The Tempest And Julio Cortazar's 'The Night Face Up'

Discovery has the power to transform individual’s lives to allow the individual to re-discover themselves and therefore give them a different perspective on their own life. This concept is demonstrated in William Shakespeare’s play ‘The Tempest’ and Julio Cortazar’s short story ‘The Night Face Up’. Shakespeare through the main protagonist, Prospero demonstrates that discoveries can cause individuals to become merciful and cooperative, even if they were out for revenge initially. In contrast Cortazar through his nameless protagonist conveys that the discovery of tragedy and danger can transform the individual into one who escapes reality to the extreme. Through both Prospero and the nameless protagonists, different transformations are illustrated

This is presented through the emotive language of Miranda “I have suffered with those that are suffering”, through the empathy that is displayed by Miranda the violent action of Prospero on the ship that carries Antonio and the royals are demonstrated. Through this violent action Prospero demonstrates his desire to get revenge on all the people that have harmed him and his daughter. However, Prospero also commands Ariel to protect the people on board, coupled with this, the metaphor “The government I cast upon my brother and to my state grew stranger” shows that he is on the path to self-enlightenment due to his acknowledgement of his own downfall. Prospero through the order to protect the people and the use of the personal pronoun in the metaphor displays that he has identified his own role in his downfall. By accepting his role he is able to start to forgive Antonio and progress on the path to enlightenment. However, he is presented to not have reached complete self-enlightenment through his vengeful treatment of Caliban seen through the metaphor “A devil, a born devil on whose nature, nurture can never stick”. Through this metaphor, he illustrates that he

His initial view is conveyed through the comparison between the Modern World and the Aztec world. The positive imagery of “passing under trees filled with birds” describes the free, peaceful and safe nature of the modern world through the symbolism of birds living in freedom and not locked up in a cage. This is contrasted with the metaphor of “He detached himself almost physically from the nightmare” when referring to the Aztec world shows that it is an unsafe and violent due to the world being described in negative connotations by the protagonist. However he realises that this peaceful world that he lived in was only his imagination. The realisation of his true reality occurs through the imagery of “He realised he was running in pitch darkness…the sky crisscrossed with treetops was less black than the rest” of the Aztec world. Coupled with the motif of smell in his dreams shown through “it was a curious dream because it was full of smells and he never dreamed smells” also reflects the idea that his real world is the Aztec world. The depth of description when describing his dream and the use