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Role and signigicance of caliban in the tempest
Role and signigicance of caliban in the tempest
Role and signigicance of caliban in the tempest
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Prospero’s Problem With Perfection: Why Magic Isn’t Enough
Giovanni Pico’s Oration on the Dignity of Man promotes the perfectibility of mankind. In the oration, Pico presents a specific, sequential program for man’s spiritual ascendancy to godly flawlessness. And yet Pico’s program is dealt a literary blow in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest when the protagonist, learned mage Prospero, is unable to complete Pico’s curriculum and quits his magic entirely. The divergent view of man expressed in these two works exists on many levels, but I believe the essential tension is revealed in the role of a single character in The Tempest: the misshapen manservant Caliban.
Caliban is grotesque and base. Arguably, his external ugliness reflects a moral hideousness within. Cosmo Corfield, in his scholarly article Why Does Prospero Abjure His “Rough Magic”? explicates this relationship when he associates “Caliban’s bestiality with a propensity to evil.” However, Caliban’s consignment to the realm of evil and vice must be examined more closely. Is Caliban so evil? Is earthiness necessarily linked to immorality? Understanding the character of Caliban is essential to understanding why Prospero is unable to achieve perfection.
Pico’s program for man’s perfectibility consists of three stages. He sees men as “first being purified, then illuminated, then finally made perfect” (16). These stages also follow in rigid sequence. Purification is achieved by “refraining the impulses of our passions through moral science . . . by dissipating the darkness of reason by dialectic” (16). Once cleansed of the “filth of ignorance and vice,” we may then “suffuse our purified souls with the light of natural philosophy” (16). After illuminat...
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...ke us remember what is significant. We may accumulate books and be filled with magical promise, yet still be – as Prospero until the very end – clueless. Pico’s program is best appreciated as a way of living – a desire to be the best person possible. Man’s perfection is wholly distinct from the perfection of God. The perfected man remains grounded in all that is human and natural; his eyes set not only on the heavens, but focused also on the world before him.
Works Cited
Corfield, Cosmo. “Why Does Prospero Abjure His “Rough Magic”? Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol.36, No.1 (Spring, 1985), 31-48.
Mirandolla, Giovanni Pico della. Oration of the Dignity of Man. Trans. A. Robert Caponigri. Washington D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 1999.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square Press, 2004.
Prospero is the image of the ideal Renaissance magician; whose magic is obtained from his books and knowledge that, in contrast to Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, has domain over spirits, which represent the passions, Ariel and Caliban. B...
Several aspects of Marxism can be seen over the course of the play The Tempest. There is a social and economic divide between characters, which creates tension between them throughout the play. Readers can see what is means to have power and how this power can be abused in order to mistreat others. In particular, Marxism ideologies can be applied specifically to the characters Prospero and Caliban. Prospero, a magician uses his power, to treat Caliban in an inhumane way. No matter what Caliban does, he will always be placed on the lower end of the economic ladder. Shakespeare’s powerful play, gives readers a new way to look at and appreciate reading and analyzing this piece, by looking at it through the perspective of a Marxist theorist.
Snider, Denton J. "A review of The Tempest." The Shakespearian Drama a Commentary: The Comedies. (1890). Rpt. Scott. 320-324.
Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations: William Shakespeare's The Tempest. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1997.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009. Print
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans, et. al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974.
In the comedic, yet thrilling play, The Tempest, William Shakespeare uses characters such as Caliban, Alonso, and Ariel to show Prospero’s immense cruelness and pure monstrosity. Moreover, these Shakespearean characters are also used to highlight Prospero’s change in character into a kinder and more forgiving person. Prospero starts the play out as a vengeful monster, after an illuminating moment however, his persona transforms into his true identity of a compassionate man.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1997.
Throughout the years since The Tempest was first published in the 1623 Folio, there has been much debate among Shakespeare’s contemporaries and critics as to the significance of the figure of Prospero and other major characters featured in the work. In this paper, I want to examine the figure of Prospero and his relationship with the character Ariel. In doing this, I want to show how Prospero is a figure for the artist, how Ariel is a figure for the poetic imagination, and how the relationship between Prospero and Ariel explores the relationship between the artist and his or her poetic imagination. By showing this, I wish to argue that Shakespeare’s intention in portraying Prospero and Ariel in this relationship is to comment on the values of the Humanist Renaissance in England and the role and responsibility of the poet in expressing those values.
Shakespeare's "The Tempest" forms a world within itself. Within this world, many topics regarding government, power and colonization are addressed. Shakespeare tackles the discovery of new places and races, the relationship between the colonized and the colonist, old world ideologies on new soil, as well as theories on civilization and government. These aspects at the core reveal a very clear struggle for political power. Prospero's first major monologue creates the foundation of such a theme. In 1.2 lines 30-175 Prospero tell his story recounting the usurpation of the power he had as Duke of Milan, then quickly renews his power on the island. Prospero beings his story with an authoritative tone stating: "Obey and be attentive" (1.2 48). Desiring political power and authority becomes the core from which other themes derive.
Caliban’s initial attempt to defy Prospero’s power via a verbal curse actually gives Prospero more authority as master in that the curse acknowledges the duke’s ultimate power. Caliban begins his speech with the vengeful request that all the evil "infections"(2.2.1) under the sun "fall"(2.2.2) upon the "tyrant"(2.2.160) Prospero. While Caliban wishes for Prospero to be so harmed by sickness, the slave does not have the power to make this happen. Instead, he must request that these evils "fall"(2.2.2) of their own accord upon Prospero. Caliban’s lack of authority because of his condition as a slave is immediately contrasted to that...
Prospero, the former Duke of Milan and protagonist of The Tempest by William Shakespeare, is the incarnation of values and talents of a Renaissance man. A Renaissance man is someone who is not only broad and deep in knowledge, but also applies that knowledge to his profession. Prospero embodies these values because he dedicates his life to learning magic and developing powers that he uses in the play, not only to get his work done, but also to gain control of spirits on the island and of his circumstances. Since Prospero possesses these talents and traits, the reader can infer that he is a Renaissance man. He shows these
Prospero’s decision to relinquish magic coincides with his decision to forgive Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian, freeing him from the burden of revenge. Moments prior to his declaration that he will renounce his magic, Prospero says, “Yet with my nobler reason 'gainst my fury / Do I take part: the rarer action is / In virtue than in vengeance…” (5.1.26-28). His “nobler reason” has a greater impact on his rational than his “fury”, resulting in his decision to free Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian after harbouring years of ill will against them. Prospero’s use of alliteration places emphasis on “virtue” and “vengeance”, and the contrast between the positive and negative connotation of his diction proves his understanding of the importance of forgiveness. Therefore, his power no longer has a corruptive influence upon him. Soon after he gives up his magic, Prospero also sets Caliban free, which in turn frees himself from the burden of his hatred for Caliban. Prospero tells Caliban, “Go, sirrah, to my cell… as you look / To have my pardon, trim it handsomely” (5.1.292-293). Prospero’s reference to Caliban as “sirrah”, although not respectful, still shows a stark change from the insulting manner in which Prospero previously spoke to Caliban. Prospero’s offer to give Caliban “pardon” shows development in their relationship since their mutual hatred for each other at the beginning of the play. Prospero’s decision to give
After years of writing plays of history, tragedy, grand comedy and dramatic romance, William Shakespeare emerged from his darker writing of the past into the lighter, more peaceful style of his play “The Tempest.” This was Shakespeare’s last complete play, and, just as he bid farewell to the art he had so mastered, his principal character Prospero departs from his artful magic on the island he omnisciently controls. While Prospero’s early actions against his foes echo the ideas of a vengeful god, he strives to educate more than to correct. He portions out the justice he carries out with mercy, even when his enemies are delivered directly into his divine power, and, by doing so, proves to be the master of himself, embodying the qualities expected of a good ruler.
Shakespeare, William, and Robert Woodrow Langbaum. The Tempest: With New and Updated Critical Essays and A Revised Bibliography. New York, NY, USA: Signet Classic, 1998. Print.