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Sketch the character of prospero in the tempest
Comparing and contrasting characters in shakespeare
Sketch the character of prospero in the tempest
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Shakespeare’s characters of Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Prospero from The Tempest share some traits of speech and manipulation. The Tempest was written late in the author’s career. It features an older character tinkering about with the lives of the younger people around him. This brings to mind an easy comparison between Prospero and the writer himself. The character of Prospero is controlled by no one else. He is strong, he is in charge, and he is, in his own thoughts, wise. Like Prospero, Shakespeare is able to shape the events, emotions, and environment. Prospero can be seen a caricature of Shakespeare written by the author himself. Shakespeare was an older, experienced man, author, actor, and courtier. Prospero conjures up storms to achieve his means, Puck uses magic to create a dream world full of love, desire, and beguiled people, just as Shakespeare creates an atmosphere through his words. On the other hand, Puck is not in full control of his actions, he is guided throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Oberon and must acquiesce to Oberon’s wises. Prospero, in many ways is a combination of the characters of Puck and Oberon. He holds magical abilities, he attempts to control matters of the heart, he is bent on getting what he wants, and he is manipulative. In many ways, Shakespeare embodies many of these characteristics as well. He can control the audience, he can persuade them into feeling different things at different times. He is, like Prospero and Puck, a magician.
Puck and Oberon showcase a younger and less matured author. Their actions contain mischief and folly, easily accessible writing from a young author. It is a concept that Shakespeare would return to repeatedly. Their desire is...
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...uld have been a powerful tool to gain their attention at the end of what would have been a long evening at the theatre. The straightforward speaking to the audience would have pulled them back in and made sure that they understood the basic meaning of the play. Puck and Prospero explain their actions and try to convey to the audience what they are meant to take from the play. These final speeches from these characters would have memorable to a first time audience, something that could have a few lines easily repeated and retold to friends and family. There is a reason that these two pieces are fairly well known, even if one is not completely familiar with the works of Shakespeare. Puck's somewhat goofy plea for forgiveness and Prospero's more dignified and eloquent speech both call to simple human emotions.
Works Cited
the tempest, a midsummer night's dream
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’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream juxtaposes the patriarchal world of justice, rule, and order, contextualized as Theseus’ Athens, with the youthful, rebellious universe of Oberon’s woods. In the last lines of the play, Robin Goodfellow (Puck), one of several maliciously-inclined forest fairies, attempts to reconcile these opposites by suggesting to a potentially offended audience that the “immoral” events having occurred in these woods would simply have taken part in a dream. In contrast to the other characters of the play who either emblematize each side of the binary (fairies as the “woods” and older humans as “Athens”), or assert both extremes at different periods in time (young Athenians), Puck embodies the liminal space
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, playwright William Shakespeare creates in Bottom, Oberon, and Puck unique characters that represent different aspects of him. Like Bottom, Shakespeare aspires to rise socially; Bottom has high aims and, however slightly, interacts with a queen. Through Bottom, Shakespeare mocks these pretensions within himself. Shakespeare also resembles King Oberon, controlling the magic we see on the stage. Unseen, he and Oberon pull the strings that control what the characters act and say. Finally, Shakespeare is like Puck, standing back from the other characters, acutely aware of their weaknesses and mocks them, relishing in mischief at their expense. With these three characters and some play-within-a-play enchantment, Shakespeare mocks himself and his plays as much as he does the young lovers and the mechanicals onstage. This genius playwright who is capable of writing serious dramas such as Hamlet and Julius Caesar is still able to laugh at himself just as he does at his characters. With the help of Bottom, Oberon, and Puck, Shakespeare shows us that theatre, and even life itself, are illusions that one should remember to laugh at.
There are many elements in Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, which one cannot reconcile with the real world. The main theme in The Tempest is illusion, and the main focus is the experiment by Prospero.
In William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero lives with his daughter Miranda on a deserted island. On the surface, he appears to be a benevolent leader doing his best to protect and care for the inhabitants of the island, especially for Miranda. On closer inspection, however, Prospero plays God, controlling and creating each individual to fit the mold he desires. He takes advantage of his authority over the people and situations he encounters while wearing a facade of integrity and compassion to disguise his wily intentions and to retain love and respect.
...acter, who is patriotic and stands by what he beliefs, attributes that are important even today. His final decisions exemplify his courage, his loyalty and his individualism, urging the reader to follow these traits of Okonkwo into the 21st century, but also see history from more than one point of view. On the other hand, the Tempest illustrates the world of Elizabethan England, with Prospero being Shakespeare, who had to cater to his rich and poor audiences, in order to make a living. His play might end as a light comedy but it shows the serious restraints of society, where no one is free to act according to his own thoughts and one’s fate rests in the hands of someone else. These two stories, while different in so many ways, challenge the audience to think about life today and see how much the aspects of conformity and individualism continue to battle to this day.
Through The Tempest play, William Shakespeare weaves together a tale that is characterized by anti-colonialist sentiments. Prospero - the deposed Milan Duke - adopts a colonialist mentality by treating his colleagues as slaves who have no rights. Characters who suffer mistreatment under Prospero include: Ariel - the spirit creature; Ferdinand - the Naples Prince; and Caliban - Sycorax’s son. Prospero possesses much magical power which he uses to oppress his compatriots. Consequently, Prospero is portrayed as a colonial tyrant who abuses his immense power. Anti-colonialism feelings are especially evident through the actions, utterances and disposition and of Caliban, Miranda, Ferdinand and Ariel. To illustrate, Caliban berates Prospero for the former’s forced labor. Likewise, Ariel protests Prospero’s reluctance to release the former as earlier agreed. Miranda also expresses her dissatisfaction with Prospero’s unfair imprisonment of Ferdinand. Similarly, Ferdinand appears to challenge Prospero’s authority by briefly stopping dragging timber so as to flirt and chat with Miranda. The foregoing four characters exhibit conduct that highlights their displeasure with Prospero’s colonial-style authority over them. From the preceding expose, it can thus be concluded that Shakespeare’s The Tempest play is about anti-colonialism based on its depiction of Caliban, Miranda, Ferdinand and Ariel’s opposition to Prospero’s oppressive authority.
William Shakespeare starts with a seemingly unresolvable conflict in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The main characters are lovers who are either unrequited in their love or hassled by the love of another. These lovers are inevitably paired. How does Shakespeare make this happen? He creates many subplots that, before long, are all snarled up into a chaotic knot. So, what actions does Shakespeare take to resolve these new quandaries? He ends up trusting a single key entity with his comedy. It’s only then that he introduces a special character into his world: a mischievous fairy whom is known by the name of Puck. Puck is the catalyst for all these subplots and, indeed, for the entirety of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Try to take Puck out of the play. Is there anyway for the play to survive? No, without the character of Puck, A Midsummer Night’s Dream would be very different from the play as it is today.
William Shakespeare, in his play The Tempest, uses social order, with particular reference to 17th century gender stereotypes to explain the nature of the main character, Prospero. Prospero is master of the three other main characters, with whom he shares very different relationships. Miranda, his daughter, represents the stereotypical "submissive female" of Elizabethan times who didn't resist; she accedes to everything Prospero says. As a result, Prospero exerts a sort of passive control in relation to Miranda, easily exercising power over her. Caliban, on the other hand, represents the complete opposite of Miranda, fitting an unbridled male role that represents deviation from power. Because of Caliban's digression, Prospero commands him with sheer anger and contempt, an aggressive form of control. Fitting between the roles of Caliban and Miranda is Ariel, Prospero's servant. Ariel, a spirit who is never assigned a gender, represents the middle ground between male and female and is thus treated by Prospero with a mixture of aggressiveness and passiveness. This assertive control results in a paternalistic relationship between Prospero and Ariel. Despite these differing relationships, Prospero utilizes each and every character to reach his ultimate goal: the advancement of his political position in Milan.
The play, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare is a very cleverly thought out piece of work. Shakespeare very deliberately inter-relates several different forms of power during the course of the play. There is political power, shown through the plethora of political characters and their schemes, while at the same time parodied by the comic characters. The power of magic and love, and its ability to reunite and absolve also plays a major role in the play. Throughout the play, Prospero, the main character, takes great advantage of his power and authority, both properly and improperly. The epiphany of this however, is realized at the end of the play.
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.
The nucleus of the plot in Shakespeare's The Tempest revolves around Prospero enacting his revenge on various characters who have wronged him in different ways. Interestingly enough, he uses the spirit of Ariel to deliver the punishments while Prospero delegates the action. Prospero is such a character that can concoct methods of revenge but hesitates to have direct involvement with disillusioning his foes. In essence, Prospero sends Ariel to do his dirty work while hiding his involvement in shipwrecking his brother, Antonio, from his daughter, Miranda.
In Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, there are two characters who appear to be polar opposites. The characters of Caliban and Ariel both play very important roles in the play. The term caliban is defined as “a brutish or brutalized man,” and the term ariel is defined as “a spirit of the air” (Dictionary). The definitions of these two characters names even show the huge difference in the two characters before readers or viewers even get to know the characters. There are also differences in how the two characters feel about the self-proclaimed king of the island, Prospero. However, regardless of their many differences the one thing that they do have in common is the fact that they are both oppressed by Prospero who has deemed himself king of the island and seek freedom.
The illusions of justice and freedom, and what they truly are, has been a reoccurring theme throughout the works. The definitions of justice and freedom have become so construed throughout the times. In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Prospero tries to enthrall his audience in his narrative of social justice. The idea of justice the play portrays represents one individual who controls the fate of all others. Their freedom is controlled by the interference of those around them. Although he spends most of the play righting the wrongs done to him, he is misdirecting so to hide his true motive. Prospero misconstrues the definitions of justice and freedom by enslaving Ariel and Caliban, using magic for his own good, and creating a false happy
The Tempest was written in 1611 as Shakespeare’s last romantic comedy. This play is focused mainly on the theme of power. Shakespeare portrays an aging magician who has been living in exile with his young daughter on a remote island for the past 12 years. Shakespeare presents forms of power in different ways, but mainly through the characters of Prospero. In The Tempest Shakespeare shows 3 different types of power, which are through love, power over his slave Caliban, and power of magic.