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Political Philosophy On The Tempest

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Republic of the Philippines Technological University of the Philippines College of Liberal Arts English Department Ayala Boulevard, Ermita, Manila, Philippines “PHILOSOPHY ON THE TEMPEST” Submitted by: ALARCON, Roniel P. DEDEL, Emmanuel A. FABROA, Christian Deod D.C. PORCIONCULA, Emmanuel R SEVILLA, Paolo R. BT-IT 4C Submitted to: Prof. Eliezer V. David HUM 1 - Humanities in World Literature October 14, 2016 THE TEMPEST: POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY ON SHAKESPEARE’S LAST PLAY Political Philosophy is a wide branch of philosophy that focuses statements and arguments involving political opinion. It is all about state, politics itself, liberty, justice and the idea of authority. It tackles the meaning of government itself, why …show more content…

Experts have acclaimed that The Tempest did not receive a big amount of public attention and applause before the ban on the performance of plays in 1642 and retained its popularity after the Restoration. During 19th and 20th century, theater productions took great interest with the play and undertook a re-appraisal now saying that The Tempest is one of Shakespeare 's greatest works. The Tempest is the inspiration of 46 operas, plays, poems, and films. The story focuses with the exiled duke of Milan, Prospero, which was brought to an island on the Mediterranean border which he claimed to be the master. There he raised his daughter from childhood, Mirana, and encountered the fascinating creature Caliban and the spirit Ariel. Prospero made Ariel his right hand while Caliban became a slave who is the previous master of the island. Prospero made a Tempest which he said to come from the use of witchcraft or magic to manipulate certain things just like the storm that hit the ship of the King of Naples. We might have seen The Tempest as a supernatural literary piece but almost all of the characters on the play are just part of Prospero 's political experiment. Prospero was once a philosopher in Milan but after he was overthrown, he started to realize the meaning of Machiavellian politics. Prospero is shown to act …show more content…

Platonism is founded around 387 B.C. by Plato, student of Socrates. It shows an infinite universe and describes ideas according to matter so that its own reality that surrounds us is only a reflection of a higher truth. The main concept of Platonism is the contrast between the reality which is changing and impossible to perceive but impossible to understand. Placing it like finding the truth within the hidden truth. Platonism was once believed to express with dialogues of Plato which is used to expound certain doctrines but can also be read in many different ways. The philosophy itself has a concern for the quality of human life or nature, often religious and a pinch of political. Platonism believed that the present reality is the cause of the existence of everything in the universe. It is this belief in realities which made Platonism different from the philosophies of Plato 's predecessors and successors and the philosophies which Platonism is

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Plato’s and Peter Weir’s main concept is that people see reality as the visible world when reality is more than just the visible world. In both stories, they only knew what they were being tricked into believing. They would throw hardships at them whenever they were about to find out the truth. For Plato, education is a turning around of the soul (Plato, 248). As the master creator Chrystoff says, "We accept the reality of world with which we are presented" (Niccol 1998).

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This message entails people's outlook on reality and the perception that is presented to them. Overall I believe that Plato’s allegory has proved to exemplify a more effective transition from illusion to reality due to its relatability to Socrates message depicting human perception and

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Vengeance vs. Virtue The play The Tempest, by Shakespeare, explores the values of vengeance and forgiveness through the story of Prospero. The main conflict of the story is Prospero's lack of forgiveness for his brother Antonio, who stole his throne. This causes him to seek vengeance on Antonio and all his allies. Through the events of the story, it is evident that there is more value in virtue compared to vengeance.

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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

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Through The Tempest, the author tells the story of Prospero’s revenge on the men who took his dukedom away and left him and his daughter to die. Throughout the book Prospero tortures and manipulates them until he has complete control over them. In Act 5, Prospero’s chooses to forgive them and in the meantime abandons his art which can be a sign of change in character. However, through triumph, not change, the author uses Prospero’s choices to reveal that his desires are for power and superiority.

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The movie, which gave me great impression was the “The Tempest” directed by Julie Taymor in 2010. “The Tempest” is based on the Shakespeare 's very last play “The Tempest”. Taymor has generally portrayed the Shakespeare play’s amusement and touching moments into her film, so although I’ve already known the whole plot I still entreatingly watched the movie. The genres of “The Tempest” are comic and drama, so I laughed, but also I held my breath during the movie. From the film, there are several characters who leads the film.

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The Theme of Nature and Civilization in The Tempest The Tempest, written by William Shakespeare, mostly takes place on a magical island Prospero got exiled to, but it shows a clear divide between nature and civilization. The play starts with Prospero and Miranda living in exile, and through this play, Prospero tries to go back to Milan, where he used to be the duke. When Alonso, the king of Naples, Antonio, the usurping Duke of Milan, and other nobles are caught in the tempest and arrive on the island, they soon realize that the traditions and rules that are applied in the man’s world do not exist on the island, where everything is natural. Although the wildness and civilization have a clear divide, the play shows a theme of different nature, which is the characters’ identities. Even though physical nature cannot be civilized, it can help humans to recognize their nature.

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“A Tempest” is as a derivative of Shakespeare ’s play “The Tempest” by Aime Cesaire. Cesaire makes a number of alterations in his adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. These alterations have been made in order to outline the change in time eras between the two playwrights’ time of existence and to illustrate the great social change that occurred in these periods, mainly colonialism by the West, the subsequent theme of the quest for freedom as well as the theme of power that resonates throughout the play. This essay aims at exploring the similarities and to draw attention to the alterations made by Cesaire in “A Tempest” and the subsequent effects of these alterations on the audience.

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Both characters are considered as rebellious savages that are controlled, Caliban by Prospero and John by the World State. The Tempest can be interpreted as a play about colonialism because when Prospero arrived at the island, he imposed his own rules and put Caliban under slavery, just as Europeans when they took possession of the lands of Americans and enslaved them. From this point of view, Prospero and the World State are very similar because they both use their power to control over people and to preserve their own stability (Prospero using his magic and the World State using soma).

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The religious preferences and philosophy of the English Renaissance affected Shakespeare’s writing. The battle for a man’s soul comes from the Christian idea of God in heaven conflicting with Satan in the world. Shakespeare views evil as more than only bad deeds; it breaks the holy order that God instituted to hold the universe together (Miller). Expanding

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Unlike Shakespeare’s other main characters, he is much more enigmatic. In they play Prospero is portrayed as the rogue who seeks revenge on his brother Antonio for his treachery. In this Shakespearean comedy it becomes clear that Prospero is the heart of power on the island. Evidently Prospero has been wronged by his brother’s usurping which he could not control and now uses his magic as a tool for controlling the events that occur on island throughout the play. The theme of power in this play is hugely significant as it clear that the violence interrogated in this play is in relation to power and the abuse of that power by the protagonist.

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The Tempest is a captivating play that follows the afternoon of a wizard and his revenge plot against diplomats that banished him to a deserted island with his daughter. The themes nature and nurture are compared and contrasted in order to explain the various behaviors presented by each character. According to the theme of nature in The Tempest, people and things are categorized as either naturally good or bad. It is believed that bad nature should be controlled. Nurture is also predominantly displayed in the play through Caliban and Prospero.

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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] /

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The Tempest is a play where a man named, Prospero, was a former duke of a land. He was exiled to an island because his brother, Antonio, usurped his dukedom. Prospero lives on the island with his daughter, Miranda attempting to reattain his title of duke. There are many causes of social issues, and it is important to view these issues on how they affect others.

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The Tempest by William Shakespeare is projected to be written in 1610-1611 and is first performed in November 1611 and it is also believed to be the last play that Shakespeare has written alone. The play is largely engaged on the theme of power whether it be bad or good. Power is demonstrated in various ways in The Tempest, it can be seen as the characters desire power amongst each other, the power over slaves and men, the power of love and lastly the supernatural power of magic. These forms of power is witnessed through governance and possession in the play as well. Shakespeare depicts this power predominantly through Prospero who seems to have the greatest extent of power in the play.

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