William Shakespeare's The Tempest
Love, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a “strong affection”, a “warm attraction”, an “unselfish loyal and benevolent concern” for another. It is “to feel a passion, devotion, or tenderness” for another. Love is simple and yet so utterly complex. Love is that which has the power to build you up and when taken away has the potential to knock you down. The Tempest by William Shakespeare is a political play with a love story woven throughout it. This tale of passion is one that is presented through Prospero’s daughter Miranda and Alonso’s son Ferdinand. Miranda and Ferdinand set themselves up for what they believe to be a life of bliss, but is it merely a spell cast upon them by Prospero, is he simply playing the puppet master in this new found devotion? Or is it a smattering of lust provided by Miranda’s lack of exposure to the outside world which is being misconstrued as a state of pristine love?
Through the years, critics have provided countless different outlooks on this liaison; yet while Miranda and Ferdinand’s underlying motives remain a mystery to many, this will be yet another attitude towards the bond in question to aid in the quest for a resolution to the query. Is it really true love? Before reaching for a solution however, analyses of the characters of Miranda and Ferdinand are in order.
Miranda is presented to the audience in Act 1, Scene 2; from the very beginning, she proves to be a woman full of sympathy and compassion. “O, thy cry did knock against my very heart!” (1.2.8-9). She is distraught when she finds the storm provoking and threatening the ship at sea. She pleads with her father Prospero to end the torturous beating the ship is taking. “If by y...
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Throughout the play, Prospero is a figure who talks at rather than to the other characters, including his daughter Miranda, Prince Ferdinand, and Ariel, his airy servant. At the end of Act IV Prospero is caught up in the ecstasy of punishing and determining the fate of his foes. The beginning of Act V, however, marks a change in the character of Prospero, which averts a possible tragedy. Prospero is unsettled even though his plans are reaching fruition. In his talk with Ariel for the first time we see an actual conversation take place. In addition, in the line "...And mine shall." (Shakespeare V.i.20) we see a change of heart on the part of Prospero, and in the following monologue the audience is privy to introspection and contemplation even beyond that of the end of the masque in Act IV "We are such stuff as dreams are made on..."(Shakespeare).
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Ferdinand and Miranda’s type of relationship shows Shakespeare’s ideas about true love, recognising not just the emotional side of love, but the physical nature too. Miranda promises Ferdinand “The jewel in my dower” which is her virginity, a prized thing in Jacobean times. This knowledge would have been known by Shakespeare’s audience and knowing this helps us to understand Prospero’s protection of his daughter from Caliban.
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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 ...