Duality Between Nature and Society in The Tempest One of the essential themes of The Tempest is the duality between nature and society. This is made evident through the character of Caliban: the disfigured fish-like creature that inhabits the island upon which the play takes place. Caliban lacks civility because he was born on the island deprived of any social or spiritual morality other than nature and instinct. He is literally man untamed. Caliban is not monstrous simply for the sake of
Art vs. Nature in The Tempest The debate between Art and Nature in The Tempest is very much based on the Renaissance debate, on whether “civilized man” or the "natural man" was superior. The advocates of “civilized man” presenting the "natural man" as being savage, intemperate and brutal in contrast to the nobility, self-control and high-mindedness of the “civilized man”. The advocates of "natural man" presenting him as what Rousseau was later to term the "noble savage" and the civilized man
Caliban as Representative of Natural Man in The Tempest The Tempest presents an argument against the concept of the noble savage through the character of Caliban. Caliban is the main focus as far as the notion of "nature" and "natural man" is considered in the play. Proof of this can be found in his name--"Caliban" sounds very similar to "cannibal," and hence serves to link him with primitive, natural man. In the first scene of the play, Caliban's character is connected with the lower objects
What immediately strikes the audience about The Tempest is the use of the supernatural in the form of apparitions like Ariel and the Harpy. These apparitions are under Prospero's authority and the result of his Art, which is the disciplined use of virtuous knowledge. By invoking a masque to celebrate the betrothal of Ferdinand and Miranda, Prospero effectively brings to full circle the theme of re-generation by obliterating the evil done and suffered by one generation through the love of the next
Shakespeare is one of the greatest artists the human race has ever produced. In the Tempest, he decides to determine which is more powerful – art or nature? He symbolizes art through civilization and nature through man and his natural place on Earth. Through the plot, Shakespeare reveals his own beliefs concerning which force is greater. The Tempest shows the respectable differences between art and nature, but eventually concedes that art is weaker and must bend itself to nature. In The Tempest
In The Tempest, Art is that which is composed of grace, civility and virtue. It is represented by Prospero, the other members of the nobility who belong to the court party and their servants. The world of the court is synonymous with the world of Art in the play. In contrast, Nature is bestial, brutish and evil; and manifest in the form of Caliban and the natural world. With two such extremes brought together, debate between the two is inevitable. There are two opposing views of the natural. One