Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a strange, non-historical drama that focuses mainly on an act of injustice. By the unjust conduct, one analyzes Prospero’s brother’s takeover of the crown. Prospero’s efforts to restore justice via the rejuvenation of his power illustrate a dual predicament. In The Tempest, Prospero’s use of mystical powers to dominate his followers is selfish and causes conflict with his people; his actions toward Ariel, Caliban, and Miranda, among others, reveal his ideas and character.
Prospero is a sympathetic character since his usurping brother mistreated him; nonetheless, his unlimited authority over the other actors and his overly dramatic statements make him problematic. He seems self-important and inflated, and his multiple requests for Miranda’s attention indicate that his story bores her (Shakespeare et al. 20). Miranda’s attention is immediately captured when Prospero shifts the conversation away from his profoundness in searching for knowledge and discusses something else entirely.
The desire for knowledge is what first leads Prospero into disarray. By ignoring routine duties as a duke, he allowed his brother the opportunity to rebel against him. His acquisition and use of supernatural power made him incredibly powerful and mostly hostile. Although Prospero views himself as a victim of his brother’s oppression, his notion of the right and unjust may appear hypocritical. For instance, while enraged that his brother evicted him from the kingdom, he had no regret for enslaving Ariel and Caliban to accomplish his schemes and attain his egoistic objectives. Caliban maintains that he was polite and helpful to Prospero (Shakespeare et al. 347). He asserts that the ungrateful and desolate Prospero imprisoned him in exchange for his generosity and positive outlook.
Prospero’s knowledge and use of supernatural skills made him incredibly powerful and mostly unlikeable. When Ariel informs his master to release him from his responsibilities early if he fulfills them voluntarily, Prospero becomes enraged and threatens to restore him to his previous confinement and suffering. As Prospero’s self-made antagonist, Sycorax represents everything that weakens him. She is a symbol for everyone who can challenge Prospero. Therefore, anytime someone engages in a fight with Prospero, they conjure Sycorax. Sycorax is a symbol so potent that even her name is a curse. She stays potent in Caliban’s and Prospero’s imaginations as a representation of all that contradicts Prospero’s ideals and morals. In the drama, property rights are equivalent to the right to govern, and the right to rule determines the personal rights of each person.
Sycorax undermines Prospero’s patriarchal beliefs not just via matrilineal inheritance but also through her sexuality. Sycorax represents unbounded female sensuality that defies gender limits, and Prospero sees her as a threat to enhanced female liberty. Sycorax represents an alternative to the vow of chastity that Prospero has made Miranda swear to uphold. Prospero’s fixation with Miranda’s sexuality underscores the need for purity in a patriarchal culture. Miranda’s virginity determines her destiny, rendering her vulnerable and objectified. Prospero tells Ferdinand that if he “breaks her virgin-knot” before their marriage, he would punish the pair with “sour-eyed contempt” and infertility (Shakespeare et al. 16). Prospero is preoccupied with safeguarding Miranda’s virginity, valuing it over her future bliss.
How Prospero treats Miranda reaffirms virginity as the cornerstone of a woman’s worth and destiny. Ferdinand tells Prospero and Miranda that he would create her “The Queen of Naples,” but only if she is “a virgin” (Shakespeare et al. 451). The proposal of Ferdinand binds Miranda’s fate to her virginity. Miranda’s purity is not a choice but a product that men may possess or control.
Prospero’s interactions with his daughter and Arial demonstrate his sensitivity and compassion. In his times of hardships, his affection for Miranda gave him the strength to survive his tragedy. “His daughter preserved his humanity; his affection for her, as she blossomed into a lady, bolstered his compassion” (Shakespeare et al. 454). Even though he has significantly endured at the hands of his loved ones, Prospero remains free of bitterness, hatred, and cynicism due to his love for his daughter.
His treatment of Miranda throughout the performance demonstrates his affection for her. He commits himself to Miranda’s education with a level of wholehearted dedication that. He says: “And hear Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit? Than another princess can, that has more time for vainer hours and tutors not so careful” (Shakespeare et al. 456). The happiest point in his life is when his love for Miranda and Ferdinand is fully realized.
The most admirable and endearing aspect of Prospero’s personality is perhaps his willingness to forgive. Despite the basic human impulse for vengeance, he is not satisfied with it. When the time for reconciliation arrives, he is satisfied by the regret and repentance of his foes. After he has gathered all the wrongdoers and instilled in their hearts the most profound guilt for their transgressions, he grants them a pardon that only a pure mind could grant. He seemed to believe what he said: “In virtue, not in revenge, is the rarest action” (Shakespeare et al. 41). Even with his many virtues, it does not symbolize perfection. Perhaps he is godlike, but he is not god. Prospero is prone to outbursts of wrath, irritability, and impatience. At the time of the crisis, he cannot conceal his inner turmoil.
Prospero grasped the transitory and intense essence of human life. He is aware that, although being a very “powerful art,” his magic is just “harsh magic,” and decides to shatter his magic and “bury it (Shakespeare et al. 488). He is satisfied with the joy of Miranda and Ferdinand and intends to carry out his ducal responsibilities. Shakespeare made a sensible option when he opted to have Prospero shift to his worldly obligations. Prospero had attained godlike qualities, yet he could not be a god. His research and expertise had made him strong, and he could now use them for the benefit of humanity. Notably, Prospero appears to have been influenced by Shakespeare’s maturity. His surrender of authority is more of a declaration than a retreat from its effectiveness.
Despite his flaws as a person, Prospero is crucial to the plot of The Tempest. Prospero’s charms, conspiracies, and manipulations, all part of his vast plan to reach the play’s conclusion, virtually single-handedly propel the action. In the last acts, Prospero becomes a more appealing and sympathetic figure. His affection for Miranda, his capacity to forgive his adversaries, and the truly happy ending he fashions all combine to neutralize the negative deeds he committed along the road. Though Prospero might occasionally behave autocratically, he eventually allows the audience to embrace his worldview. In Prospero’s closing speech, he compares himself to a writer by requesting applause, transforming the play’s closing scene into moving praise of art, originality, and humanity.
Shakespeare’s narrative contains a lot of romantic elements, as seen in his play The Tempest. The play has an enveloping conflict between Prospero and his brother, who rebelled against him. Additionally, he has several adversaries during the play but eventually forgives them at the end. For instance, he even frees himself of his oppression of Ariel by releasing him from his captivity. It is apparent in the play Shakespeare uses rebellion as a romantic element in the play as seen through Prospero.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. The tempest. Edited by Burton Raffel, Harold Bloom, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2006.