William Shakespeare: The Tempest
How is fate used by Shakespeare, in the Tempest, to change and control
the range of characters, using Prospero’s power and his magic?
In Literature, Destiny or Fate is a source of irony in literature;
where the characters may act without realising the destiny that the
audience or reader is aware of. This is very much true to that of the
plot in the Tempest. Shakespeare has used Prospero’s craft of magic,
his great source of power, to influence and change the fates of other
characters in the play; for personal gain or for the good of others.
His personal gain is seen by his plan to use his power and magic for
his vengeance against his brother Antonio, whom usurped his throne.
For non-selfish reasons, he uses his power and magic to unite and
create love between Miranda and Ferdinand throughout the play.
Throughout the play, neither of the characters are fully aware of
Prospero’s tempting with their fates, but only the audience are
completely aware of it.
The Tempest with which the play opens is the result of Prospero’s
control of the elements, where Prospero creates a storm at sea.
Alonso, the king of Naples, is sailing home after the marriage of his
daughter, Claribel, to the King of Tunis. During the voyage the
weather suddenly deteriorates, and Alonso’s ship is separated from the
rest of the fleet and driven towards an island. Miranda has seen this
shipwreck and asks her father, Prospero, to help the victims,
especially as he is the one responsible for carrying out the storm.
Prospero has done everything to make sure that no harm comes to anyone
and that he has used his magical powers entirely f...
... middle of paper ...
...to give power to prospero to carry his
plan on the couple. Miranda and Ferdinand take Prospero’s criticisms
at face value:
‘Speak not you for him: he’s a traitor. Come;
I’ll manacle thy neck and feet together:
Sea-Water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be
The fresh-brook mussels, wither’d roots, and husks
Wherein the acorn cradled.
However, the audience realises that Prospero has arranged the meeting
between Ferdinand and his daughter in the hope that they will fall in
love and thus heal the breach between Naples and Milan. The punishment
is created so that Ferdinand will not feel that Miranda is won too
easily. Shakespeare gave power to Prospero to accomplish this, and
this is an example of him using the magic and power for non-personal
gain, but that of the love for his daughter and her happiness.
Audience (Who was the audience for this work? What evidence from the author’s writing leads you to this conclusion?)
is a feasible and attainable goal, he begins to do it for his own benefit, as well as his
Before an author begins composing a body of work, there are three requirements necessary to establish beforehand. The composer must first “have a specific purpose and an audience”( Braziller, Kleinfeld, 7). A purpose allows there to be an overall reason to write. The purpose is necessary to persuade, inform, educate, or entertain the reader on a certain topic. The topic can be caused by "the time period, location, current event, or cultural significance (University, 1995-2018 )”. Identifying the audience is necessary since it instructs the composer how to communicate in a way the audience will appreciate and understand. Knowing how the audience will best understand the information gives the composer an advantage when trying to communicate the
reader is reading literature that they can relate to. An example of this is coming of age stories.
How important is an individual that most often than not authors focus on the growth of one over the growth of the many? Is it because the growth of one symbolizes the growth of all? Or is the focus on the individual due to the image it presents which is the growth in us? In any event, this outlook of individualism is widespread in literature and different genres and techniques excavate the development of the individual. Another factor that comes into play in the development of the character is the situation and the effects of the environment. Within William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest and Michael Cervantes Saavedra’s satire Don Quixote are two different characters molded and formed or in both cases malformed to incorporate their capsules which are the genres and settings that imprison them.
thus he is now able to use it to fit his own purposes. By using
“I asked her to wear something revealing, so she showed up in a prophet's toga.”(CITE) Jarod Kintz’s words are an example of miscommunication, or failure to comprehend meaning. In this case, it is implied that one person misunderstood the message of another, but incomprehension also applies to problems other than falsely interpreted requests. Incomprehension can occur when people misinterpret another’s words or intentions, or when a person misreads situations or events. The outcome described in Kintz’s quote is unexpected and unintended, but there are instances of incomprehension that have consequences of greater severity. Perhaps a classic tragedy with a high body count falls under these parameters.
to dominate over and control his kingdom/state, it was obviously not meant for lesser mortals. It
William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, tells the story of too unfortunate lovers caught up in their family’s hatred which in the end leads to the tragic deaths of both lovers. Classical Greek tragedy influenced Renaissance writers greatly Shakespeare was no exception. According to the dictionary, fate is ‘the supposed force, principle, or power that predetermines event.’ Which means that it is out of our hands.
In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and in Sophocles’ Antigone, both authors explore and illustrate the differences between “human law” and “higher law”. The two authors have different opinions about those laws. In The Tempest, Prospero uses his magic to manipulate various characters, and he often uses his magic to follow the plot of the story by his own way. Prospero uses his magic for total control over the people on the island where he lives. In Antigone, Creon, the King of Thebes, uses his title to manipulate others that kills Haemon and Antigone. Though the ending is more tragic in Creon’s control than in Prospero’s, by the end of Creon’s manipulation, the Greek Gods destroys Thebes. Regardless of the differences between the plays, both have different views of “human law” and “higher law”. Through the character and the setting development of the story in both plays, it is obvious that Shakespeare favors “human law” and Sophocles favors “higher law”.
readers. It has been acted live in countries throughout the world and has been translated
William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare features, Shylock a very controversial character due to his religion, profession and personal traits. Professionally Shylock lends money to people in debt, in order to gain interest and profit. Although, this is very much central to our modern way of life, in the Elizabethan period, money lending was not accepted as an acceptable profession. Throughout "The Merchant of Venice" Shylock is portrayed as menacing, inhumane and slightly eccentric, yet at times misunderstood and induces sympathy from the reader.
Artists, directors, and writers are using different way to educate viewers and readers on issues going on in the world. They trying to spread awareness, but
Another important point is that, even in live situations, it is very difficult to distinguish complete range of intended or pertinent audiences. For example, during delivery a speaker may allude to other debates by a gesture or even a facial expression that targets a certain audience. However, these may still be lost to some of the audiences, and even to some of the intended receivers for that matter. Textual formulations and the style of performance can certainly provide clues for identifying other debates alluded to by the speaker, implicitly suggested standpoints of the speaker and contradictions as well as compromises between them. But such information can often still be obtained even without having any access to the actual
flesh and blood, hates him so much that she robs him and runs away to