The Significance of Sound and Music in The Tempest Essay

Service in love often has a positive connotation which suggests a profound love, whereas possession generally receives a negative connotation suggesting a superficial love. However, Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare explore in depth the roles of both possession and service in love and reveal to their readers which one is ultimately the superior way to gain love. The stories of “The Knight’s Tale” and The Tempest are different thematically, yet the thread which unites them both expresses similar ideas regarding love, possession and service. Both William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer show the reader love cannot be claimed; it is earned through service of the heart. By examining the similarities in “The Knight’s Tale” and 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.

Explain how Ariel and Caliban serve as character foils for each other. Be sure to consider their physical appearance and their roles as servants to Prospero.

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.

Antonio and Sebastian fall victim to Prospero's illusions as well. Ariel enters the scene and uses his music to put the entire group of nobles to sleep, with the exception of Antonio and

Prospero, the male lead of the Tempest, starts out as the victim of the play, but as the story goes on, it becomes apparent that he is actually the cause of all the problems and plots within the play. Prospero is important because he is the puppeteer that leads all of the characters to complete his orders. He strings all of the characters along to do his bidding, and by the end of the play, he is the only one who wins. Prospero is interesting because, without him, there would be no plot. He is the one who stirs up the Tempest and brings his usurpers to the island. Despite the original belief that Prospero is the victim of his brother’s commandeering of his throne, it becomes obvious that Prospero does not have good intentions, and is

The Tempest, the play written by Shakespeare in the 17th century, has invited numerous critics over centuries to interpret the text based on their contemporary cultural context. This allows the birth of numerous adaptations as a method of literary criticism. Julie Taymor’s version of The Tempest and Aime Cesaire’s version of A Tempest are examples of adaptation as a method of literary criticism. First, Aime Cesaire takes a post-colonial perspective on The Tempest by Shakespeare. This is evident with his characterization of Caliban. Cesaire’s characterize Caliban as strong and resistance individual reflecting author’s philosophy of colonization. Caliban reflects people of a colonized who suffers by the domination of colonial power. This representation

The second difference between the play and movie “The Tempest” is the time that it’s written and the time shown in the movie. The play takes place during Shakespeare’s time, the early 1600s. When Shakespeare was writing “The Tempest”, “people still believed that the sun went round the earth.” (Shakespeare 115-121) England was a Christian country and was educated by the Church’s education and, grammar schools taught Latin. The setting of “The

   Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest is set on a mysterious island surrounded by the ocean. Here the magician Prospero is ruler of the isle with his two servants Caliban and Ariel.  Caliban is the abrasive, foul-mouthed son of the evil witch Sycorax. When Prospero was shipwrecked on the island Prospero treated him kindly but their relationship changed when Caliban tried to rape Prospero's daughter, Miranda. Caliban then became Prospero's unwilling servant. Caliban serves his master out of fear Prospero's wrath. Prospero's other servant Ariel is a graceful spirit who has courtesy and charm. Ariel has put her services at Prospero's disposal out of gratitude for his kind

Magical powers play a tremendous role in supporting Prospero’s ambitions. Once again, Prospero abuses his magical powers and imbalances the natural elements. The opening scene of Act I begins with a tempest. In this scene, Shakespeare demonstrates that abusing elements, such as water, only creates trouble. When Miranda first speaks to Prospero about the ship wreck, she says “If by your art…you have/Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them/The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,” (1.2.1-3). This creates

In this motif tracing, I argue that the epithet “monster” is used as an agent of othering, a way to remove Caliban from the other characters and depict him as something other than human. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Caliban’s name is only said eight times, while he is addressed as “monster” the rest of the 34 times he is spoken to. This motif is used to belittle and dehumanize a unique character that plays an essential role in the plot. Shakespeare’s use of this epithet combined with Caliban’s servile role, restraint of his speech to simple diction, and portrayal as an insurgent, causes the uncultured native to be born. This plays into the 16th century view of the native: one who is there to serve the more sophisticated, knowledgeable masters.

   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

  The Tempest is generally considered to be Shakespeare's last sole-authored play. The play draws a number of oppositions, some of which it dramatises, and some of which it only implies. Prospero, a figure exhibiting many resemblances to the Elizabethan idea of the 'Mage', (of whom the best known is probably Dr. John Dee), is opposed to both his corrupt brother, usurper of his role as Duke of Milan, and to Sycorax, an evil witch and mother of the 'deformed slave' Caliban. Sycorax does not enter the action of the play, having died before it opens, but enough is made of her evil disposition and behaviour to show Prospero as a model of human virtue in comparison. This despite Prospero's own use of magic to

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

In the final scene of Act 3 in Shakespeare’s The Tempest there is a pivotal moment in the plot where Ariel exposes herself to the band of Nobles. The reader encounters Alonso, Sebastian, Gonzalo, and Antonio all of whom have become exhausted from walking throughout the island. As Alonso is complaining and informing all his comrades that he can go no further, Sebastian and Antonio are conspiring to kill him since he is weak when he is tired. As they are doing this music starts playing from an unknown source and creatures come to set a banquet up for the foreigners.