William Shakespeare's The Tempest

William Shakespeare's The Tempest

Consider the character of Prospero and show how he used his position

to control many of the characters in the play and how his actions

contribute to the dramatic effectiveness. How do his actions and the

attitude of the characters to him relate to the events and thinking of

Shakespeare's day?

In the Tempest, the character of Prospero is the protagonist. Prospero

is the father of Miranda and has spent twelve years on the island

since he was usurped from being the Duke of Milan. Prospero is a

powerful man, which makes him a good leader. He is very knowledgeable

because of the books he read. He also has control, because he can be

harsh and firm but also virtuous towards others. Prospero would also

seem a cruel character to a modern day audience because of sense of

control and harshness he has over the other characters. However this

would have been accepted, as the traits of a good leader because in

Shakespeare's day being a good leader would entail being harsh and

cruel towards others so therefore Prospero was looked upon as a good

leader. This connects to James the first (the King at the time

Shakespeare wrote this play) because Shakespeare is suggesting that

James the first has these qualities, (harshness, cruel, firm) because

he is a King just like Prospero in the play. In Shakespeare's time it

would have be expected that a good leader should be harsh and firm-

often the leader was head of his family. Throughout the play we see

Prospero's harshness, towards Caliban, Ariel, Miranda and Ferdinand.

Prospero is very firm towards Ariel. Ariel has no freedom because

Prospero controls her. He needed to...

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...intless therefore the only form of control is violence

and that is why Prospero uses violence towards Caliban- because he is

not worth educating. When this play is dramatised Caliban could be

represented as a creature that is grovelling on the floor next to

Prospero showing a height difference meaning that Prospero is more

powerful and human like. Prospero is more powerful than Caliban

because they each try to curse each other but the curses from Caliban

are empty because he has a lack of power.

The start of the play immediately fills the audience with suspense,

because they do not know what is going on and there is a sense of

chaos and action that adds to the dramatic effectiveness. This opening

scene does not tell the audience much, and it also seems normal

because there is nothing supernatural or strange about it.