Prospero's Personality In The Tempest

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Controversy surrounds Prospero’s character throughout The Tempest and many questions arise when evaluating his motives and personality as a man, father, and leader. To evaluate Prospero’s personality, audiences must properly understand Shakespeare’s intent for his character and also evaluate man’s nature. Although many men act good, every human contains sinful nature, and humans and characters labeled as good people must deliberately act well while actively attempting to avoid sinful nature and not allowing harmful traits fester within their personality. Although Prospero clearly tries to act well towards some characters such as his daughter, his actions towards Caliban, Ariel, and brother illustrate his good quality as a man fails in several arenas of life. Prospero fails to act as a great role model since he uses questionable means to reuniting his family and returning home while also treating other poorly. …show more content…

When first inhabiting the island, Prospero enslaves Caliban and Ariel and forces them to serve him for a significant time period. Despite some arguing Prospero acts honorably since he kept his promise to release them and treated them well, simply compelling them to serve as his slaves displays Prospero lack of good character and manhood. In Act 1, Ariel describes the length of effort he will go to in order to serve Prospero, “I come / to answer thy best pleasure. Be’t to fly, / to swim, to dive into the fire, to ride / on the curled Clouds; to thy strong bidding, task / Ariel and all his qualities” (Act 1, Scene 2, 224-228). Any man forcing anyone else to serve them with this dedication clearly views themselves as superior to others and does not respect others enough. Through his lack of humility and actions towards those Prospero believed inferior to him, Prospero leads audiences to believe he lacks the qualities of a good

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