Miranda’s name means, “that which must be admired.” While this obviously means that others will admire her, it also means that she herself feels admiration and wonder towards the world. This sense is a direct result of Prospero’s influence on her. She is inexperienced and naïve, but these qualities in part contribute to her role as an object of wonder and are what present her own sense of wonder. In a way this trait of hers is the manifestation of her enslavement to her father. Although it may seem that, because she expresses herself with a sense of amazement and (uninformed) joy towards Ferdinand, she is choosing her own fate, in reality she is a victim of her father’s manipulation. Miranda does not choose Ferdinand on her own volition, her father chooses him for her; because Prospero shelters her from experiences that might influence Miranda to gain first-hand understanding of life, her sense of wonder is in actuality a side-effect of her life-long manipulation. In this way, Miranda’s function as an object of wonder facilitates her subordination, and her own sense of wonder prevents her from realizing her position under Prospero’s authority.
Miranda serves one main purpose for Prospero; she is a foil to reveal his manipulative nature and his grandiose plan for power. Prospero relies on Miranda’s role as an object of wonder
Miranda’s relationship with Ferdinand is the first example we see of her feelings of amazement; when she first sees him she remarks, “I might call him / A thing divine, for nothing natural / I ever saw so noble” (1.2.422-424). Miranda’s reaction is childlike and characteristic of her inexperience; she admires Ferdinand because her father has influenced her to admire nobility and stand in awe of power. She is...
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...is decisions for her. In this way her sense of joy and wonder is a confirmation of Prospero’s success. She is so happy to be “enslaved” or used as a tool for Prospero to gain power that she does not realize what is being done to her. Her experience is akin to that of colonized peoples during this time. She is the perfect tool for Prospero because she does not have any experiences that occur off of this island, she believes that it is her choice to marry Ferdinand, and she has no real role in power. Prospero, in turn, is the example of the colonizer who must carefully manipulate his slaves to believe that they need to be enslaved; Miranda believes this because Prospero makes an effort to withhold information from her until and allows her to learn said information slowly so that she will react with wonder and therefore be grateful to her manipulator for teaching her.
kindness and innocence portray heart" (line 8/9) and this contrasts. to her father who is not as concerned as she is "Tell your piteous heart there's no harm done" (line 14). Prospero's power and control over Miranda is something that really stands out, "obey and be attentive" (line 38) and it is clear that she. respects him, "my dearest father" (line 1.) At first one may presume that Prospero is an evil man for causing the tempest, but I feel that He loves Miranda very much and would do anything to protect her.
In summary, Shakespeare’s The Tempest play explores the theme of opposition to the colonial-style authority of Prospero based on various characters’ covert and overt reactions to the master’s antics. For instance, Ariel opposes Prospero’s continuous detention of the former regardless of an earlier agreement to the contrary. Moreover, Caliban expresses his dissatisfaction with the forced labor that her does for Prospero. To prove his opposition to Prospero’s authority, Caliban plans the master’s death. Miranda also makes a statement that indicates her displeasure with the way Prospero executes his authority especially with regard to Ferdinand. The imprisoned Ferdinand also indicates his opposition to Prospero’s power through a disproving statement made before Miranda.
Miranda first meet, Ferdinand wants to make Miranda his queen and Miranda feels that "there's
But with Prospero informing Miranda of this at such a late stage in her life is this Prospero as a control freak only allowing his daughter Miranda to know the truth when he feels it is time or is it Prospero being caring keeping this information from Miranda until she is of an age when she can fully understand who she is and where she came from?, again it is not clear to see if Prospero's intentions are for his own good or the good of his daughter.
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.
Prospero’s power is displayed as higher than the other characters in the play. Prospero’s power causes the chaos within the play which ends up being Prospero’s downfall due to his emotional response about Ariel’s argument that the characters have endured enough pain “one of their kind…be kindlier moved than thou art?” (5:1 20) Prospero’s question displays his will to look deeper into what the pain ha has caused the other characters and allows his own discovery to begin. Prospero’s emotion in this act displays his will to reconnect with himself and his realisation that he has had power over all the characters including his daughter. This understanding leads to Prospero’s emotional and intellectual response through his epilogue “dwell on this bare island, by your spell; But release me from my bands”.
Prospero is in complete control of Miranda; he raises her in his image and as nearly all fathers of his day demands respect. He commands her, “obey, and be attentive” (Shakespeare 1.2.39) when he tells her the story of how they came to the island. Also alike the fathers of this time, Prospero would plan his daughter’s future marriage to Ferdinand. Ferdinand is the only man Miranda has ever seen, besides her father and Caliban so he immediately captivates her—they mutually fall in love. Prospero also controls the speed at which their relationship progresses, by accusing Ferdinand of only pretending to be the Prince of Naples and forces him to haul wood; this act only further exemplifies the power and control Prospero has over his
There is a hierarchy on the island, with Prospero on top of the list. Lorie Jerrell Leininger writes in her article “Miranda is given to understand that she is the foot in the family ...
She falls in love with Ferdinand at first sight and Prospero claimed it was all in his plan. “But this swift business I must uneasy make” was his plan (Shakespeare 24). When Prospero says “business” it implies he is making a trade; it could be fair enough to assume he is giving away his daughter to Ferdinand for royalty. Business is very important to Prospero, as we see can see throughout the whole play; Prospero is thinking about the profit he will gain with every action he takes. In this case, he would become part of the royal family by letting Miranda be with Ferdinand. But Miranda and Ferdinand are clearly falling in love; he is not controlling it. He - with the help of Ariel - was the one who caused the tempest that sunk the ship and brought the men to the island but that does not mean he is making Ferdinand love Miranda. He does, however, make it uneasy for them to fully be together in the beginning, which makes them want each other even more. By doing so, Miranda and Ferdinand fully believe they are only meant for eachother; this is all part of his plan. Prospero had nothing to do with their emotions, but his “plan” was a success.
This time however, Prospero used his daughter as bait in order to draw Ferdinand closer in the hopes of getting them married. He wants to regain his title as the Duke of Milan. Prospero presents himself as a victim of injustice, however his belief of justice and injustice is somewhat contradicting. He takes advantage of this authority over other people and situations he encounters while using his integrity and compassion to mask his dangerous plans and to retain love and respect. The Tempest in the end suggests that love and compassion are more effective political tools than violence, hatred or even abusive magic.
Before being forced out of Milan, Prospero valued magic more than his dukedom. Shortly after the Tempest, Prospero feels the need to tell Miranda about her past. “My brother and thy uncle, called Antonio— I pray thee, mark me (that a brother should Be so perfidious!)—he whom next thyself Of all the
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 Tempest, written by William Shakespeare, Miranda is the daughter of Prospero, former Duke of Milan. They were both exiled to an island, where they have lived with the company of each other, along with Caliban, Prospero’s slave, for twelve years. The word “Miranda” means admired in Latin, and the character Miranda is admired by many characters such as Caliban, Ferdinand, and her father. Not only is she admired, but she also looks at the world with appreciation and admires everything. Most editors and readers of The Tempest view Miranda as an innocent, young, selfless girl, but there are context clues that show she is cunning and selfish.
It’s not the discovery one makes that shapes its worth, rather the way in which their perspective and values change as a result. Whilst Prospero is calling the storm that sinks his enemy’s ship in The Tempest, Miranda exclaims “If by your art…you have / Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them”. The imagery used and connotations of “allay” convey Miranda’s reaction to the discovery of her father’s power and the penned up anger within. With this discovery in mind, Miranda undergoes a change in values; specifically her undying loyalty to her father as the situation positions her to side against him. This highlights how new contexts and situations can stimulate discovery, as well as encourage one to engage and adapt their values. At the time Shakespeare’s plays were being written and performed, England was an emerging global superpower, focused on expanding its borders. Colonialism and the philosophy behind it are explored by Shakespeare through Prospero and Caliban’s relationship; that of a European colonizer and a native inhabitant. Prospero believes Caliban should be grateful towards him for assuming rulership of the island and educating him, raising Caliban above his ‘savagery’; “A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purpose”. The dramatic irony of this statement expresses the ignorance of Prospero’s attitude towards Caliban. The audiences knows that in reality, Caliban feels that his rulership has been stolen and soon realises Prospero views him as an inferior. Similar to Prospero on the island, in Life of Pi, Pi finds himself stranded on a small boat with only a Bengal tiger, Richard Parker as company. Bereft of any human companionship and facing the harsh reality around him, Pi discovers what he believes to be his lowest point in life. The morning after the storm and shipwreck, a wide shot depicts Pi drifting across the clear ocean, before fading into another, almost identical shot with
Prospero uses the power of love to influence his daughter Miranda. Prospero knows that Miranda is devoted to him so he uses guilt to maintain her devotion. Miranda tells her father “Alack, what trouble/Was I then to you!” (I.2.153.154) her saying that to him shows that because of Prospero making her feel guilty, she is willing to do anything just for him. “Had I been any god of power, I would/Have sunk the sea within the earth…” (I.2.10.11). This quote indicates that she understood the extent of her father’s power and she had possessed the same amount of power, she would use it differently with Prospero. His power over Miranda is one that is continuously in this play. Prospero does say “I have done nothing, but in care of thee, /of thee, my dearest one…”(I.2.16.17) when he says that he makes it known that he does love his daughter and only trying to protect.