The Tempest By Julie Taymor

These two Shakespearean characters, Macbeth and Prospero, from Macbeth and The Tempest can greatly compare to one another. From the very beginning, these two men are hard to understand and seem like your average warrior and ruler. Both of these characters are dealing with struggle of power; however, they both deal with this issue in different, interesting ways with different results. At the end of these two plays, we meet two entirely different characters than the ones that we were introduced to from the beginning. In Macbeth and The Tempest by Shakespeare, Macbeth and Prospero, the two main characters have a lot in common and can great compare to one another.

     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.

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

                 Miranda's schooling in The Tempest shows the audience the conflicting arrangement white women in the Shakespearean drama as well as Shakespearean times are forced to act within.  Paul Brown points out that "the discourse of sexuality…offers the crucial nexus for the various domains of colonialist discourse" (208) and the conduct in Prospero manipulates his followers' sexuality is the mainstay of his power.  The Miranda-Prospero relationship servers to represent a sort of patriarchy, which is unarguably the system many Renaissance women and women of Shakespeare's time found themselves in.  It is thus unsurprising that Prospero controls Miranda and her sexuality as well.  The

The role of motherhood in the movie is powerful than the play, which we can see in Act 4, Scene 1 when Prospero approves the love Miranda and Ferdinand declares, however points out a harsh warning to Ferdinand. In the movie, because of the female character, it is easier to make the connection of mother and daughter. By switching the gender in this movie, it lead women characters have a sexual power and empowerment, which was none in the play caused by the pressure made in the Elizabethan Era. Taymor, director of “The Tempest” adds; “I didn't really have a male actor that excited me in mind, and yet there had been a couple of phenomenal females—Helen Mirren being one of them—who [made me think]: 'My God, does this play change? What happens if you make that role into a female role?” (Roger) By casting Prospera, instead of Prospero changed the main themes such as power and sexual empowerment, also the voice of Shakespeare in Prospero, whom he is sometimes occurred as.

The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Mama Day by Gloria Naylor are two fantastic stories that both belong to the genre magical realism, which is where magical elements are incorporated into realistic fiction. Prospero the main character is robbed of Dukedom and marooned on an island with his infant daughter where he meets natives and fire demons who do his bidding. Mama Day the main character in Gloria Naylor’s novel is a no nonsense woman who uses her magic to help the other residents of their island. Even though Naylor denies that Mama Day is modern retelling of the Tempest it is hard not see that there are similarities between the stories. However, there are some differences. Prospero takes justice into his own hands, just as the characters around Mama Day take their situations into their own hands. They do not trust Mama Day’s ways until they are forced to ask for her help. Whereas Prospero and Miranda might seem like parallel characters because they both use magic, Miranda knows its limits and uses it to help others, while Prospero only discovers the limits of magic after he gives it up.

Explore the struggle/desire/theme of power and how it is presented in ‘Lord of the Flies’ and ‘The Tempest’.

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

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

Another major change made in this adaptation is the ending scene, where Prospero/Prospera gives up magic in order to return to Milan. In the original play, Prospero gives up his magic and asks the audience for their forgiveness. However, in the movie, Prospera breaks her magic wand, a symbol of her power and stands there in silence. This entire scene signifies Prospera’s loss of power and

William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” speaks about multiple authoritative relationships throughout the play and the abuse of power and authority. The main character Prospero lives on a deserted island with his daughter Miranda. Prospero used to be the Duke of Milan until he has been usurped by his brother Antonio with the help Alonso the King of Naples and his brother Sebastian. Prospero and Miranda were banished to sea in a rotten boat and eventually lands in a deserted island who was once ruled by a witch named Sycorax but is now only inhabited by her son Caliban and a spirit named Ariel. Since arriving at the island, Prospero has been ruling the island and enslaved Caliban and Ariel by the use of magic. He acts as if he is God by creating a storm in order to shipwreck the King of Naples and Antonio. Prospero uses his powers to get revenge on his brother for having been exiled to the island. Prospero is a controlling character who seems to be obsessed with getting revenge in order to regain his status. He abuses his authority and takes advantage of his slaves and his daughter Miranda to fulfil his evil plan.

Marjorie Garber, author of Shakespeare After All, is very truthful in her analysis of The Tempest. She states that there are two ways that this story is usually interpreted, and your interpretation is centered on your beliefs about the "European man's place in the universe" and Prospero's symbolism.

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

The Tempest, a tribute to Shakespeare’s life, contained many references his own personal life, as well as exciting elements such as revenge, romance and the use of magic, uncommon during the time period the play was written. After being exiled onto an island with his daughter, Prospero has to deal with his desire for revenge once his enemies are brought to shore by conjuring a tempest. The original play, written by William Shakespeare in 1611, was adapted by Julie Taymor in 2010. With the part of Prospero played by Helen Mirren, a new take on the classic story arose with the introduction of Prospera. The compassion and care for Miranda was more evident with Prospera due to the nature of a feminine and motherly character.