Essay Revenge in Shakespeare's The Tempest

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 Act I of the play, Prospero finally tells Miranda the woeful story of how she and he arrived on the island.  From the

Prospero's intent throughout the course of The Tempest is neither to revenge himself upon his enemies, nor to reconcile himself with his estranged brother. It is, rather, to orchestrate the reclamation of his lost duchy, Milan, through both his magic and a shrewd manipulation of both the shipwrecked party and the islanders (Caliban and Miranda).

Dictionary.com states that revenge is “to exact punishment or expiation for a wrong on behalf of, especially in a resentful or vindictive spirit.” The novel, Frankenstein, and the play, Hamlet, are two works of literature that revolve around the notion of revenge. The main conflicts of the stories are Prince Hamlet attempting to avenge the murder of his father and Frankenstein’s monster hunting down Victor Frankenstein for abandoning him in an empty and lonely existence. The novels use other themes to tie together the underlying theme of revenge, such as death, madness, and learning and “un-learning.”

Prospero learnt from his mistake in treating Caliban kindly and realized that the only way to treat such an immoral creature was to be strict and threaten or else Caliban will take advantage of his kindness. He understands that the only fair way to treat Caliban is to be strict with him because this is the only form of treatment that Caliban can respond to well.

He seeks for control in his nemesis towards his brother Antonio, control of the fate of his daughter Miranda, and the control of his servants Ariel and Caliban. Prospero uses force and debt to have greater authority over the spirit Ariel. When Ariel asks for his freedom and “liberty,” Prospero brings up the “damn’d witch Sycorax” from whom he saved him (1.2.247-264). Sebastian and Antonio also abuse their powers by plotting an attack on Alonso, the King of Naples, so they could gain even more political power in the real world. Eventually after all the words of encouragement from Antonio, Sebastian finally says, “Thy case, dear friend, shall be my precedent. As thou got’st Milan, I’ll come by Naples. Draw thy sword,” (2.1.270-272). The desire for political power and authority becomes the core from which other minor themes develop in this play. This improper use of power eventually only harms everyone, not benefit.

Antonio's dethroning of Prospero is not only the reason why Prospero is alienated but it also is a great example about the theme of betrayal that is prominent in the book. Antonio's betrayal in particular, serves as the source of conflict for the play. Prospero creates

This is evident in, “The Tempest”, where Prospero is a victim of an unjust act by his brother due to his discovery of magic and power. We see this explored through the ongoing theme of Prospero’s inner debate between revenge and reconciliation. His summoning of supernatural spirits (Ariel) for his vengeance and his magic symbolises his power and desire for revenge. This later subsides through a duologue with Ariel, “The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance” which depicts his rediscovery of morality within reconciliation and the irrationality in revenge. Consequently he forgives his brother, “you brother mine….i do forgive thee”, and by releasing Ariel and Caliban, he is able to realise and reassess himself and others through his transformed

Prospero uses his status as the father of Miranda to enact his own self-righteous deeds. Furthermore, Prospero uses his position of power within the patriarchal system with leisure. Prospero hides behind a powerful woman and declares all deeds in the name of his daughter. In actuality, all Prospero's actions are to advance his quest. Prospero uses Miranda to regain favor with the king and become Duke of Milan, yet again. Finally, Prospero is a symbol of all that is wrong with the patriarchal system, which is used to legitimate the deeds of evil men. Prospero inflicts great harm upon the female gender, who must live under its immense societal oppressive

Without magic, Prospero is a sweet father figure to Miranda. In this passage, Prospero has just instructed Ariel to burn down the ship with the nobles on board. Miranda is freaking out to Prospero and berating him on why he did what he did. Lend thy hand And pluck my magic garment from me.

Prospero, once the Duke of Milan, seeks revenge for the usurpation of his throne by his brother. In Act One Scene Two, we see Prospero admit he creates a storm in order to shipwreck his enemies' vessels. Prospero's means through which he seeks justice for himself involve conniving, manipulating

Although, he acts like she is an inanimate object that can be just given away. This could demonstrate Prospero and Miranda’s lack of relationship, as he doesn’t treat her like a father should treat his daughter. Nevertheless, when Prospero says, “If thou dost break her virgin-knot… No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall to make this contract grow,” it could promote the possibility of Prospero becoming the overprotective father is naturally is.

Prospero stirs up a huge tempest. It is very windy and violent such that Miranda sees the ship “dashed all to pieces.” She, therefore, laments that the storm is risking the lives of the people within it. Miranda is sure that her father, Prospero—a wizard caused the storm. As such, she asks Prospero to stop it saying she would stop it herself if she could. However, her father, admitting to causing the tempest, says he stirred it up not for any harm but for her.

Revenge can be defined as “the act of retaliating for wrongs received”. William Shakespeare 's “Hamlet” is considered one of his greatest plays and the plot is centered on revenge. Euripides ' Medea also shares a theme of revenge. While both central characters have been betrayed, resulting in their impending revenge, there is more than one theme of revenge in Hamlet, and there are differences in the ways all decide to handle their betrayals and the outcomes of their actions.

Family is one of, if not the biggest theme in Shakespeare 's The Tempest and this theme is of course shown in Taymor 's adaptation of the play. But the fact that Prospero is a woman in the film shows the audience a deeper relationship between Prospera and Miranda – the mother-daughter relationship. In the original play, we see Prospero as owning his daughter rather than having a 'normal ' father-daughter relationship with her. It is as though Miranda is an object to be given as a prize to another man – Ferdinand. In