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Power Relationships in "The Tempest"

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The Tempest includes elements of both tragedy and comedy. It was written around 1610 and it's generally considered Shakespeare's final play as well as the last of his romance plays. The story is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, schemes to restore his daughter Miranda to her proper place using manipulation and illusion. He conjures up a storm--the aptly named tempest--to lure his power-hungry brother Antonio and the conspiring King Alonso to the island.

In The Tempest , power and control are dominant themes. Many of the characters are locked into a power struggle for their freedom and for control of the island, forcing some characters (both good and evil) to abuse their power. For example:

Prospero enslaves and treats Caliban badly.
Antonio and Sebastian plot to kill Alonso.
Antonio and Alonso aim to get rid of Prospero.

The Tempest : Power Relationships

In order to demonstrate power relationships in The Tempest , Shakespeare utilizes the dynamics between servants and those who control them.

For example, in the story Prospero is the controller of Ariel and Caliban -- although Prospero conducts each of these relationships differently, both Ariel and Caliban are acutely aware of their subservience. This leads Caliban to challenge Prospero’s control by serving Stefano instead. However, in trying to escape one power relationship, Caliban quickly creates another when he persuades Stefano to murder Prospero by promising that he can marry Miranda and rule the island.

Power relationships are inescapable in the play. Indeed, when Gonzalo envisages an equal world with no sovereignty, he is mocked. Sebastian reminds him that he would still be king and would therefore still have power – even if he did not exercise it.

The Tempest: Colonization

Many of the characters compete for colonial control of the island – a reflection of England’s colonial expansion in Shakespeare’s time .

Sycorax, the original colonizer, came from Algiers with her son Caliban and reportedly performed evil deeds. When Prospero arrived on the island he enslaved its inhabitants and the power struggle for colonial control began - in turn raising issues of fairness in The Tempest

Each character has a plan for the island if they were in charge: Caliban wants to “people the isle with Calibans," Stefano plans to murder his way into power, and Gonzalo imagines an idyllic mutually controlled society. Ironically, Gonzalo is one of the few characters in the play who is honest, loyal and kind throughout – in other words: a potential king.

Shakespeare calls into question the right to rule by debating which qualities a good ruler should possess – and each of the characters with colonial ambitions embodies a particular aspect of the debate:

Prospero: embodies the all-controlling, omnipresent ruler
Gonzalo: embodies the utopian visionary
Caliban: embodies the rightful native ruler

Ultimately, Miranda and Ferdinand take control of the island, but what sort of rulers will they make? The audience is asked to question their suitability: Are they too weak to rule after we have seen them manipulated by Prospero and Alonso?

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The Tempest

By william shakespeare, the tempest themes, creation and creativity.

Critics have long focused on Prospero as a figure of creative control in The Tempest . Indeed, the entire play is bookended by Prospero's magical acts, with more illusions appearing over the course of the narrative. Most scholars agree that audiences are invited to see Prospero as an exemplar of creative energy while at the same time perceiving his relentless desire to manipulate and control. The play therefore presents the notion of creation as a type of double-edged sword, in that creativity can lead to things like beauty while at the same time placing enormous (and therefore often dangerous) power in the hands of the creator.

Readers will likely notice that there is only one female character in the entire play, Miranda . Not only that, but Miranda herself has never seen another woman and has been surrounded by only men (specifically, Prospero and Caliban ) for her entire life. Miranda therefore becomes a symbol of purity, innocence, and youth – qualities that Prospero attempts to keep intact. As she is the only female character to appear on stage, she is subtly juxtaposed with Sycorax, Caliban's mother and the witch who controlled the island before Prospero took over. Sycorax's absence from the stage is significant because it challenges audiences to make judgements and interpretations about a character who is not actually in the play; she is portrayed by Prospero as an evil sorceress and the ultimate antagonist to his magic. However, some scholars read Sycorax as a victim of colonization, arguing that she represents the specific effects that colonization has on women. In this way, gender becomes an integral theme of the play largely through the absence of women and the perspective they provide.

Race and Colonization

The Tempest was likely written around 1610, two years after English settlers colonized the area of Jamestown in Virginia. As such, many interpret the island in the play as a parallel to England's colonies in North America (later the United States). However, whether the play is about this specific act of colonization is somewhat irrelevant, as the play is clearly interested in exploring questions about colonization, power, and race more generally. England had been colonizing other areas of the globe long before settlers arrived in Jamestown, and as such imperialism played an integral role in the development of the British Empire. The Tempest is famous for raising questions about the consequences of imperialism and the philosophies associated with it, largely through the figure of Caliban, a representative of native and colonized peoples.

Related to the theme of colonization is the concept of race, depicted best through Caliban throughout the play. Considered a "monster" by most of the characters, Caliban is the only character who is native to the island on which Prospero is stranded (he is also, notably, Sycorax's son). Caliban is also described as being of another race at multiple times throughout the play. In early modern England, race was ideologically rooted in blood rather than skin color, as blood was the primary factor in determining one's legacy and inheritance. Miranda's reference to Caliban's "vile race" is complicated, as she equates Caliban's violent nature (and his attempted sexual assault) with his bloodline. However, the play does not necessarily portray Caliban as a mere victim of European colonization, as he remains loyal to Sycorax and serves as an antagonist toward Prospero throughout the play. Caliban's nuanced characterization therefore challenges audiences to recognize how race and colonization are intimately connected, and how English perceptions of race perpetuated British imperialism at the expense of native peoples.

Power and Authority

Despite the chaos of the opening scene, The Tempest is structured around a system of hierarchy and authority by which all characters obey. Even on the ship itself in Act One, Scene One, audiences witness the interactions between the ship's crew, organized itself into a hierarchy of command. When the political hierarchy is destabilized after Prospero loses his dukedom, he establishes a new hierarchy on the island with himself as the master power. Because of his magical abilities, nearly all the characters in the play are under his control – including his own daughter, Miranda. The play presents Prospero's authoritative control of the island as an ambiguous type of sovereignty, as he maintains power by manipulating those around him but is, in many ways, a benevolent leader. The Tempest therefore raises questions about ruling (and, implicitly, about the English monarchy) and the extent to which power is imposed, earned, or freely given.

Wonder and Beauty

Because of Miranda's innocence, she becomes a mouthpiece for expressing wonder and awe at her surroundings. When she exclaims, "O brave new world, that has such people in'it!" she expresses her wonder toward humanity (after only being surrounded by her father and Caliban for her entire life). Miranda's valuation of men is a reflection of her optimistic outlook as well as a voice of hope for what the future can bring. However, the play juxtaposes Miranda's admiration with Prospero's power, as he crafts a number of wonderful circumstances that are fundamentally meant to manipulate and disorient other characters. In this way, the "wonder" associated with newness and exploration also becomes embedded in less savory concepts like power and control.

Prospero as Playwright

Due to Prospero's role as creator, magician, and puppet-master in The Tempest , many perceive him as a representative of a playwright – someone who can manipulate audience's emotions, generate and solve conflicts, and make an entire world a reality over the course of a few hours. Indeed, Prospero is often portrayed as a silent observer of the action he himself has set in motion, like a dramatist becoming a spectator of their own work. Some critics even assert that Prospero is a stand-in for Shakespeare himself, who retired from the theater shortly after writing The Tempest . When Prospero asks for the audience's "freeing" applause at the end of the play, many interpret this request as a personal one from the bard himself as he bid goodbye to the stage.

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The Tempest Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Tempest is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

why does miranda have such immediate empathy for the men in the ship?

Because of her nature

I'm not sure how you felt. Prospero is simply winding up his plan. I think Prospero has tempered both his anger and his revenge. I think he is ready to grant mercy to those that have wronged him. He is also ready to give Ariel her promised...

significance of the storm in the Opening act

In The Tempest, the storm at sea serves as the plot's inciting event. The storm washes Prospero 's enemies onto the island's shore, placing them at his mercy. In this sense the tempest or storm represents a disturbance of the social order. It also...

Study Guide for The Tempest

The Tempest study guide contains a biography of William Shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

About The Tempest
The Tempest Summary
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Character List

Essays for The Tempest

The Tempest literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Tempest.

Similarities Between Principal Characters in Shakespeare's The Tempest
A Post-Colonial Interpretation of The Tempest
The Fierce and Mighty Sea; The Dramatic Function of the Powerful and Ever Present Ocean in The Tempest
The Sensitive Beast: Shakespeare's Presentation of Caliban
Love and Magic Intertwined

Lesson Plan for The Tempest

About the Author
Study Objectives
Common Core Standards
Introduction to The Tempest
Relationship to Other Books
Bringing in Technology
Notes to the Teacher
Related Links
The Tempest Bibliography

E-Text of The Tempest

The Tempest E-Text contains the full text of The Tempest

List of Characters

Wikipedia Entries for The Tempest

Introduction

Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Drama Criticism › Analysis of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Analysis of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 26, 2020 • ( 1 )

Many commentators agree in the belief that The Tempest is the last creation of Shakespeare. I will readily believe it. There is in The Tempest the solemn tone of a testament. It might be said that, before his death, the poet, in this epopee of the ideal, had designed a codicil for the Future. . . . The Tempest is the supreme denouement, dreamed by Shakespeare, for the bloody drama of Genesis. It is the expiation of the primordial crime. The region whither it transports us is the enchanted land where the sentence of damnation is absolved by clemency, and where reconciliation is ensured by amnesty to the fratricide. And, at the close of the piece, when the poet, touched by emotion, throws Antonio into the arms of Prospero, he has made Cain pardoned by Abel.

—Victor Hugo , Oeuvres complètes de Shakespeare

It is inevitable, given the position of The Tempest as William Shakespeare’s final solo dramatic work, to hear in Prospero’s epilogue to the play, Shakespeare’s farewell to his audience:

Now my charms are all o’erthrown, And what strength I have’s mine own, Which is most faint. . . . . . Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant; And my ending is despair Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so, that it assaults Mercy itself, and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardoned be, Let your indulgence set me free.

Prospero bows out on a note of forgiveness, the tone that finally rules the play along with an affirmation in the essential goodness of humanity. It has been tempting, therefore, to view Prospero’s sentiment and his play as Shakespeare’s last word, his summation of a career and a philosophy, what critic Gary Taylor has called “the valedictory culmination of Shakespeare’s life work.” First performed at court on November 1, 1611, before the playwright’s exit to Stratford, The Tempest , however, is technically neither Shakespeare’s finale nor requiem. Two years later Shakespeare was back in London, collaborating with John Fletcher on The Two Noble Kinsmen, Henry VIII, and the lost play Cardenio. As intriguing as the biographical reading is, it is only one of The Tempest ’s multiple layers of meaning and significance. Called by critic T. M. Parrot, “perhaps the best loved of all Shakespeare’s plays,” and by William Hazlitt as among the “most original and perfect of Shakespeare’s productions,” The Tempest continues to be one of the most performed and interpreted plays in the canon, generating (and withstanding) autobiographical, allegorical, religious, metaphysical, and more recently postcolonial readings. The play’s central figure has likewise shifted from Prospero, who fascinated the romantics, to Miranda, who has claimed the attention of feminists, to Caliban, who is exhibit A in the reading of the play as “a veritable document of early Anglo-American history,” according to writer Sydney Lee, containing “the whole history of imperialist America,” as stated by critic Leslie Fiedler. The Tempest has served as a poetic treasure trove and springboard for other writers, with allusions detectable in John Milton’s Comus , T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, W. H. Auden’s The Sea and the Mirror, and countless other works. Based on its popularity, persistence, and universality, The Tempest remains one of the richest and most fascinating of Shakespeare’s plays.

The Tempest is a composite work with elements derived from multiple sources. Montaigne’s essay “On Cannibals,” whose romantic primitivism is satirized in Gonzalo’s plan for organizing society on Prospero’s island in the second act, is a possible source. So, too, are a German play, Comedy of the Beautiful Sidea, by Jacob Ayrer, about a magician prince whose only daughter falls in love with the son of his enemy, and several Italian commedia dell’arte pastoral tragicomedies set on remote islands and featuring benevolent magicians. Accounts of the Sea-Venture, the ship sent to Virginia to bolster John Smith’s colony that was wrecked on the coast of Bermuda in 1609, may have furnished Shakespeare with some of the details for the play’s opening storm. However, the most substantial borrowing for the plot of The Tempest comes from Shakespeare’s own previous plays, so much so, that scholar Stephen Greenblatt has described The Tempest as “a kind of echo chamber of Shakespearean motifs.” The complications following a shipwreck revisits Twelfth Night ; the relocation of court society to the wilderness is featured in As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which also employs spirits and the supernatural to teach lessons and settle scores. The backstory of The Tempest —Prospero, the former duke of Milan, usurped by his brother—recalls Hamlet and King Lear . Miranda’s being raised in ignorance of her past and status as well as the debate between nature and nurture echo Pericles and The Winter’s Tale. Like both, The Tempest mixes light and dark, tragic and comic elements, yet compared to their baroque complexity, the shortest of Shakespeare’s plays after Macbeth obeys the Aristotelian unities of place and time (the only other Shakespearean play to do so is The Comedy of Errors ), with its action confined to Prospero’s island, taking place over a period roughly corresponding to its performance time.

The Tempest begins with one of the most spectacular scenes in all of Shakespeare: the storm at sea that threatens the vessel whose passengers include King Alonso of Naples, his son Ferdinand, and Prospero’s hated brother Antonio, the usurping duke of Milan. Their life-and-death struggle enacted on stage is subjected to a double focus as Prospero reassures his daughter, Miranda, distraught over the fate of the passengers and crew, that he controls the tempest and that their danger is an illusion. The disaster, which he calls a “spectacle,” is artifice, and the play establishes an analogy between Prospero’s magic and the theatrical sleight of hand that initially seemed so realistic and thrilling. Prospero stands in for the artist here: Both magician and playwrights are conjurors, able to manipulate nature and make others believe in a reality without substance. The contrast between illusion and reality will be sounded throughout the play, suggesting that The Tempest is a metadrama: a play about playwriting and the power and limitations of the imagination. Prospero finally tells his daughter how they arrived on the island; how his brother, Antonio, joined in a conspiracy with Alonso to usurp his place as duke of Milan; how 12 years before Prospero and Miranda were set adrift at sea, provisioned only by a compassionate Neapolitan, Gonzalo. Friend and foes, aboard the vessel Prospero has seemed to wreck, are now under his control on the island where Prospero intends to exact his vengeance. Prospero, therefore, will use his long-studied magical arts to stage a reckoning for past offenses. The play proceeds under Prospero’s direction with a cast that either cooperates or complicates his intentions. Serving him are the ethereal Ariel, whom Prospero promises to free after completing his bidding, and the contrasting earthly and brutish Caliban, a witch’s son, whom Prospero says he has “us’d thee / (Filth as thou art) with human care, and lodg’d thee / In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate / The honor of my child.” Prospero, therefore, controls symbols of both sides of human nature: aspects of the imagination and fancy and baser instincts that come in conflict on the island as the play progresses.

As playwright Prospero must juggle three subplots: Miranda’s relationship with Ferdinand, the son of Alonso, who mourns his loss at sea; the plotting of Prospero’s brother, Antonio, and the king’s brother, Sebastian, to murder Alonso and seize his throne; and Caliban’s alliance with the jester Trinculo and butler Stefano to kill Prospero and reign in his stead. The first goes so well—Miranda and Ferdinand fall in love at first sight—that Prospero tests Ferdinand’s fidelity by appearing to punish him by making him his servant. Ferdinand, however, proves his devotion by gladly accepting his humiliation to be near Miranda. Prospero ends Ferdinand’s penance and testing in the first scene of act 4, declaring: “All thy vexations / Were but my trials of thy love, and thou / Hast strangely stood the test.” To seal the nuptial vows a ritual masque is performed by various mythological goddesses and pastoral figures. In the midst of the dance Prospero stops the performance to deliver one of the most celebrated speeches in all of Shakespeare’s plays:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.

Jaques in As You Like It asserted “All the world’s a stage,” and Macbeth described life as “a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage.” Prospero’s speech suggests the transience of both human life and art, with its reference to “the great globe,” the name of Shakespeare’s theater, that, along with towers, palaces, and temples, “shall dissolve . . . like this insubstantial pageant.”

Made aware by Ariel of Caliban’s conspiracy with Trinculo and Stefano, Prospero distracts them from their purpose of murder by rich attire, which Trinculo and Stefano put on before being set upon by spirits. Their comic rebellion is matched by the more serious plot of Antonio and Sebastian to kill Alonso. An assassination attempt is halted by the appearance of spirits providing a banquet for the hungry men. Just as they try to satisfy their hunger the food disappears, replaced by Ariel, “like a harpy,” who accuses Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio of their crimes against Prospero and delivers their sentences:

. . . But remember, For that’s my business to you, that you three From Milan did supplant good Prospero; Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it ,Him, and his innocent child; for which foul deed The powers, delaying not forgetting, have Incensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures, Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso, They have bereft; and do pronounce by me Ling’ring perdition, worse than any death Can be at once, shall step by step attend You and your ways; whose wraths to guard you from— Which here, in this most desolate isle, else fall sUpon your heads—is nothing but heart’s sorrow, And a clear life ensuing.

Prospero, approving of Ariel’s performance, declares, “They now are in my pow’r,” and the play turns on how he will decide to use that power.

At the start of the fifth act Prospero announces the climax of his plan: “Now does my project gather to a head,” with his victims now imprisoned to confront their guilt and fate. It is Ariel who shifts Prospero from vengeance to forgiveness by saying, “Your charm so strongly works ’em / That if you now beheld them your affections / Would become tender.” Ariel’s suggestion of what should be the reaction to human suffering shames Prospero into compassion:

Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling Of their afflictions, and shall not myself, One of their kind, that relish all as sharply, Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’ quick, Yet with my nobler reason ’gainst my fury Do I take part. The rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose doth extend Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel; My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore, And they shall be themselves.

Prospero turns away from revenge and the pursuit of power that had formerly ruled the destinies of so many Shakespearean heroes, including Hamlet, Macbeth , and many more. Prospero changes the plot of his play at its climax and then turns away from his art to reenter the human community:

. . . But this rough magic I here abjure. And, when I have required Some heavenly music—which even now I do— To work mine end upon their senses that This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound I’ll drown my book.

The end of Prospero’s plot, his art, and the play conjoin. Ariel returns with the prisoners, and Prospero pardons all, including his brother, before reclaiming his dukedom and reuniting father and son. Miranda, overcome by so many nobles on their formerly deserted island, declares:

O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world! That has such people in’t!

Prospero, more soberly and less optimistically, responds to her words: “’Tis new to thee.” Finally, Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo are brought in. The lowly status and ridiculousness of the latter two are exposed, prompting Caliban to assert:

I’ll be wise hereafter, And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass Was I to take this drunkard for a god, And worship this dull fool!

Having reestablished order and a harmonious future in the marriage of Miranda and Ferdinand, Prospero delivers on his promise to free Ariel before turning to the audience to ask for the same compassion and forgiveness he has shown. As Prospero has released the spirit Ariel, we are asked to do the same for Prospero. We now hold the power and the art to use it as we will:

. . . Now ’tis true I must be here confined by you Or sent to Naples. Let me not ,Since I have my dukedom got, And pardoned the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands.

If the play is not Shakespeare’s last will and testament, there scarcely can be a better: a play that affirms essential human goodness while acknowledging the presence of human evil, written in the full powers of the imagination, while conscious of its limitations and responsibilities.

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Hsc module a: 20/20 essay notes for the tempest and hagseed.

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textual conversations
the tempest
william shakespeare

What is a textual conversation?

To truly understand what we are supposed to be looking out for in our critical evaluation of Hag-Seed and The Tempest , we refer to the rubric for Module A: Textual Conversations.

The rubric dictates that students are to explore how the “comparative study of texts can reveal resonances and dissonances between and within texts” and consider how the reimagining or reframing of certain facets of a text “ mirror[s], align[s] or collide[s] ” with the other text. Put simply, students are to consider the similarities and differences between the representation of “ values, assumptions or perspectives ” in the two texts to then impute a reasoning to why these aspects of the texts may mirror, align or collide with one another based on context, authorial perspective, audience and more.

The textual conversations between Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest , and Margaret Atwood’s modern appropriation of the tragicomedy , Hag-Seed , is a complex one. To really comprehend this conversation we must consider how each text is influenced by the other, but is also a product of the composer’s context, values and perspective, ultimately shaping overall meaning.

How does context influence this textual conversation?

Context informs composers’ perspectives and so, shapes their purpose and meaning. As such, it is important to keep these social influences in the back of your mind as you navigate the textual conversations.

Some of Shakespeare’s contextual influences include:

Renaissance Humanism vs Christian Providentialism

The growing prevalence of Renaissance Humanist ideals during Shakespeare’s composition of The Tempest espoused the outlook that individuals were capable of acting autonomously and were not following a predetermined path dictated by religious providence. This further fostered a climate of individuals seeking power, knowledge and new adventures. Shakespeare’s presents the nuances within these humanist ideologies through his portrayal of Prospero whose quest for knowledge and agency in creating his own destiny leads to his ethical and moral turpitude as explored further below.

The Age of Discovery

The Tempest was written during a period when many great expeditions were undertaken by Europeans to colonise new lands. In that same period, Montaigne’s Of the Caniballes gained wide recognition following John Florio’s translation of it into English in 1603. The essay introduced the idea of cultural relativism: the concept that human behaviour is a product of culture and as such cannot be judged by those without this cultural context.

These endeavours to colonise the non-European world included the institution of European governance systems in conquered territories and often resulted in the unjust subjugation of native peoples to allow for the exploitation of their land. This is manifested in Shakespeare’s portrayal of how Prospero deems himself of greater civility and intelligence than the island native Caliban. He then enslaves and exploits the spirit as a means to his own selfish ends, serving as an allegorical parable for the intricacies in the implications of European Colonisation at the time.

The Great Chain of Being and the Divine Rights of Kings

The Great Chain of Beings was the Elizabethan belief that there was distinct hierarchy from everything within the universe as dictates by God, and that monarchs were in power by divine mandate itself, and thus had the divine right to only be answerable to God. In alignment with this ideology, Shakespeare’s entire work is a quest to restore this hierarchical structure that was displaced by Antonio’s greed for power and Prospero’s own neglect for his duties as a ruler due to his preoccupation with his studies. As Prospero questions the failure of the Great Chain, he realises that to truly restore order they must all engage in introspection, repentance and forgiveness, in a true display of compassion.

Some of Atwood’s contextual influences include:

High Incarceration Rates

At the time Atwood was composing her work, incarceration in the United States was the highest it had ever been since the early twentieth century. Furthermore, there was a stark disparity in the demographics of these incarcerated peoples where ethnic people of colour were disproportionately represented. Influenced by both the overwhelming incarceration in America, and Canada’s adoption of the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice System that challenged traditional adversarial justice, Atwood explores intricacies the inmates’ experiences as an alienated and marginalised collective.

Shifting Social Paradigms

Atwood reflects the growing empowerment of females in modern society through her distinctly different representation of women in Hag-Seed . While in The Tempest , Miranda was characterised to be of innocent purity and passivity, Felix’s daughter is more empowered in her role as the catalyst of his ethical transformation.

Concepts and Themes in the Textual Conversation

Pursuit of Revenge

Both texts ultimately expose the futility of revenge to provide emotional fulfilment and its incapacity to serve as a solution to resolve suffering and loss. Felix and Prospero are both motivated by revenge and as a result, neglect their moral obligations. Prospero is blinded by his desire to restore his position as prescribed by God’s Great Chain of Beings, but in exacting his revenge he is deceitful and cunning, in neglect of the Christian ideals of compassion and mercy. Similarly, Felix too falls prey to the corruption caused by his desire for vengeance against Sal and Tony.

Sample Topic Sentence: In The Tempest , Shakespeare exposes how the sophisticated nexus between hubris and the inherent human desire for power and revenge leads to ethical turpitude and ultimately impedes individuals from achieving personal fulfilment.

Imprisonment

As Felix famously sums up that The Tempest is “ a play about prisons ”, the recurring motif of prisons is evident throughout both texts to the extent that Hag-Seed is quite literally set in a penitentiary centre.

The most salient interpretation of these prisons is both protagonists’ confinement within their obsessive pursuit for revenge. It is only when he forgives his enemies that Prospero is truly set free. We also see that individuals such as Caliban in The Tempest and the prisoners in Hag-Seed are imprisoned within society’s perception of them.

Ultimately, both composers advocate for empathy, compassion and forgiveness for individuals to break free of these internal shackles as further discussed below.

Compassion and Forgiveness for Reconciliation

Shakespeare presents the perils of an obsessive thirst for vengeance only to provide a solution for it through compassion and forgiveness. The Jacobean-Christian principle of unconditional forgiveness and divine absolution of sin underpin Shakespeare’s portrayal of how Prospero’s forgiveness and renunciation of magic and his past grievances in “ this rough magic, I here abjure ”, are the key to his reconciliation. Through returning to the Christian ideals of compassion and forgiveness, Prospero manages to restore order.

While Atwood’s appropriation still asserts the enduring relevance of self-reflection and compassion for personal development, her postmodern secular context challenges Shakespeare’s representation of unconditional Christian clemency through the relative lack of reconciliation between Felix and his adversaries. Despite this distinction, Atwood does, in agreeance with The Tempest , propose the futility of seeking revenge through Felix’s confession after he exact his revenge through the hypophora “ Why does it feel like a letdown? ”.

Both texts didactically warn against the pursuit of vengeance yet explore reconciliation in distinct ways, reflective of their contextual influences.

Good vs Evil and the Alienation of the ‘Other’

Shakespeare represents the conflict between Renaissance Humanism and the predeterminism of Christian Providence through his portrayal of Prospero’s moral ambiguity. Prospero’s kindness towards Miranda and his altruistic reconciliation at the end of the play starkly contrast his cruel subjugation of Caliban and Ariel, and his shipwrecking of his enemies.

Alternatively, Shakespeare also explores the Christian Providence through his relatively one-sided judgement of Caliban to be the ‘evil spirit’ and Ariel as the ‘good spirit’. He presents how Prospero deems that Caliban, as Sycorax’s offspring, must be evil without hope for redemption. Ultimately Caliban is the alienated ‘other’ and his anger at his mistreatment drives his behaviour which ultimately, fulfils Prospero’s judgement of Caliban’s evil tendencies.

In contemporary society, this overly reductionist judgement of good and evil characters leads to incarcerated individuals struggling to reintegrate into society and being marginalised both within the system and after they complete their sentences. Reflective of this, Atwood presents the ethical depravity of individuals in power, such as Sal, and presents a more human side of the prisoners to challenge audiences’ assumptions about the personal characters of incarcerated individuals.

So, both composers blur the distinction between wholly altruistic or wholly corrupt motivations to challenge audiences’ assumptions about the prevalent perceptions of good and evil in their respective contexts.

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A Short Analysis of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest

On Tuesday, we offered a short plot summary of The Tempest , one of Shakespeare’s last plays, and his final solo work for the theatre. As we remarked then, The Tempest is essentially a fantasy story (or ‘romance’ to use the term that tends to be used to categorise The Tempest ) featuring a magician, the ‘monstrous’ offspring of a wicked witch, treachery and conspiracy, drunkenness, fairies, a lavish masque, young lovers, and much else. How should we go about interpreting Shakespeare’s last solo work for the theatre? Below, we offer some notes towards an analysis.

Inspiration for The Tempest

Shakespeare is thought to have based his play The Tempest on a real-life shipwreck. William Strachey’s A True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight , an account of his experience during the wreck of the ship Sea Venture on the island of Bermuda, was written in 1609, and many scholars believe that the Bard read this account and used it as inspiration for The Tempest . This isn’t as clear-cut as all that, because the account of the Sea Venture was only published later, but it’s possible Shakespeare heard something of the account before it was printed.

Analysis of The Tempest : key themes

Magic and ‘art’

Contrary to popular belief, The Tempest wasn’t quite Shakespeare’s final play. The popular myth that after The Tempest the Bard packed up shop, and moved back to Stratford-upon-Avon to live out his last few years in retirement, overlooks the fact that he collaborated with the younger playwright John Fletcher on several plays after The Tempest in 1611, including Henry VIII , Cardenio (now sadly lost), and The Two Noble Kinsmen , based on Chaucer’s ‘Knight’s Tale’. However, it does appear that The Tempest was Shakespeare’s final solo work for the stage.

It’s hard not to see Prospero’s magic as, on one level, a metaphor for Shakespeare’s own art as a playwright. Both summon spirits, creatures of illusion – and, to tighten up this parallel, both create performances involving actors. Just as Prospero uses his ‘art’ to conjure Ceres, Juno, and the other figures who act in his masque, so Shakespeare uses his art to conjure Prospero himself. And ‘art’ is even used in The Tempest to describe magic: Caliban describes Prospero’s magic powers as an ‘art’ stronger than the powers of Setebos, the god his mother Sycorax worshipped, just as we talk about the ‘dark arts’ of magic. ‘Art’ – meaning not only the arts, including playwriting and poetry, but also, more broadly, ‘artifice’ – is a loaded word in The Tempest . So it’s little surprise that critics have seen a touch of self-reflexivity in Prospero’s abjuration or renunciation of his ‘rough magic’ at the end of the play, just as Shakespeare is preparing to hang up his quill and stop writing for the theatre (barring a few collaborations with Fletcher).

The Tempest ends with Prospero addressing us, the audience, directly, and requesting that we release him from the island and allow him to retire to Milan, and older and wiser man:

Now my charms are all o’erthrown, And what strength I have’s mine own, Which is most faint: now, ’tis true, I must be here confined by you, Or sent to Naples. Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got And pardon’d the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands:

It’s as if Shakespeare is addressing his audience of playgoers and asking them to set him free from the theatre, that ‘island’ of enchantment cut off from the rest of the world: he bids the audience’s permission to be ‘sent to Naples’ (or Stratford, in any case). The lines ‘dwell / In this bare island by your spell; / But release me from my bands’ seem to support such an analysis, with Shakespeare effectively saying, ‘by all means continue to enjoy the theatre, but just let me leave it behind, won’t you?’

Similarly, Miranda, Prospero’s daughter, feels honour-bound to serve and obey her father. And then there is Caliban, Sycorax’ son, whom Prospero made his slave. Caliban is even less free than either Ariel or Miranda, and he, too, must serve Prospero. Act I Scene 2 is a key one in the play, for it introduces us to Prospero and then sets out his relationship with these three key characters: Miranda (who, as his daughter, serves him); Ariel (who, in thanks for being freed by Prospero, serves him); and Caliban (who, as Sycorax’s son and the only surviving native of the island, is enslaved by Prospero and confined to one portion of the island).

Even Prospero himself is similarly in service, according to that final speech or epilogue, where he suggests that the audience’s power keeps him imprisoned on the island, he can only leave with their blessing. And in the context of the events of the play, he is imprisoned on the island in a sense, having been banished from Milan.

Love, too, can make us servants (and slaves), as Ferdinand’s heartfelt speech to Miranda in III.1 shows:

The very instant that I saw you did My heart fly to your service, there resides To make me slave to it, and for your sake Am I this patient log-man.

And Miranda, in return, pledges to Ferdinand: ‘I’ll be your servant / Whether you will [marry me] or no.’

The subplot of The Tempest , involving Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo and their plot to overthrow or usurp Prospero as ruler of the island, mirrors the main plot and backstory to the play: namely, Antonio’s usurpation of his brother Prospero as Duke of Milan, twelve years before the action of the play is set. Stephano, a drunkard, is clearly deluded when he thinks he will be a better ‘king’ of the island than Prospero, or that he could even be successful in overthrowing such a powerful magician. Caliban is deluded for following Stephano, although it is clearly understandable when Stephano gives him wine: one can’t imagine Prospero giving Caliban such treats (although note that he used to, according to Caliban in I.2: ‘Though strok’st me, made much of me, wouldst give me / Water with berries in’t’). But was Antonio right in usurping his own brother and having himself proclaimed Duke of Milan? Much as with Claudius and Old Hamlet (where, alongside Claudius’ baser motives for wanting to murder his brother, there may have been the more honourable reason that he knew he could do a better job of ruling than his brother did), it may be that Antonio, in noticing that his brother was more interested in his magic spells than in ruling over his own city, did a good and just thing in rising up against Prospero and having him banished. So is it a good thing that Prospero used his ‘rough magic’ to conjure the tempest and shipwreck Antonio and Alonso, just so he could hold them captive until they agreed to restore him to his dukedom? And is Prospero’s promise to renounce his magic enough to convince us he will be a good duke this time around? As he says at the end of the play, he plans to spend a third of his time thinking about his imminent death, which hardly seems like a healthy outlook for a man governing a city.

Legacy of The Tempest

Shakespeare’s The Tempest has inspired countless artistic responses in theatre, music, poetry, and fiction. There have been nearly 50 operas based on The Tempest , while composers including Henry Purcell, Arthur Bliss, Hector Berlioz, Malcolm Arnold, and Engelbert Humperdinck (not that one) have all written incidental music to accompany performances of Shakespeare’s play. W. H. Auden wrote a long poem, The Sea and the Mirror , in response to the play. In 1968, the Franco-Caribbean writer and theorist Aimé Césaire wrote a play titled Une Tempête , which portrays Caliban sympathetically as a native of the island who has been forced into subjugation by the island’s white European coloniser, Prospero. It’s certainly a different experience reading and studying Shakespeare’s play in the wake of the British Empire (and European imperialism more widely) and the granting of independence to many former British and French colonies in the mid-twentieth century. There have also been some extremely radical and memorable stage and screen adaptations of Shakespeare’s The Tempest , including Peter Greenaway’s 1991 film Prospero’s Books , which fuses animation with live-action performances.

The Tempest has even had an impact on astronomy: one third of the moons of the planet Uranus are named after characters from the play. Miranda, Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, Stephano, Trinculo, Francisco, and Ferdinand are all Uranian moons as well as characters from the play. Curiously, there’s also a moon named Ariel, but that’s thought to have been named for a different Ariel, the sprite from Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock .

A fine bit of trivia to bring this short analysis of the play to a close: a number of phrases which have since passed into common use are thought to have originated in The Tempest . It’s easy to exaggerate the number of words and phrases Shakespeare coined, but he popularised – and perhaps even originated – the phrases ‘into thin air’ (to describe someone or something vanishing from view), ‘brave new world’ (which Aldous Huxley gratefully took up as the ironic title of his 1932 dystopian novel), ‘in a pickle’, and perhaps even ‘sea change’. All of these appear in The Tempest .

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1 thought on “A Short Analysis of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest”

And let us not forget to mention that the classic film Forbidden Planet, which inspired Star Trek, was based on the Tempest.

Good Essay. Thanks. I saw the play at Stratford on Avon and for the first time, watching English Shakespearean actors perform it, understood why the old bard has such power over theater goers.

The Tempest as a Post-Colonial Text: Exploring Power, Identity, and Oppression

William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" has been widely regarded as a post-colonial text due to its themes and portrayal of power dynamics, colonialism, and the effects of colonization on both colonizers and the colonized. This essay aims to delve into the post-colonial elements present in the play, examining how it challenges traditional narratives of colonialism and explores themes of power, identity, and oppression.

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International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation

International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation (IJLLT)

The twentieth century brought about a new form of understanding, producing and living art that has become a mean to react against the oppression that different groups suffered for centuries. Post-colonial criticism is an approach of analysis that questions racial identity and gender equity. This study investigates how Shakespeare's plays relate to the social codes and the more recent history of the reception of Shakespearian drama within decolonization movements. The Tempest by Shakespeare is defined as a postcolonial text because the colonised is represented in regarding cultural hybridity in which the Self and the Other enlace the colonial experience. Literature has naturally given a voice to these omitted groups and this play is thought to be an early post-colonial work by some scholars. Shakespeare had intended to criticise the European attack of the new lands to the West, and the theme of colonialism is outrightly presented in The Tempest. Post-colonial reading of the text examines the projection of the colonial experience back to Europe. Slavery, colonialism, and the power of changing other civilisations by the West are themes to make inferences.

SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH

Prabha gour

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is indubitably the best playwright of all time. He acquired an unique place in the world of literature. His plays earned international commendation and acceptance as the finest dramatist in the entire history of English literature. His play, The Tempest has been decoded differently by critics as a postcolonial text. In1611 when William Shakespeare wrote the play The Tempest, colonization was a recent concept in Britain. This paper is an attempt to inspect the postcolonial issues such as subjugation, dominance language, power and knowledge etc. and conjointly converse about the complex relationship that exist between the master and slave in The Tempest.

Talent Development & Excellence

Thamir R . S . Az-Zubaidy

William Shakespeare's The Tempest is both created in and influenced by an era when colonialism was coming into being. It begins with the arrival of a European coloniser, Prospero, to an island in the Mediterranean Sea where he imposes his colonial domination, norms and culture on its natives. In addition to exploring these issues, this paper examines questions of racism, slavery, suppression, and the role of language in consolidating the process of colonisation and maintaining the colonisercolonised politics. It also critiques the coloniser's involvement in the exchange of women as gifts for political gains as he does with his daughter Miranda. Moreover, while highlighting the discursive practices of othering the native, Caliban, the paper investigates his attempts to resist cultural and political European colonisation through Caliban's linguistic and political appropriation of Prospero's power.

Zahra Sadeghi

Colonization and imperialism are of those interesting critical conversation throughout the world and this study examines how English theater addressed, promoted, and at times challenged ideologies of colonization and notions of civility and civilization. The Tempest in regarded as a New World drama by many critics because of colonization and civilization debates presented on the London stage and depiction of the colonizers and the colonized to present and, at the same time, question those colonial debates. Shakespeare depicts the New World’s indigenous cultures in an ambiguous way to both present and question the ideologies of empire. This dramatization of the “other” helped sixteenth and seventeenth century audiences to recognize New World indigenous peoples as different rather than uncivilized and reevaluate what they have read or heard of these native peoples. Shakespeare presented the contemporary rhetoric through the medium of the theater and helped audience to visualize the process of conquest and colonization. He helped to civilize audiences about the reality of colonization, civility, and the New World. This theatrical medium makes audiences to challenge those established stereotypes of the New World natives and understand them as different, not inhuman or monster, and ignorant of European language and cultures, but no incapable of being civilized. Shakespeare, in dramatization of the New World, neither support nor oppose the process of colonization but he tries his best to show both sides of the issues and let the audiences to decide whether it is legitimate or not. This ambiguous representation of both colonizers and the colonized encourages the audience to examine colonial debates in as objective manner.

Md. A M I R Hossain

In this paper, my purpose is to focus on the underlying reading of The Tempest in the 21st century attempt with a view to revealing the colonizing attitudes of human psychology and embittered experiences of nations, ethnic groups and race. Shakespeare’s The Tempest during the late 20th century and early 21st century has been influenced by “post-colonialism” from the point of view of either Prospero or Caliban. Post-colonial criticism is dealt with Western colonialism of different nations, creed, and caste with the colonial relations of hegemony and submission, especially with regard to race and gender. Shakespeare has drawn upon the language of prayer and religion as a storehouse of emotion and symbol for which his audience and reader are readily responsive as a mode of intensified expression for the feelings and values. Shakespeare’s curses are the language of fury, hatred, helplessness, and despair wrought to its uttermost. The language of prayer is used in expressions of love, kindness, and gratitude, in outbursts of joy and wonder, and in countless eloquent pleadings for mercy, forgiveness, and compassion. The discourse of prayer, elegant and artful thought is an attempt to euphemize the 21st post-colonial domination of the island. Prospero’s ideas and thoughts extend the discourse of prayer into the life of audience. Caliban’s curses are regarded as an integral part to the dialectical structure and the discourse of prayer in the play for which they belong as cataplectic threats of Prospero. Ariel is being held to his side of a bargain at a time of desperate need; Ferdinand is being tested in self-control and in his respect for Miranda; Prospero’s enemies are subjected to corrective punishments designed to bring them through suffering to self-knowledge and a change of heart. Keywords: Ariel, Caliban, Ferdinand, Post-colonialism, Prospero, The Tempest

Deborah I K E O L U W A Jayeoba

This study seeks to explore and enunciate the characteristics of and pointers to the presence of colonialism which validates the events of colonialism in these three plays: William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Aime Casaire’s A Tempest and Esiaba Irobi’s Sycorax. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest exposes a Western view and political indifference to colonialism; neither invalidating nor justifying. Aime Casaire’s A Tempest and Esiaba Irobi’s Sycorax presents a writing back and questioning as it restructures the narrative of colonialism in its adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Rituparna Paul

The objective is to present a critical study of discursive practices of ‘othering’. The post colonial critics have referred to Caliban as the ‘other’ and this makes ground for us to delve into the politics of unsaid, or things that have been omitted. Hence, the chief focus of a post-colonial investigation of The Tempest is through the character of Caliban, seen not as the ‘deformed slave’ of the dramatis personae but as a native of the island over whom Prospero has imposed a form of colonial domination.

Ramayana Lira

Taking on assumptions about oppression, identity and representation as they are developed in contemporary postcolonial theory, this study proposes the analysis of the 1993 theatrical production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest by The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). It aims to discuss the role of Caliban's monstrosity in the production and how it pertains to issues such as power relations and spectacle. The main benefit of doing an analysis of a performance of a Shakespearean text seems to be the possibility of seeing the play's meaning as contingent, as a result of a series of elements (actor's body, visual clues, the theatrical institution, spectatorship) that release it from the burden of being considered as the work of a single, universal, non- contradictory mind that contemporary criticism has pointed out as the 'Shakespeare Myth'. I conclude that the 1993 RSC production presents a Tempest that, in many ways, reinforces traditional positions about th...

International Review of Humanities Studies

amir mohammad

The paper focuses on how the colonizers who in this play are Prospero and Miranda in particular, endeavor to inflict their own socio-cultural precept including their language to make the colonized fully unprotected in The Tempest as a colonial play, but eventually fail to fulfill this attempt. In addition, the high importance of learning the language of the colonizer by the colonized gets illuminated which finally contributes to Caliban so as to undermine the roots of the colonizer in the colony. This article fully evaluates affected literary works by The Tempest, the importance of transferring the colonizer's language to the colony, and the main colonizer and his manners and attitudes towards the colonized; it also brings forth postcolonial concepts including Mimicry, Orientalism, the double consciousness of the colonized and his unhomeliness. Furthermore, it features the dirge situation of mimic men who come across a disappointing dead end from both colonizers and the colonized. After all, this article reflects on the ever-presence of ambivalence and mimicry in colonial discourse and also the vital importance of violence as an inseparable part of the decolonization.

Injamamul Hoque

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Explore how Shakespeare presents the theme of power in "The Tempest"

Explore how Shakespeare presents the theme of power in “The Tempest”

In “The Tempest”, power manifests itself in many different forms. Three of the main types of power that Shakespeare explores are the power of love, the power of magic and illusion and the power of a master over his slave. He presents these forms of power in a number of ways.

In “The Tempest” Prospero appears to hold the majority of the power. He maintains his control over other characters in various ways, for example he uses the power of love to influence his daughter Miranda. Miranda is devoted to her father, and Prospero uses guilt to maintain this. In their first conversation, Prospero’s power over Miranda becomes apparent. She says “Alack, what trouble/Was I then to you!” and it is clear that because of the guilt she feels, she will be willing to do anything for him. It is evident that Miranda is aware of how powerful Prospero is, as she says “Had I been any god of power, I would/ Have sunk the sea within the earth”. This indicates that she understands the extent of Prospero’s power, and that if she had possessed the same amount of power, she would use it differently to her father.

Prospero is manipulative, appearing self-pitying by saying “When I have decked the sea with drops full salt/ Under my burthen groaned” but also egotistical, saying, “Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit/ Than other princesses can” to which Miranda responds “Heaven thank you for’t!” Although he tries to cause Miranda to feel sympathy towards him in order to keep control of her, he also wants her to admire him.

Although he also has power over Miranda using love, he also has power over a different form of love, namely romantic love. He orchestrates the meeting of Miranda and Ferdinand deliberately, presuming that they will fall in love. Although Prospero forbade Miranda from telling Ferdinand her name, he knew that they would inevitably fall in love. He does not want Miranda to appear as a prize that can be easily won, saying “I must uneasy make, lest too light winning/ Make the prize light” and he instigates his authority by creating rules for Miranda and also treating Ferdinand as he would a slave, ordering him to “Come! I’ll manacle thy neck and feet together”.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Although Ferdinand is a prince, he must bow to Prospero’s authority, similarly to the characters of Ariel and Caliban. Prospero has control over his slave Ariel, whom he controls by the promise of freedom. This type of master-slave power is a dominant form of power within “The Tempest”. Ariel is a spirit who is, similarly to Miranda, devoted to Prospero. He says to Prospero “All hail, great master, great sir, hail!” The repetition makes it seem dramatic and joyful, emphasising Ariel’s devotion to Prospero, and the fact that he will do whatever Prospero asks of him. As with Miranda, Prospero also controls Ariel using guilt, saying “dost thou forget/ from what a torment I did free thee from... thy groans did make wolves howl” This causes Ariel feel as though he is at Prospero’s service, with Shakespeare using terrifying imagery to remind us of the anguish Ariel had faced before Prospero freed him. Although he may appear truly devoted, Ariel may only act in this way because of Prospero’s promise to “discharge thee” when his service is complete. It is arguable whether Ariel is merely flattering Prospero in order to be freed. When obeyed, Prospero treats Ariel with respect and love, calling him “My brave spirit!” However, when Ariel shows a small amount of resistance against Prospero, saying, “Remember I have thee worthy service…thou did promise/ To bate me a full year”, Prospero immediately calls Ariel “malignant thing”, creating an image of a poisonous, evil inhuman being. This is similar to the treatment of Prospero’s slave, Caliban, whom Prospero calls “poisonous slave”.

Whereas Prospero’s relationship with Ariel appears predominantly positive, with Ariel showing true devotion to his master, in contrast Caliban deeply resents Prospero and is only a servant by force. Caliban believes “This Island’s mine…thou tak’st from me.” Prospero controls Caliban with threats, saying things such as “tonight thou shalt have cramps”, forcing Caliban to be a slave. Prospero could be blamed for Caliban’s demise into savagery, calling him “Abhorred slave” and treating him with disrespect. Caliban is often rebellious towards Prospero, refusing to do what he is asked. This is similar to the beginning of the play, in which the Boatswain, who is usually subject to power from authority, is controlling those on the boat, subverting the master-slave presentation of power. He says, “You mar our labour. Keep your cabins” and when Gonzalo says, “remember whom thou hast aboard” the Boatswain replies “None that I love more than myself”. Whereas he usually submits to the power of Alonso, the king, he reverses this and takes control.

Another example of this subversion of power is when Stephano and Trinculo, who are also servants to the king, convince Caliban that they are his masters. They use alcohol to gain power over him, Stephano saying, “Open your mouth. Here is that which will give language to you, cat” and are amused by Caliban, calling him “monster” and laughing when Caliban says, “I’ll kiss thy foot”. Caliban believes that they will able to free him from Prospero’s control over him, singing, “No more dams I’ll make for fish… Cacaliban/ Has a new master, get a new man”. Caliban is keen to get what he believes to be his island back.

Ultimately Prospero is able to control all of the characters in the play, because of his magical powers and the ability to know what each of them is doing, and the fact he put them there in the first place. A prominent symbol of Prospero’s power is the raging tempest at the start of the play. It is the tempest that shipwrecks the boat, and brings the other characters onto the island. The stage directions indicate that there is “thunder and lightning”, adding to the intensity of the storm. Ariel’s description of the tempest is mystical and terrifying, and he creates strong imagery by saying “I flamed amazement…. The fire and cracks/ Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune/ Seemed to besiege.” The tremendous storm echoes Prospero’s power, and also represents his anger towards those upon the boat who betrayed him.

Prospero, however, is not in complete control of his power, as without his staff and books, as Caliban says, “He’s but a sot”. Although Prospero eventually uses his powers for good, he is not often portrayed as an entirely suitable leader. The amount of trust he invested in his brother Antonio led to his demise as the Duke of Milan. He also showed trust in Caliban, who then attempted to “violate” Miranda.

Prospero acknowledges that he cannot continue using his magical powers near the end of the play, saying “But this rough magic/ I here abjure”. When he says “They being penitent/ The sole drift of my purpose doth extend/ Not a frown further”. Prospero knows that now he has gained the other character’s repentance, he has no more need to be angry, and can therefore give up his magical powers and “break my staff…drown my book”. This is emphasised by the description of the island. It often appears magical and mysterious, with Caliban saying “The isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs” and the spirits add a surrealistic element. Ariel’s song “Full fathom five thy father lies,/ of his bones are coral made” creates a mystical image, with a use of alliteration and powerful imagery. However, he is ultimately living in a world of illusions, and at the end of the play must step out of it and back into the real world, where he can no longer use magic.

Although Prospero has seemed unforgiving with his powers throughout the play, at the end he forgives Alonso, saying “My dukedom since you have given me again/ I will requite you with as good a thing ”, showing Alonso that, contrary to his belief, Ferdinand is in fact alive. Prospero asks for our forgiveness. His speech makes it appear as though the audience has power over him, saying, “I must be here confined by you… Let your indulgence set me free.”

At first, Prospero is presented as having the most power within “The Tempest”. He is the cause of the shipwreck at the beginning and uses his magical powers to frighten Alonso and the rest of the party however it appears that he is only interested in revenge. He often only uses his powers to show off, and it is questionable as to how powerful he would be without magic, and the willingness of his servants, Ariel and Caliban, to comply with his demands. After all, it is Ariel who conjures the tempest at the start of the play, and as Prospero says about Caliban “We cannot miss him. He does our fire/ Fetch our wood, and serves in offices/ That profit us”. Prospero needs Ariel and Caliban in order to have power, and so throughout “The Tempest”, contrary to our beliefs at the beginning of the play, we begin to see that the main protagonist of power within “The Tempest” is not, in fact, Prospero.

Shakespeare presents many kinds of power in “The Tempest”. He demonstrates the control that Prospero has over Miranda using love, and also different kinds of power between master and slave. Sometimes the master and slave power is subverted, such as at the beginning of the play, when the boatswain takes control. Shakespeare also presents a change in the balance of Prospero’s power. The main reason Prospero has so much power is due to his magic, however at the end of the play he sacrifices his powers and sets free his slaves, Ariel and Caliban.

Explore how Shakespeare presents the theme of power in "The Tempest"

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Theme Analysis . Read our .

The Tempest is full of Prospero's magic and illusions. The play begins with Prospero's magic (the tempest), and ends with Prospero's magic (his command that Ariel send the ship safely back to Italy). In between, the audience watches as Prospero uses visual and aural illusions to manipulate his enemies and expose their true selves. At nearly every point in the play, Prospero's magic gives him total control—he always seems to know what will happen next, or even to control what will happen next. At one point, Prospero even goes so far as to suggest that all of life is actually an illusion that vanishes with death: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep" (4.1.156-158).

Many critics see Prospero's magical powers as a metaphor for a playwright's literary techniques. Just as Prospero uses magic to create illusions, control situations, and resolve conflicts, the playwright does the same using words. Throughout the play, Prospero often lurks in the shadows behind a scene, like a director monitoring the action as it unfolds. Prospero refers to his magic as "art." In Act 4 scene 1, Prospero literally steps into the role of playwright when he puts on a masque for Miranda and Ferdinand . In fact, many critics take an additional step, and argue that Prospero should actually be seen as a stand-in for Shakespeare himself. The Tempest was one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote before he retired from the theatre, and many critics interpret the play's epilogue, in which Prospero asks the audience for applause that will set him free, as Shakespeare's farewell to theatre.

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The Power of Love in William Shakespeare’s Play The Tempest

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Published: Mar 28, 2019

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The Power of Love in William Shakespeare’s Play The Tempest Essay

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The Tempest Themes

Shakespeare tends to focus on very specific issues in each of his masterpieces. In The Tempest , the themes of power and magic are the dominant ones. However, a little bit of attention is also drawn to the topic of colonization .

Looking for The Tempest themes? Find them all described here! This article prepared by Custom-Writing.org experts contains descriptions and analysis of the key themes in The Tempest . If you wish to dive deeper into the world of this play and understand the underlying issues, this section is for you!

The picture lists the key themes of The Tempest: power, magic, and colonization.

⛓️ Colonialism

🔗 References

💪 power in the tempest.

It seems like almost every scene goes back to the questions about power in The Tempest . Even in the opening scene, the audience has the pleasure of observing the boatswain commanding the royal party, who are the passengers. Moreover, an exciting aspect of this play is that power is taken by force in most cases. As it would be anticipated, it leads to even more instability in the relationships and the vicious cycle of desiring even more. One of the best examples is how Antonio and Alonso betray Prospero. It is an immensely political problem, which yet shows that no illegal manipulation with authority can be left in the past. Later on, it leads to Antonio wishing for more power and attempting to murder the king. At the same time, the audience sees that this time his attempt fails. Therefore, it proves that violence is not a universally successful tool when it comes to gaining power.

Another relationship based on gaining power in The Tempest is Prospero and Caliban. After Prospero takes over the island with magic, Caliban swears for revenge and wants his rights and freedom back. However, the culmination of this theme in The Tempest appears to be the moment when the main character decides not to keep going with the vicious cycle. The fact that Prospero refused to seek revenge on Antonio influenced other a lot. They all come to peace and understanding at the end. Shakespeare’s main message regarding this theme is that compromise and forgiveness are a much better tool for settling things down than violence.

The Tempest Quotes about Power

Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere It should the good ship so have swallow’d and The fraughting souls within her. The Tempest act 1, scene 2

I must obey: his art is of such power, It would control my dam’s god, Setebos, and make a vassal of him. The Tempest act 1, scene 2

His mother was a witch, and one so strong That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs, And deal in her command without her power. The Tempest act 5, scene 2

💫 Magic in The Tempest

In The Tempest , magic is one of the main themes. Supernatural elements are not uncommon in Shakespeare’s works , but this piece is full of magic manipulations. Prospero is the character who applies magic almost all the time. The first scene begins with him using it, and the play ends with him using it for the last time. However, it should be noted that a lot of times, he puts on illusions that do not harm his enemies except for psychologically related troubles. At the same time, Prospero possesses almost total control over the events and people on the island. Thanks to the spirit, he knows what is happening everywhere and can think through his next moves.

There is a certain resemblance between the way Prospero alters reality with magic in The Tempest and how the author does the same with words. Many times, Prospero is found peaking from the hiding at some of the scenes, just like the director manages the action. This is quite symbolic , and there have been a lot of assumptions made about these kinds of comparisons. One of the suggestions is that Prospero appears on the scene of the play as Shakespeare himself . It makes sense if we look into the last part of this literary piece. In the epilogue, Prospero asks the audience to set him free by applauding. It wouldn’t be so significant if this play wasn’t one of the last ones that Shakespeare wrote. Such an epilogue might be the way of saying goodbye to the theater. Therefore, as one of the main themes of The Tempest , magic has interpretations.

The Tempest Quotes about Magic

My master through his art foresees the danger That you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth– For else his project dies–to keep them living. The Tempest act 2, scene 1

But this rough magic I here abjure, and, when I have required Some heavenly music, which even now I do, To work mine end upon their senses that This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound I’ll drown my book. The Tempest act 5, scene 1

Now my charms are all o’erthrown, And what strength I have’s mine own, Which is most faint: now, ’tis true, I must be here confined by you The Tempest Epilogue

⛓️ Colonialism in The Tempest

Colonization in The Tempest appears to be quite a fascinating subject. At least it was exciting for the readers during the time when the play was written. The attempts of colonizing distant lands attracted a lot of attention. In The Tempest , colonialism as a theme is opened up through the complex relationships between Prospero and Caliban. Prospero sees an uneducated islander as less of a human than himself and expects him to be grateful for teaching. However, it has never occurred to him that Caliban might be the rightful ruler of the island because such a savage cannot possibly perform such a complicated role. In return, Caliban understands that Prospero doesn’t respect him at all and traits him as a slave. Finally, it leads the islander to realize that he gave up the ruler’s position for nothing. Naturally, such an unfair situation evokes anger and violence in Caliban, making Prospero even more convinced in the savage nature of his protégé. It perfectly illustrates the relationship between the native people and the colonizers when every little misunderstanding leads to violent conflicts.

Moreover, Shakespeare explores the fears related to the theme of colonialism and slavery in The Tempest . For example, it is evident that people can hardly tolerate the marriage of a king’s daughter and an African. Another situation pointing out colonization and slavery issues is when both Trinculo and Stephano see an opportunity to capture Caliban and make money on him back home. On the other hand, colonization offers the chance to build perfect contemporary societies, just like Gonzalo dreams about.

The Tempest Colonialism Quotes

Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child. The Tempest act 1, scene 2

You taught me language; and my profit on’t Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language! The Tempest act 1, scene 2

This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first, Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me Water with berries in’t, and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee And show’d thee all the qualities o’ the isle, The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile: Cursed be I that did so! The Tempest act 1, scene 2

Thank you for reading this article! If you need more information about literary themes, check the article about themes in literature . You might also want to take a look at The Tempest essay topics collection . And if you need to make the text of your essay more colorful, try our paraphrasing tool . Any questions left? Check The Tempest QA section !

‘The Tempest’ Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices
A Guide to Power Relationships in “The Tempest” – ThoughtCo
The Meaning of Magic in Shakespeare’s The Tempest – Medium
Shakespeare’s Tempest and the Discourse of Colonialism – jstor
Post-colonial reading of The Tempest – The British Library
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From Publius to Santos: Congressional Expulsion and the Enforcement of Legislative Virtue

Matthew A. Edwards

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On December 1, 2023, in a historic decision, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to expel Congressperson George Santos. Prior to Santos’s expulsion, only two members of the House had been expelled since the Civil War. In fact, although he was under indictment, Santos was the first member to be expelled from the House without first being convicted of a federal crime or supporting the Confederacy. Santos presented an unusual case, however. By the time that he was expelled, Santos was nationally reviled for fabricating nearly every aspect of his personal biography. Although it is difficult to know what the Founders would have made of George Santos, a major theme of James Madison’s work in The Federalist Papers was how the Constitution would ensure that lawmakers possess the character traits and intellectual capabilities necessary to govern in a republic. The threat of expulsion from Congress is a seldom used, though vital, constitutional tool for enforcing congressional virtue. This Essay delves into the text, drafting, and infrequent historical application of Article I’s Expulsion Clause. Using examples such as the “electoral pardon,” under which voters excuse a member’s known wrongdoing, this Essay explores the constitutional limits of Congress’s expulsion power. In the future, Congress may face a case where the interests of the nation conflict with the expressed electoral will of a single congressional district. In such situations, we must be mindful of the crucial distinction between arguments grounded in constitutional limits of Congress’s power, and claims based on institutional precedents or policy.

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Matthew A. Edwards, From Publius to Santos: Congressional Expulsion and the Enforcement of Legislative Virtue , 74 Emory L. J. Online 23 (2024). Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj-online/51

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Get everything you need to know about Power in The Tempest. Analysis, related quotes, theme tracking.
The Theme of Power in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'
William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" is one of Shakespeare's later plays, estimated to have been written in 1610, it is a play largely focussed on the theme of power. Power manifests itself in "The Tempest" in many different ways, including the exploration of the power of love, the universal desire for power amongst men, the power of ...
Theme of Power in The Tempest Essay by Shakespeare
The Theme of Power in The Tempest Essay by William Shakespeare - The play explores the desire for control and power which is universal. It is a unique play that has yielded different perspectives of different ages.
The Tempest Themes
The Tempest Themes Theme is a pervasive idea, belief, or point of view presented in a literary work. Themes in The Tempest, a masterpiece of William Shakespeare, present the issue of freedom and confinement, including themes of betrayal, compassion, and love. Some of the major themes in The Tempest have been analyzed below.
The Tempest Themes
The Tempest is full of Prospero's magic and illusions. The play begins with Prospero's magic (the tempest), and ends with Prospero's magic (his command that Ariel send the ship safely back to Italy). In between, the audience watches as Prospero uses visual and aural illusions to manipulate his enemies and expose their true selves.
A Guide to Power Relationships in "The Tempest"
In order to demonstrate power relationships in The Tempest, Shakespeare utilizes the dynamics between servants and those who control them. For example, in the story Prospero is the controller of Ariel and Caliban -- although Prospero conducts each of these relationships differently, both Ariel and Caliban are acutely aware of their subservience.
The Tempest Themes
Discussion of themes and motifs in William Shakespeare's The Tempest. eNotes critical analyses help you gain a deeper understanding of The Tempest so you can excel on your essay or test.
Themes Shakespeare and the cycle of power The Tempest (Grades 9-1)
Aiming high: Shakespeare and the cycle of power. The very best answers will show excellent understanding of relevant concepts in their discussion of key themes. For example, political power games, succession and usurpation are ideas Shakespeare returns to again and again in his plays. Many of Shakespeare's plays depict power struggles and ...
The Tempest Themes
The Tempest study guide contains a biography of William Shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
Analysis of William Shakespeare's The Tempest
The Tempest is a composite work with elements derived from multiple sources. Montaigne's essay "On Cannibals," whose romantic primitivism is satirized in Gonzalo's plan for organizing society on Prospero's island in the second act, is a possible source.
The portrayal and influence of power and dominance within a colonial
The theme of power and dominance in Shakespeare's The Tempest is represented not only by the actions of those characters in the play who have power and dominance, but also by the actions of those ...
HSC Module A: 20/20 Essay notes for The Tempest and Hagseed
The growing prevalence of Renaissance Humanist ideals during Shakespeare's composition of The Tempest espoused the outlook that individuals were capable of acting autonomously and were not following a predetermined path dictated by religious providence. This further fostered a climate of individuals seeking power, knowledge and new adventures. Shakespeare's presents the nuances within ...
A Short Analysis of William Shakespeare's The Tempest
Analysis of The Tempest: key themes. Magic and 'art'. Contrary to popular belief, The Tempest wasn't quite Shakespeare's final play. The popular myth that after The Tempest the Bard packed up shop, and moved back to Stratford-upon-Avon to live out his last few years in retirement, overlooks the fact that he collaborated with the younger ...
The Tempest Power Essay
The play, The Tempest, written by William Shakespeare in 1610 is a tragicomedy that has a main theme of power. Throughout the play, power is manifested in several different ways: the power of love, the power of master-servant relationships, the power of magic, and the power between men. The power of the master and servant relationship is ...
The Tempest Power Essay
Good Essays. 1451 Words. 6 Pages. Open Document. The Tempest, often regarded as Shakespeare's last play, displaces the theme of possession of control and command over other, commonly known as power. Ariel, Caliban and the courtiers from Milan, all demonstrate different levels of control. Prospero, the protagonist of the play, especially ...
The Tempest as a Post-Colonial Text: Exploring Power, Identity, and
William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" has been widely regarded as a post-colonial text due to its themes and portrayal of power dynamics, colonialism, and the effects of colonization on both colonizers and the colonized. This essay aims to delve into the post-colonial elements present in the play, examining how it challenges traditional narratives of colonialism and explores themes of power ...
Explore how Shakespeare presents the theme of power in "The Tempest
See our A-Level Essay Example on Explore how Shakespeare presents the theme of power in The Tempest, The Tempest now at Marked By Teachers.
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Get everything you need to know about Magic, Illusion, and Prospero as Playwright in The Tempest. Analysis, related quotes, theme tracking.
The Power of Love in William Shakespeare's Play the Tempest: [Essay
The power of love is strong enough to open the hearts of powerful men, who abuse their power, to obtain dominance, control, and to seek revenge. Lust for power in The Tempest, is a common theme throughout the play, which prompts characters to do anything to obtain more power, including betraying family and torturing innocent people. Different ...
The Tempest Themes: Power, Magic, Colonization, & More
The Tempest Themes. (1 votes) Shakespeare tends to focus on very specific issues in each of his masterpieces. In The Tempest, the themes of power and magic are the dominant ones. However, a little bit of attention is also drawn to the topic of colonization. Our specialists will write a custom essay specially for you!
From Publius to Santos: Congressional Expulsion and the Enforcement of
This Essay delves into the text, drafting, and infrequent historical application of Article I's Expulsion Clause. Using examples such as the "electoral pardon," under which voters excuse a member's known wrongdoing, this Essay explores the constitutional limits of Congress's expulsion power.

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