How Shakespeare Presents the Encounter between Ferdinand and
Miranda from Lines 450-499
The encounter between Miranda and Ferdinand in lines 450-499 of The
Tempest is presented using three characters, Miranda, Ferdinand, and
Prospero. Miranda and Ferdinand have fallen in love at first sight to
Prospero’s delight, though he doesn’t want them to fall in love too
quickly or interfere with his plans, so he lies to Miranda about
Ferdinand’s unworthiness and then charms Ferdinand from moving.
Miranda is presented as a helpless damsel distressed by the way her
father handled this situation.
“If the ill spirit have so fair a house,
Good things will strive to dwell with’t”
These are Miranda’s first words in these lines saying that physical
beauty is a sign of proper morals and righteousness. This was an axiom
during the renaissance period, hinting that she is only wise enough to
state the obvious argument.
After Ferdinand is charmed from moving she says,
“He’s gentle and not fearful.”
This sounding like she ...
By describing Miranda’s reaction to the old women’s’ questioning, Porter conveys the sense of embarrassment Miranda felt. She describes Miranda’s reaction by using a simile: “with her powerful social sense, which was like a fine set of antennae radiating from every pore of her skin . . . “ Miranda is ashamed because she knew it was rude and ill-bred to shock anyone although she had faith in her father’s judgment and was perfectly comfortable in the clothes.
of tune”, is a lark, not a nightingale and thus it are dawn and Romeo
Previous to Act 3 Scene 1 Romeo and Juliet marry each other. This is a
The Tempest presents the character of Prospero the usurped duke of Milan. In the beginning Prospero’s character can be described as foul, spiteful, and selfish. This can be seen in various scenes in acts one and two of the play where he treats the people around him as his servants especially the fateful Ariel who reminded him of his promise only to be threatened of imprisonment. He’s selfish in the sense that he would do anything to accomplish his goal of executing his plan. Like a master puppeteer he is manipulative and deceptive. He even manipulates his daughter to fit according to his scheme. However, all of his foul characteristics left him as his plan nears its end. It is as if the shedding of his clothes represented his change is personality and attitude. After Prospero discarded his staff, drowned his magic book, and wore his duke garments he became more responsible and sympathetic. Instead of exacting revenge on the king of Naples a...
The Dramatic Effect of Act One Scene Five of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet In this essay I will explain how Act 1, Scene 5 is dramatically effective. Act 1, Scene 5 is the most important scene in the play because it is the scene where Romeo and Juliet first meet. This play is essentially about two families that are enemies, The Capulet’s and the Montague’s, Juliet is the daughter of Capulet and Romeo son of Montague during the play they fall in love. Right from the beginning the prologue tells us this play is a tragedy.
The reciprocation of salvation, gifts, and promises or contracts that governs Miranda, Ferdinand, and Prospero’s relationship is contingent. In other words, nothing is given freely. Although salvation is often time portrayed as a gift, I suggest that perhaps there is no such thing as a free gift or pure salvation. Prospero gives Miranda as a gift to Ferdinand. However, the reason was not that the gift is free, but that in return Prospero gains from gift-giving. Still, Prospero cannot give the gift until the promise of chastity is fulfilled. He cannot ergo receive the benefit until the fulfillment of the promise. Inversely, Ferdinand cannot receive the gift until he fulfills his promise to Prospero by not violating Miranda’s virginity. The gift is contingent on the promise of saving. I will argue that this saving herself and Ferdinand not violating her virginity is a legal and economical contract. Because both parties, Ferdinand and Prospero, have responsibility and benefit from the promise, this is why there is no such thing as a free gift rather a mutual trade. Prospero and Ferdinand’s pre-contract agreement is a necessary condition for Ferdinand’s taking Miranda’s hand in marriage, another form of legal contract.
The first passage is the Prologue l. 1-14, and the chorus gives the audience some background information before the play starts. My second passage is III, i, 91-108, and Mercutio has just been stabbed by Tybalt and is speaking his final words to Benvolio and Romeo before he dies. The first passage gives the setting to the play and a brief overview of who is involved and what will take place. It explains that two lovers, from two different families, have fallen in love but it is forbidden and, through a series of events (which the audience will watch) they die and their families still dislike each other. In the second passage Mercutio is ranting on about how if it weren’t for the feud between the two houses he would not be dying to distract himself from the pain of being stabbed. His discussion with Romeo and Benvolio is
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of an ancient feud where the children of two families at war fall deeply in love with each other. Set in the 16th century William Shakespeare’s play has many different themes running throughout it, which include love, hate, death and conflict. The play opens with a fight but ends with suicide that creates peace between both families who unite from their losses. The conflict, violence and aggression in the play happen from revenge and an ancient family grudge. An audience from the 16th century would have enjoyed Romeo and Juliet because of the real life drama and tragedy the play goes through. The patriarchal society gave women absolutely no rights and they had to obey their man’s ordering a patriarchal system. The theme of conflict is revealed as the characters argue over Juliet’s disobedience.
We already know that Miranda and Ferdinand make small mistakes about each other and each other’s lives “sweet lord you play me false” and this backs up Shakespeare’s reasoning for Prospero’s warning against breaking his daughter’s “virgin-knot”. Prospero’s suggestion that they need to sort out these mistakes before committing themselves to each other, physically, are not only welcomed by the couple and Alonso and the other courtly characters, but also a reflection of Shakespeare’s own beliefs about sex before marriage.
Favourite scene: Act 2, Scene 5 My favourite scene was Act 1 scene 5. In this scene Juliet is waiting for the return of the Nurse. The Nurse has gone to talk to Romeo about their marriage. Once the Nurse arrives, she deliberately takes a long time to tell Juliet what Romeo had to say.
William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which is commonly believed to criticize society’s romanticized idea of love, demonstrates that even though love may seem unachievable, it is still possible to find it even in the most unlikely places. Shakespeare illustrates this idea in Twelfth Night through the characters Antonio and Sebastian by subtly suggesting that Antonio and Sebastian are more than just friends. It is Sebastian’s physical beauty that attracts Antonio to him, which leads him to devote himself to Sebastian as a sign of love. Antonio’s love for Sebastian grows to obsession; however Sebastian considers their friendship to be completely plutonic. In addition Sebastian generally tries to save Antonio from his own desire; however he does a bad job by leading him on unintentionally due to his passive nature.
Miranda in The Tempest is usually described as sweet, intelligent, and hopeless romantic. In the beginning of the play during the tempest, Miranda watches helplessly as the ship sinks. Miranda begs her father to stop the storm: “If by your art, my dearest father, you have / Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them” (I. ii. 1-2). She wants him to stop torturing the people and to keep them safe. This shows Miranda’s caring side, even though she does not know the people, she wants them to be safe. When Ferdinand becomes a slave to Prospero and has to carry wood, Miranda says “If you’ll sit down / I’ll bear your logs the while. / Pray give me that; / I’ll carry it to the pile” (III. i. 23-25). In this quotation, she shows the reader that she is willing to do anything for someone she cares about. She wants him to stop doing the chores because she is afraid that he will hurt himself, yet she says that she will do it instead. She is willing to injure herself for others around her to be safe. Prospero told Miranda to stay away from Ferdinand, but she defies her father because she loves Ferdin...
Secondly, Miranda also serves as the ultimate fantasy for any male who (like Ferdinand) is a bachelor. She is extremely beautiful, she is intelligent, and she has never been touched (or even seen) by another male. Shakespeare makes Miranda even more desirable by including the fact that she has never seen or even talked to another man (with the obvoius exception of Prospero). Miranda personifies the ultimate source of good in the play, and provides the ultimate foil for the evil character of Caliban. When Ferdinand is forced to chop wood by Prospero, Miranda offers to do it for him. Finding a woman this humble in the world of Shakespeare is almost impossible. One does not have to look farther than her last line in the play to realize her purpose in the plot. Miranda states "O wonder! / How many goodly creatures there are here! / How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world / That has such people in't" (Tempest,5.1,185-7) Through this passage and many of her others Miranda shows a positive attitude which is almost uncanny when compared to the other characters.
She falls in love with Ferdinand at first sight and Prospero claimed it was all in his plan. “But this swift business I must uneasy make” was his plan (Shakespeare 24). When Prospero says “business” it implies he is making a trade; it could be fair enough to assume he is giving away his daughter to Ferdinand for royalty. Business is very important to Prospero, as we see can see throughout the whole play; Prospero is thinking about the profit he will gain with every action he takes. In this case, he would become part of the royal family by letting Miranda be with Ferdinand. But Miranda and Ferdinand are clearly falling in love; he is not controlling it. He - with the help of Ariel - was the one who caused the tempest that sunk the ship and brought the men to the island but that does not mean he is making Ferdinand love Miranda. He does, however, make it uneasy for them to fully be together in the beginning, which makes them want each other even more. By doing so, Miranda and Ferdinand fully believe they are only meant for eachother; this is all part of his plan. Prospero had nothing to do with their emotions, but his “plan” was a success.
A good starting point to discuss the use of illusion and reality in The Tempest is to focus on the setting in Act I, scene ii. Here, the reader (or viewer) realizes that it takes place entirely in Prospero's cell which is a small room where he practices his magic arts. Miranda here asks her father, Prospero, to make sure that the people on the ship will be safe even though he has created a storm which threatens to capsize their boat and drown them all. Prospero reassures her. He says that he has no intention of allowing the people to die. To reassure her further, he continues by explaining his motives in creating the storm. Here the reader learns that Prospero and Antonio are brothers, and that Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan but that his brother usurped his kingdom and exiled Prospero and his daughter Miranda. Fortune saved the two from their rotting ship which had been set to drift, and brought them to the island where Prospero has been granted supernatural powers by the enemies of Antonio.