Power in Shakespeare's Tempest and Césaire's A Tempest
Power is defined as the possession of control, authority, or influence over others. In William Shakespeare's The Tempest and Aimé Césaire's A Tempest, power is a key element in the relationships that exist between characters. As Caliban and Prospero battle for dominance over the island, Miranda finds that she holds a certain power of her own as she matures from an innocent youth to a sensual, strong-headed young woman. Seen by some as a victim of Prospero's need to control, yet by others as both content and charming, it is that transformation that influences those about her and guides her growth into adulthood. Miranda is an intriguing character whose actions influence those about her in a quiet yet powerful way .
In creating Miranda, Shakespeare broke the mold of his traditional female role by omitting the appearance of additional female characters (Yancey 1). As Prospero's only daughter and the only female on the island, she leads an extremely sheltered and innocent life at the hands of her father, "Here in this island we arrived, and here Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit Than other princess can, that have more time For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful" (Shakespeare 1.2.171-174). As a representative of youth and innocence, Miranda faces difficulty in her attempts to understand the past yet remain dutiful to a father she loves despite the oppression handed down to her. She is intelligent and even headstrong, yet remains ignorant to many issues. In Lorie Jerell Leninger's "The Miranda Trap", "Miranda is given to understand that she is the foot in the family organization of which Prospero is the head. Hers is not to re...
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...r advantage. She can be contrasted to Sycorax, whose banishment was most likely due to her large amount of power. Miranda continues on the journey of finding herself throughout the play, and though her maturation does not complete itself, she left in a much better position than where she began.
Works Cited
Césaire, Aimé. A Tempest. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1999.
Leininger, Lorie Jerrell. "The Miranda Trap." The Woman's Part: Feminist Critisicm of Shakespeare. Eds. Carolyn R. S. Lenz, Gayle Green, and Carol T. Neely. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1980.
Miranda in The Tempest: an Annotated Bibliograpy. Martha Yancey. English Department Site. Update date unknown. University of Georgia. 21 Sept. 2001 <http.//www.arches.uga.edu/~yancey/bib.htm>
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. London: Penguin, 1968.
shows the effect of the society on them, the loss of hope they had in
Throughout the play, Prospero is a figure who talks at rather than to the other characters, including his daughter Miranda, Prince Ferdinand, and Ariel, his airy servant. At the end of Act IV Prospero is caught up in the ecstasy of punishing and determining the fate of his foes. The beginning of Act V, however, marks a change in the character of Prospero, which averts a possible tragedy. Prospero is unsettled even though his plans are reaching fruition. In his talk with Ariel for the first time we see an actual conversation take place. In addition, in the line "...And mine shall." (Shakespeare V.i.20) we see a change of heart on the part of Prospero, and in the following monologue the audience is privy to introspection and contemplation even beyond that of the end of the masque in Act IV "We are such stuff as dreams are made on..."(Shakespeare).
the end of the Second World War. The play is set in 1912, just before
Shakespeare uses symbolism in this scene to help create meaning and emotions from the audience, in the form of archetypes. The symbol of Miranda’s virginity, symbolizes Miranda’s purity and innocence. Miranda
The first difference between the play and the movie “The Tempest” is; the protagonist Prospero, the Duke of Milan, is played by a female character named Prospera in the movie filmed in 2010, directed by Julie Taymor. He is a complex character in the play however the personality that Shakespeare created was slightly changed in the movie. The key point of this gender difference is to highlight the role of women’s empowerment over the last two hundred years. Taymor’s movie is making a statement on how Prospera’s power is limited for the island, she is still able to empower throughout the text sexually,...
Leininger, Lorie Jerrell. "The Miranda Trap: Sexism and Racism in Shakespeare's Tempest." The Tempest: Critical Essays.Ed. Patrick M. Murphy. New York: Routledge, 2001. 223-229.
...n Women Reading Shakespeare 1660-1900. Ann Thompson and Sasha Roberts, eds. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1997.
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.
During both periods, the men were the leaders and the females were their inferiors. Prospero and Miranda, the father and daughter in William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, are an example of a relationship between a father and daughter in Elizabethan England, however they were slightly different from the norm of their period. Prospero had to do everything for Miranda since she had no known mother and they were on a deserted island, she was unable to go to a household of a relative, which was a commonplace during this time. Prospero is in complete control of Miranda. He raises her in his image and as nearly all fathers of his day demand respect.
Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997. 366-398. Neely, Carol Thomas. “Shakespeare’s Women: Historical Facts and Dramatic Representations.”
Leininger, Lorie Jerrel. “The Miranda Trap: Sexism and Racism in Shakespeare’s Tempest.” The Woman’s Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Eds Carolyn Ruth Swift Lenz et al. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983. 285-294
In the play The Tempest by William Shakespeare, power is the ability to have authority over someone based on social status. However, as evident in the play, the drive for power can lead to betrayal. Characters constantly involved in the power struggle, and some are driven to want more power. The conceptuality of power is also the reason for the play’s interesting plot. Characters like Prospero and Caliban are As the plot is introduced, Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, tells the infuriating event of Antonio usurping him. He recalls his memories to Miranda, his daughter, as he tells her, “To have no screen between this part he played/ And him he played it for, he needs will be/ Absolute Milan. Me (poor man) my library/…He thinks me now incapable” (I.ii.107-111). Prospero, the once powerful, almighty duke who had the authority and rule over his people is overthrown by his own
goes to the party held by Lord Capulet in order to see Rosaline. He is
There are genuinely good people just like this character. Miranda is one of the characters in this book, who is gentle, empathetic, and kind. She feels sorry for the seafarers saying “O, I have suffered with those that I saw suffer (Mowat and Werstine, 13). She sees how the people on the boat are struggling to stay alive on the boat in spite of the storm that her father Prospero cast upon them and she really feels for them.
In the story The Tempest by Shakespeare, the desire for power can be seen through the characters of Stefano and Antonio. Stefano is one of the men who was on the ship along with Antonio and other characters like Gonzalo, and Alonso, etc. The ship was caught in the tempest, which is a violent storm that was created by the protagonist, Prospero, and the sailors were pretty much goners. However, all of the people on the ship did make it out alive onto the island of which Prospero resides and the characters reveal their desire for power and how much it affects their actions and mindset.