ipl-logo

Power And Relationships In Shakespeare's The Tempest

1430 Words6 Pages

Introduction: How far would you go to get power? Power,and how the love of power affects relationships,are continual themes in The Tempest. How signficant power is to the characters in the play is evident by looking at the relationships in the tale,and more specifically,looking at how the want of power causes relationships to detoriate;especially the relationships between masters and servants. A perfect example of this is the relationship between master Prospero,and his servant Caliban. Even though their relationship could have detoriated due to a number of other factors, Caliban and Prospero only become enemies because they each have an incredibly strong hunger for power and are willing to go to great lengths to get,and keep,power,which leads …show more content…

The attack,in Caliban's mind,is nothing more than a way of attainng powr from Prospero,who holds all the power to himself. In Caliban's mind,he didn't do anything more than try and tae bac hat was rightfully his,the control of the island,and so he is entirly unapologtic about his actions,whenever Prospero brings them up,"O ho, O ho! would't had been done!/Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else/This isle with Calibans.."(Shakespeare 1.2.349-51) Prospero on the other thand,is furious about caliban's actions,and his anger stems not only from the fact Caliban attaced his daughter,but also,mainly,from the fact that this marks the first time he really sees Caliban;s want for hunger,and begins to fathom just how far Caliban will go to get power. For the first time,he sees caliban as a legitimt threat to his power,and this causes him to take drastic actios to ensure Calian stays powerless. His past aids him in this pursuit(Gifford,Lauren);his brother plotted against him once,and suceeded,so he knows what it's like to have his subjects plot against him,and more importantly,he's able to work out how to stop any plots Caliban plans proactively,and effectively. Caliban on the other hand,uses his past to try and aid him in his attempts to steal power from Prosperos; …show more content…

While Prosperos can be an overbearing character,and he's not always the nicest,Caliban respected him and would have embraced his entrance to the island,if it weren't for the lengths he goes to to take,and maintain control of the island. Towards the end of the play,the first signs of a reconciliation between the pair happens as a direct result of Prosperos deciding to leave behind his power hungry ways on the island,and return to the kingdom he was wrongfully exiled from. The fact their relationship immediately shows hints of mending,because of Prosperos' decision to end his power hunger,just goes to show the love of power is exactly what causes their conflict in the first

Show More
Related
276 Words | 2 Pages

Prospero also gets mad because he thinks he has been kind to him so caliban repays him by violating

Read More
433 Words | 2 Pages

Like English viewed Indians, Prospero viewed Caliban’s race as being “inferior” and savage, for he is a native and different from what he believes is civil. Prospero takes him under his control and teaches him the ways of what he thinks is civilized, teaching him language and chores, and eventually making him his slave. Like Douglass and slaves, he would be punished often by Prospero’s spirits for any offense such as a wrong response to just a small mistake or look. Caliban’s status/class went from being the “king” of the island that his mother left him to being a slave, just like the Indians were manipulated by the English while they plotted on how to take their land away. Caliban however can think for himself, yet others view him as inferior because of his race, thinking he has no intellect.

Read More
626 Words | 3 Pages

At the start of the play, he was a victim of colonisation when Prospero usurped his island making him vengeful. This shows that Caliban only acted bitter and resentful due to Prospero

Read More
723 Words | 3 Pages

Prospero constantly claims that Caliban is incapable of doing anything right and is only capable of committing malicious acts. In the text, Shakespeare states, “Which any print of goodness wilt not take, being capable of all ill.” This statement further emphasizes Prospero’s revulsion towards Caliban. They have both endured neglection and verbal abuse throughout their lifetimes, which has led them to commit wrongful acts of violence upon

Read More
490 Words | 2 Pages

Caliban is an interesting character who experiences numerous hardships throughout the course of The Tempest. Suffering from being a slave to Próspero Caliban is unhappy with his situation and would do anything to improve his being. Caliban taught Prospero about the secrets of the island and opened the door for him to take over. These tweets explain the type of character Caliban is amd his personality traits. For the most part Caliban had a pretty good life with Prospero until he fell in love with Miranda.

Read More
987 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
922 Words | 4 Pages

Let us consider our initial meeting with him. Caliban is the only native living on the island now inhabited by Prospero and Miranda. Caliban is described as hag-born, whelp, not honored with human shape, demi-devil, poor credulous monster, hag-seed, strange fish. Caliban tells Prospero in scene two that 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. Caliban is reminding Prospero that he learnt everything about the island from him, suggesting also that Caliban was a native on the island and also that Prospero had no knowledge on how to survive on the island.

Read More
1036 Words | 5 Pages

He made Caliban his servant because he could not trust him, he had lost respect, and had no other choice. Even when Caliban was serving Prospero, he was still treated fairly. Prospero freed Ariel from being eternally stuck in a tree, and in return he asked that for a year, Ariel would serve him and help him get off of the island, and then he would be freed. Prospero did not take partial control of Caliban and Ariel without a reasonable purpose, where the Europeans had no real reason at all. Prospero’s valid reasoning, his open mindedness towards Caliban, and his willingness to set Ariel free are why I believe that the translation of the play that compares it to European colonialism is

Read More
1180 Words | 5 Pages

(1.2.191-193) reinforces Cesaire’s post-colonial perspective and his endorsement of negritude. Caliban finds himself continuously ill-treated; he has it the worst of all of Prospero’s slaves. The conditions of hard-labour that were subjected to black people by white supercilious people during colonization are mentioned by Cesaire were Prospero “forgives” Ferdinand and excuses him from his afore imposed state of slavery on the basis that they are of the same race and rank and the manual labour that was intended for Ferdinand is passed on to Caliban. Caliban is naïve and gullible, he trusts Stephano and Trinculo upon meeting them for the first time in spite of the ordeal he undergoes with Prospero. Caliban’s woes are echoed throughout the play and draws sympathy from the reader, whereas in “The Tempest” Shakespeare makes it difficult for the audience to consider Caliban as anything further then the perpetrator

Read More
1220 Words | 5 Pages

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).

Read More
881 Words | 4 Pages

Kermode states, "Caliban is the bestial man [with] no sense of right and wrong, and therefore sees no difference between good and evil. His state is less guilty”. While he should have taken measures to prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again, Prospero goes further to ensure that Caliban pay dearly for his actions. He threatens continually to "rack [him] with old cramps", and confines him "in this hard rock" away from what is rightfully his island. For Caliban, Prospero has no mercy or forgiveness.

Read More
1470 Words | 6 Pages

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] /

Read More
1555 Words | 7 Pages

Caliban was being dehumanized. Caliban was a symbol that stood for the countless victims of European imperialism and colonization. Like Caliban, the colonized people were disinherited, exploited, and subjugated. Caliban was used by Shakespeare as an example that was socially relevant to the ongoing colonization of other areas from

Read More
1624 Words | 7 Pages

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

Read More
1123 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Power And Relationships In Shakespeare's The Tempest

Related Topics

Open Document