Prospero's monologue at the end of Shakespeare's play The Tempest is important in that it helps relay to the audience Prospero's instrumental role in orchestrating many of the events in the play itself, while also explaining the intentions behind his actions. Through the epilogue, it is brought to the audience's attention how Prospero's departure from the island contrasts with the circumstances under which he had initially been exiled there many years ago, paralleling the story he tells Miranda earlier in the play. (1.2.72-171) This is observable as we compare how Prospero was "without a parallel" in his studies of "the liberal arts" (1.2.73-74) before the events of the play, while at the end he gives up his magic, claiming "my charms are all o'erthrown,/ And what strength I have's mine own" (Epilogue.1-2). Similarly, the King of Naples extirpating Prospero out of the dukedom, and conferring fair Milan, with all the honours, on his brother (1.2.125-127) can be contrasted with the end of the play where …show more content…
Within the epilogue, the use of personal pronouns as well as the active and passive voice differs from the rest of the play. While Prospero uses the personal pronoun “I” and the active voice in most of the play, such as when he speaks to Alonso at the end of Act 5, saying “I invite … I’ll waste … I’ll bring”(5.1.301-308), in the epilogue this changes to a greater use of the personal pronoun “you” as well as the passive voice, such as in the lines “I must be here confined by you” (Epilogue.4) and “Let your indulgence set me free”(Epilogue.20). By distancing himself from an active role in his future, the audience is led to believe that Prospero’s power without magic is as he describes, as “most faint” (Epilogue.3). This then raises the question on whether or not Prospero's return to Milan will play out the way he expects it to, and results in the play lacking proper
Greetings and Salutations Reader, Tangerine; a citrus fruit, a type of tree, a middle school, a county in Florida, and a fantastic book by Edward Bloor. Though, this is not just a random county, this is the town in which our protagonist, Paul Fisher, now lives his day to day life. Paul doesn’t have a normal life though. He deals with visual impairment and, as a result, endures tantalizing at the hands of his dissolute brother and classmates, who refer to him as eclipse boy. The bullying isn’t even the last of it, Paul also undergoes other troubles.
In the beginning on the play two of Lord Capulet’s servants Gregory and Sampson are in the streets of Verona. The two see the rival
Prospero’s Magic, the Age of Death and the 1610 Anthropocene When Prospero -- the hero in William Shakespeare’s last play The Tempest -- buries his magical books near a cliff of an uninhabited island, he sings out the first song of the “Anthropocene” at the edge of the great globe. As the Duke of Milan, he and his daughter are exiled to the isolated island for 12 years, during which process he uses his magic to enslave the natives on the island, including “ a savage and deformed slave” -- Caliban (Shakespeare 3). One may argue that the master-slave relationship shows Shakespeare’s postcolonial reflection while others may think that this viewpoint takes too far from Shakespeare’s original intention. Steve Mentz, in his essay “Enter Anthropocene, c.1610,” interprets The Tempest through lenses of the 1610
Prospero played a key role in his own downfall. He, for example, failed to manage his authority. He admits enabling his brother 's treason happened because he gave him a lot of powers and neglected his own duties as the head of state as he concentrates on
Olson, Rebecca. “ Too Gentle: Jealousy and Class in Othello.” Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies, vol. 15, no. 1, 2015, pp. 3–25.
In addition to Caliban, Prospero's yearning for vengeance also creates internal issues for himself. After Ferdinand and Miranda announce their marriage, Prospero claims his "rejoicing / At nothing can be more," because he must "perform / Much business appertaining," (Shakespeare, 95-99). Usually, a father focuses more on his daughter getting married, however Prospero can only focus on his plans for vengeance. Some believe that the characters internal struggles were caused by the wrongdoers, and not a lack of forgiveness; however, at the end of the play, after Prospero becomes a more virtuous character, his conflicts with his brother and Caliban are resolved, clearly showing that their focus on vengeance is what caused the internal struggles.
The Tempest can be seen as a play about reconciliation, forgiveness, and mercy. However, while it is clear that the theme of forgiveness is at the heart of the drama, it is unclear to what extent mercy is given. An examination of Caliban and Ariel and their representations of Prospero’s struggle illustrates that there is little, if any, true forgiveness and reconciliation in The Tempest. Prospero’s actions from the beginning of the play seem to contradict his ultimate aim to forgive those of have wronged him. Prospero seizes the opportunity for revenge with the help of his magic and good fortune.
The crisis of identity is a very significant turning point in the development in this play. It effectively creates sympathy in the audience through the change in character’s speech style and the act of an “other” in the play conforming to what society demands of him. The first character I would like to bring up is our protagonist, Othello. Being the main protagonist, which most of the play revolves around, a lot of attention is given to him by the audience which makes the crisis of his identity the most significant.
The various ways Shakespeare dramatizes and explores power, allows us to obtain a richer impression of the theme of power in The Tempest. Government and authority both carry out important functions in the play. It is the subject of government that initiates the events in the play and it is also the foundation of the progression throughout the play. Prospero is the fundamental piece in the play concerning governance because he used to be the Duke of Milan, but loses his title to his brother Antonio when he devotes too much of his time learning magic rather than ruling his people and seeing his obligations through: “The government I cast upon my brother, [a]nd to my state grew stranger, being transported [a]nd rapt in secret studies,” (p.10). This is also the cause of Prospero and his infant
In the play, nature will be predetermined as either good or bad and depending on which, the characters will reflect their nature accordingly through their actions and dialogue. Miranda, Prospero’s daughter, was predetermined as naturally good by Prospero when he says “Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and she said thou wast
The Tempest can often be seen as a play about colonialism primarily because Prospero came to the island that belonged to Sycorax, Caliban's mother. Prospero subdued her, ruled the land and placed himself as its new ruler. He had full control over everything on the island. Caliban actually loved Prospero at first and was fine with an autonomy but not slavery as he lamented: This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak’st from me.
When we first meet Prospero we are also introduced to his 15 year old daughter Miranda. In Act 1 Scene II we are presented with aspects of violence as Prospero retells his past to Miranda and in doing so he explains how they got to this current situation and how “that situation involves treason and murder” (Nostbakken, 3) In doing so he retells Miranda how “his Brother Antonio persuaded Alonso the king of Naples, to assist him in overthrowing Prospero and taking his dukedom of Milan” (3). It is clear that Prospero, although throughout the play is the one causing the psychological violence, in this case he is the victim. In this scene it is evident that Prospero suffered from both psychological and physical violence bestowed upon him by his brother Antonio.
In this essay the following characters and features will be compared and contrasted: Mercutio and Benvolio, their differences and similarities, how they effected the play, how they participate in the feud. I choose these features because even though they are not “main characters” they still greatly influence the play. I will explain how they effected the play, how their personalities make them foils and how this in turn effects them as characters and everyone around them.
As the play begins, it seems as if the massive tempest is simply a random occurrence, catching the mariners and nobility by chance. However, as the act continues, Shakespeare reveals that the tempest was actually the work of Prospero and his ghostly servant Ariel, who stirred up the seas and set fire to the masts (1.2, 193-194). This establishes Prospero as the executor of a mess of ‘coincidences’ ranging from Ferdinand stumbling upon his daughter Miranda to King Alonso and his party walking directly into the former duke’s cell. Though Prospero may have the same control over the English language as the other characters, Caliban points to his specific source of power. He says, “… for without [his books] /
In comparison, the inconsistency between diction depicts the power dynamics observed in the play. Shakespeare often uses Prospero’s servant, Ariel and slave, Caliban to portray the differences in the hierarchy of the play. As observed by the audience Prospero often uses threats and insults to communicate and assign task to Caliban, hence “...tonight thou shalt have cramps, side stitches that shall pen thy breath up. ”(I.ii.325-326) Prospero threatens Caliban with pain after his refusal to do work, because he feels as if the isle belongs to him due to the fact that it was inhabited by his mother first.