero is a character that seems to stand at the very centre of The Tempest. Throughout the play, he prompts most of the action, and he has the last word.

It is said that "A power struggle collapses when you withdraw your energy from it. Power struggles become uninteresting to you when you change your intention of winning to learning about yourself" (Gary Zukav). A comedic play written by William Shakespeare demonstrates the theme struggle for power that develops throughout the story of The Tempest. The Tempest is defined as an outrageous storm in which Shakespeare uses to enhance the play. This story is about a person named Prospero and his daughter who are stuck on an island due to Prospero's brother, Antonio. Antonio took over Prospero's dukedom of Milan after "kicking them out" (Act 5) and trying to end their lives. With the help of good, Lord Gonzalo, they survive. Now, marooned on an island with a malevolent servant [Caliban] and a spirit helper [Ariel], Prospero continues the practice of magic which will 12 years later come to haunt his fellow enemies whom receives a gift of Prospero's power in the end. The "outrageous storm" (Act 1) is just the beginning of a struggle for power. In The Tempest, Shakespeare uses conflicts to develop the theme struggle for power.