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The Importance Of Power In Shakespeare's The Tempest

1699 Words7 Pages

Power is a driving force that can lead to happiness or misery. The idea of someone looking to another for guidance is frightening. When done right, the guidance can lead to major successes. However, when a person is corrupt and power-hungry, those around him are affected negatively. The Tempest serves as a great example of how power can be used to do the wrong or the right thing. The play is a change to most avid Shakespeare readers, as it contains aspects of magic and power that ultimately lead to major successes and failures. The conflict all begins when a power hungry man usurps the dukedom from his brother, who is a wizard. The wizard, Prospero, lives in isolation for many years, which causes him to plot his revenge. As a cause of Prospero's machination, many other machinations are formed. The Tempest, written by Shakespeare, questions the importance of power through commenting on the different effects it has on relationships and how it can cause or resolve conflicts. Prospero's lenience with his power allows his brother, Antonio, to usurp his dukedom. Prospero neglects his power to work on his magic. His brother then has room to steal the power from him. Prospero …show more content…

The hunger and desire for power can lead to relationships being damaged. However, bad relationships can lead to the loss of power. It is also seen that kind people make better rulers, whereas unkind rulers are easily overthrown. The Tempest does a good job of showing the effect power has on relationships, and the way it can either strengthen or ruin a bond. This is important because the way a ruler treats his subjects strongly affects how much influence he has over them. Over history, wars have been started over the public's disagreements with rulers, and if they only took the time to discover what makes a good ruler, the catastrophes might have been avoided altogether. After all, a good ruler can be the difference between prospering life and bloody

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