essay on power in the tempest

The Tempest

William shakespeare, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

From the opening scene of The Tempest during the storm, when the ruling courtiers on the ship must take orders from their subjects, the sailors and the boatswain, The Tempest examines a variety of questions about power: Who has it and when? Who's entitled to it? What does the responsible exercise of power look like? How should power be transferred? The play is full of examples of power taken by force, and in each case these actions lead to political instability and further attempts to gain power through violence. Antonio and Alonso's overthrow of Prospero leads to Antonio and Sebastian's plot to overthrow Alonso, just as Prospero's overthrow and enslavement of Caliban leads Caliban to seek revenge.

Ultimately, it is only when Prospero breaks the cycle of violence by refusing to take revenge on Alonso, Antonio, Sebastian, or Caliban that the political tensions in the play are calmed and reconciled. After Prospero's merciful refusal to seek revenge, Alonso and Prospero quickly come to an understanding and unite their once warring cities through the marriage of their children. The Tempest suggests that compromise and compassion are more effective political tools than violence, imprisonment, or even magic.

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The Tempest includes elements of both tragedy and comedy. It was written around 1610 and it's generally considered Shakespeare's final play as well as the last of his romance plays. The story is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, schemes to restore his daughter Miranda to her proper place using manipulation and illusion. He conjures up a storm--the aptly named tempest--to lure his power-hungry brother Antonio and the conspiring King Alonso to the island.

In The Tempest , power and control are dominant themes. Many of the characters are locked into a power struggle for their freedom and for control of the island, forcing some characters (both good and evil) to abuse their power. For example:

• Prospero enslaves and treats Caliban badly.
• Antonio and Sebastian plot to kill Alonso.
• Antonio and Alonso aim to get rid of Prospero.

The Tempest : Power Relationships

In order to demonstrate power relationships in The Tempest , Shakespeare utilizes the dynamics between servants and those who control them.

For example, in the story Prospero is the controller of Ariel and Caliban -- although Prospero conducts each of these relationships differently, both Ariel and Caliban are acutely aware of their subservience. This leads Caliban to challenge Prospero’s control by serving Stefano instead. However, in trying to escape one power relationship, Caliban quickly creates another when he persuades Stefano to murder Prospero by promising that he can marry Miranda and rule the island.

Power relationships are inescapable in the play. Indeed, when Gonzalo envisages an equal world with no sovereignty, he is mocked. Sebastian reminds him that he would still be king and would therefore still have power – even if he did not exercise it.

The Tempest: Colonization

Many of the characters compete for colonial control of the island – a reflection of England’s colonial expansion in Shakespeare’s time .

Sycorax, the original colonizer, came from Algiers with her son Caliban and reportedly performed evil deeds. When Prospero arrived on the island he enslaved its inhabitants and the power struggle for colonial control began - in turn raising issues of fairness in The Tempest

Each character has a plan for the island if they were in charge: Caliban wants to “people the isle with Calibans," Stefano plans to murder his way into power, and Gonzalo imagines an idyllic mutually controlled society. Ironically, Gonzalo is one of the few characters in the play who is honest, loyal and kind throughout – in other words: a potential king.

Shakespeare calls into question the right to rule by debating which qualities a good ruler should possess – and each of the characters with colonial ambitions embodies a particular aspect of the debate:

• Prospero: embodies the all-controlling, omnipresent ruler
• Gonzalo: embodies the utopian visionary
• Caliban: embodies the rightful native ruler

Ultimately, Miranda and Ferdinand take control of the island, but what sort of rulers will they make? The audience is asked to question their suitability: Are they too weak to rule after we have seen them manipulated by Prospero and Alonso?

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Back to: The Tempest by William Shakespeare

In the play The Tempest, Shakespeare contemplates the idea of power in various ways. The play explores the desire for control and power which is universal. It is a unique play that has yielded different perspectives of different ages.

In modern times, much has been interpreted from the play in terms of colonial and post-colonial reading . The play reflects the power of a master over its slave and as well as the power of men over women in a patriarchal society apart from other topical notions of power such as the king and his subjects.

The power which is most deciding in the play is the magical power of Prospero. Prospero controls the whole island and through his power, he can also intervene in the rhythm of Nature.

The brutal side of his power is exposed through his dealing with Caliban. His brutality towards him is justified by the fact that Caliban tried raping his daughter Miranda.

Nevertheless, his power must have blinded him from realizing certain limitations of Caliban and accepting him as a living individual. In his power, he denies Caliban any humanity rather reserves it under his fold and addresses him as an “ Other .”

Prospero’s attempt to civilize him is actually a patronizing device of power exercise. He is almost disappointed with his attempt to humanize Caliban but it feels more like a disappointment of curiosity.

At the beginning of the play, it is not clear whether Prospero is good or bad but with the progress in the plot, one notices Prospero’s use of power for just reasons reveals his goodness by the end.

Caliban is a foil to Prospero’s power. Prospero’s power has no effect upon Caliban while at the same time, his power can control even the sleep of other characters.

The power which men exercise over women in such a society as shown in the play is clearly contemplated in the play. Miranda becomes a mere object of exchange for Prospero to achieve his political gain.

Even when Ferdinand describes his love in a mode of serving Miranda, it remains a tool of patriarchal power. Ferdinand says that “ The very instant that I saw you did My heart fly to your service. ”

Miranda’s femininity has been subdued under her father and later by Ferdinand. But towards the end of the play, Prospero decides to abandon his “ rough magic. ”

He understands the value of mortal limitations and retires from the limitless adventure of power and that’s what perhaps let him go back to the position of his past. Power in its various forms remains one of the prime thematic concerns of the play.

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Explore how Shakespeare presents the theme of power in "The Tempest"

Explore how Shakespeare presents the theme of power in “The Tempest”

 In “The Tempest”, power manifests itself in many different forms. Three of the main types of power that Shakespeare explores are the power of love, the power of magic and illusion and the power of a master over his slave. He presents these forms of power in a number of ways.

 In “The Tempest” Prospero appears to hold the majority of the power. He maintains his control over other characters in various ways, for example he uses the power of love to influence his daughter Miranda. Miranda is devoted to her father, and Prospero uses guilt to maintain this. In their first conversation, Prospero’s power over Miranda becomes apparent. She says “Alack, what trouble/Was I then to you!” and it is clear that because of the guilt she feels, she will be willing to do anything for him. It is evident that Miranda is aware of how powerful Prospero is, as she says “Had I been any god of power, I would/ Have sunk the sea within the earth”. This indicates that she understands the extent of Prospero’s power, and that if she had possessed the same amount of power, she would use it differently to her father.

 Prospero is manipulative, appearing self-pitying by saying “When I have decked the sea with drops full salt/ Under my burthen groaned” but also egotistical, saying, “Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit/ Than other princesses can” to which Miranda responds “Heaven thank you for’t!” Although he tries to cause Miranda to feel sympathy towards him in order to keep control of her, he also wants her to admire him.

 Although he also has power over Miranda using love, he also has power over a different form of love, namely romantic love. He orchestrates the meeting of Miranda and Ferdinand deliberately, presuming that they will fall in love. Although Prospero forbade Miranda from telling Ferdinand her name, he knew that they would inevitably fall in love. He does not want Miranda to appear as a prize that can be easily won, saying “I must uneasy make, lest too light winning/ Make the prize light” and he instigates his authority by creating rules for Miranda and also treating Ferdinand as he would a slave, ordering him to “Come! I’ll manacle thy neck and feet together”.  

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 Although Ferdinand is a prince, he must bow to Prospero’s authority, similarly to the characters of Ariel and Caliban. Prospero has control over his slave Ariel, whom he controls by the promise of freedom. This type of master-slave power is a dominant form of power within “The Tempest”. Ariel is a spirit who is, similarly to Miranda, devoted to Prospero. He says to Prospero “All hail, great master, great sir, hail!” The repetition makes it seem dramatic and joyful, emphasising Ariel’s devotion to Prospero, and the fact that he will do whatever Prospero asks of him. As with Miranda, Prospero also controls Ariel using guilt, saying “dost thou forget/ from what a torment I did free thee from... thy groans did make wolves howl” This causes Ariel feel as though he is at Prospero’s service, with Shakespeare using terrifying imagery to remind us of the anguish Ariel had faced before Prospero freed him. Although he may appear truly devoted, Ariel may only act in this way because of Prospero’s promise to “discharge thee” when his service is complete. It is arguable whether Ariel is merely flattering Prospero in order to be freed. When obeyed, Prospero treats Ariel with respect and love, calling him “My brave spirit!”  However, when Ariel shows a small amount of resistance against Prospero, saying, “Remember I have thee worthy service…thou did promise/ To bate me a full year”, Prospero immediately calls Ariel “malignant thing”, creating an image of a poisonous, evil inhuman being. This is similar to the treatment of Prospero’s slave, Caliban, whom Prospero calls “poisonous slave”.

 Whereas Prospero’s relationship with Ariel appears predominantly positive, with Ariel showing true devotion to his master, in contrast Caliban deeply resents Prospero and is only a servant by force. Caliban believes “This Island’s mine…thou tak’st from me.” Prospero controls Caliban with threats, saying things such as “tonight thou shalt have cramps”, forcing Caliban to be a slave. Prospero could be blamed for Caliban’s demise into savagery, calling him “Abhorred slave” and treating him with disrespect. Caliban is often rebellious towards Prospero, refusing to do what he is asked. This is similar to the beginning of the play, in which the Boatswain, who is usually subject to power from authority, is controlling those on the boat, subverting the master-slave presentation of power. He says, “You mar our labour. Keep your cabins” and when Gonzalo says, “remember whom thou hast aboard” the Boatswain replies “None that I love more than myself”. Whereas he usually submits to the power of Alonso, the king, he reverses this and takes control.  

Another example of this subversion of power is when Stephano and Trinculo, who are also servants to the king, convince Caliban that they are his masters. They use alcohol to gain power over him, Stephano saying, “Open your mouth. Here is that which will give language to you, cat” and are amused by Caliban, calling him “monster” and laughing when Caliban says, “I’ll kiss thy foot”. Caliban believes that they will able to free him from Prospero’s control over him, singing, “No more dams I’ll make for fish… Cacaliban/ Has a new master, get a new man”. Caliban is keen to get what he believes to be his island back.

  Ultimately Prospero is able to control all of the characters in the play, because of his magical powers and the ability to know what each of them is doing, and the fact he put them there in the first place. A prominent symbol of Prospero’s power is the raging tempest at the start of the play. It is the tempest that shipwrecks the boat, and brings the other characters onto the island. The stage directions indicate that there is “thunder and lightning”, adding to the intensity of the storm. Ariel’s description of the tempest is mystical and terrifying, and he creates strong imagery by saying “I flamed amazement…. The fire and cracks/ Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune/ Seemed to besiege.”  The tremendous storm echoes Prospero’s power, and also represents his anger towards those upon the boat who betrayed him.

 Prospero, however, is not in complete control of his power, as without his staff and books, as Caliban says, “He’s but a sot”. Although Prospero eventually uses his powers for good, he is not often portrayed as an entirely suitable leader. The amount of trust he invested in his brother Antonio led to his demise as the Duke of Milan. He also showed trust in Caliban, who then attempted to “violate” Miranda.

 Prospero acknowledges that he cannot continue using his magical powers near the end of the play, saying “But this rough magic/ I here abjure”. When he says “They being penitent/ The sole drift of my purpose doth extend/ Not a frown further”. Prospero knows that now he has gained the other character’s repentance, he has no more need to be angry, and can therefore give up his magical powers and “break my staff…drown my book”. This is emphasised by the description of the island. It often appears magical and mysterious, with Caliban saying “The isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs” and the spirits add a surrealistic element. Ariel’s song “Full fathom five thy father lies,/ of his bones are coral made” creates a mystical image, with a use of alliteration and powerful imagery. However, he is ultimately living in a world of illusions, and at the end of the play must step out of it and back into the real world, where he can no longer use magic.

 Although Prospero has seemed unforgiving with his powers throughout the play, at the end he forgives Alonso, saying “My dukedom since you have given me again/ I will requite you with as good a thing ”, showing Alonso that, contrary to his belief, Ferdinand is in fact alive. Prospero asks for our forgiveness. His speech makes it appear as though the audience has power over him, saying, “I must be here confined by you… Let your indulgence set me free.”  

 At first, Prospero is presented as having the most power within “The Tempest”. He is the cause of the shipwreck at the beginning and uses his magical powers to frighten Alonso and the rest of the party however it appears that he is only interested in revenge. He often only uses his powers to show off, and it is questionable as to how powerful he would be without magic, and the willingness of his servants, Ariel and Caliban, to comply with his demands. After all, it is Ariel who conjures the tempest at the start of the play, and as Prospero says about Caliban “We cannot miss him. He does our fire/ Fetch our wood, and serves in offices/ That profit us”. Prospero needs Ariel and Caliban in order to have power, and so throughout “The Tempest”, contrary to our beliefs at the beginning of the play, we begin to see that the main protagonist of power within “The Tempest” is not, in fact, Prospero.

 Shakespeare presents many kinds of power in “The Tempest”. He demonstrates the control that Prospero has over Miranda using love, and also different kinds of power between master and slave. Sometimes the master and slave power is subverted, such as at the beginning of the play, when the boatswain takes control. Shakespeare also presents a change in the balance of Prospero’s power. The main reason Prospero has so much power is due to his magic, however at the end of the play he sacrifices his powers and sets free his slaves, Ariel and Caliban.

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A Modern Perspective: The Tempest

By Barbara A. Mowat

Somewhat past the midpoint of The Tempest, King Alonso and his courtiers reach a temporary still point in their journey on Prospero’s island. Shipwrecked, they have searched for the lost Prince Ferdinand; now, exhausted, they give up the search. Into this moment of fatigue—and, for Alonso, despair—at the center of what Gonzalo calls their “maze,” enters the maze’s monster: a Harpy who threatens them with lingering torment worse than any death. For Alonso, the Harpy’s recounting of his long-ago crimes against Prospero is “monstrous”; maddened, he rushes off to leap (he thinks) into the sea, to join (he thinks) his drowned son Ferdinand.

King Alonso’s confrontation with the Harpy ( 3.3.23 –133) brings together powerfully The Tempest ’s intricate set of travel stories and its technique of presenting key dramatic moments as theatrical fantasy. The presentation of dancing islanders, a disappearing banquet, and a descending monster is the first big spectacle since the play’s opening tempest. The unexpected appearance of these island “spirits,” combined with the power of the Harpy’s speech, gives the Harpy confrontation a solidity within the story world that seems designed to rivet audience attention. At the same time, audience response to the scene is inevitably colored by curiosity about the “quaint device” that makes the banquet vanish and by awareness of Prospero looking down on his trapped enemies from “the top,” commenting on them in asides, and obtrusively turning the Harpy/king encounter into make-believe, first by telling us that the Harpy was only Ariel reciting a speech and, second, by reminding us, just before Alonso’s desperate exit to join Ferdinand in the ocean’s ooze, that Ferdinand is, at this moment, courting Miranda.

The double signals here—to the powerful moment within the story and to the deliberate theatricality with which the moment is staged—reflect larger doublenesses in this drama. They reflect, first of all, major differences in the temporal and spatial dimensions of the drama’s “story” and its “play.” The Tempest ’s “story” stretches over more than twenty-four years and several sea journeys; it embeds elements of the mythological voyages of Aeneas and of Jason and the Argonauts, of the biblical voyages of St. Paul, and of actual contemporary voyages to the new world of Virginia. The “play” that The Tempest actually presents is, in contrast, constricted within a plot-time of a single afternoon and confined to the space imagined for an island. 1 Through this particular doubling, Shakespeare creates in The Tempest a form that allows him to bring familiar voyage material to the stage in a (literally) spectacular new way.

The “story” that The Tempest tells is a story of voyages—Sycorax’s journey from Algiers, Prospero and Miranda’s journey from Milan to the island in the rotten carcass of a butt, Alonso’s voyage from Naples to Tunis across the Mediterranean Sea and thence to the island—and, on the island, a set of journeys (Ferdinand’s journey across yellow sands; Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo’s through briers and filthy-mantled pools, and Alonso and his men’s through strange mazes) that lead, finally, back to the sea and the ship and to yet another sea journey. This complex narrative, with its immense span of chronological time, its routes stretching over most of the Mediterranean, its violent separations and losses and its culmination in royal betrothals and restorations, is the kind of story told in the massive novels, popular in Shakespeare’s time, called Greek Romances. The Tempest ’s story could have filled one or more such romance volumes or could have been presented in a narrative-like drama such as Shakespeare himself had created in Pericles and The Winter’s Tale . Instead, within the brief period of The Tempest ’s supposed action, the narrative of the twenty-four or more years preceding the shipwreck of King Alonso and his courtiers on the island—worked out by Shakespeare in elaborate detail—is told to us elaborately. The second and third scenes of The Tempest —that is, 1.2 . and 2.1 —contain close to half the lines in the play, and close to half of those lines are past-tense narration. Through Prospero, through Ariel, through Caliban, through Gonzalo, through Sebastian, through Antonio, characters in our presence (and our present) tell us their pasts.

If we take the sets of narratives embedded in 1.2 and 2.1 and roll them back to where they belong chronologically, the first story (and the most fantastic) is that of the witch Sycorax, her exile on the island, her “littering” of Caliban there, and her imprisoning of Ariel ( 1.2.308 –47)—twelve years before Prospero is thrust forth from Milan. That thrusting-forth is the subject of the next story (next chronologically, that is): the narrative of Antonio’s betrayal of Prospero and of Prospero and Miranda’s sea journey and arrival on the island ( 1.2.66 –200). Then comes the story of what happened on the island during the next twelve years, a story in which narratives that tell of Caliban ( 1.2.396 –451), of Ariel ( 1.2.287 –306, 340 –47), and of Miranda and Prospero ( 1.2.205 –8) overlap and intersect. Finally comes the story from the most recent past—the story of the Princess Claribel and her “loathness” to the marriage arranged by her father ( 2.1.131 –40), of Claribel’s wedding in Tunis ( 2.1.71 –111), of the return journey of Alonso and his courtiers ( 2.1.112 –17), and of the shipwreck as described by Ariel ( 1.2.232 –80).

One of the most powerful features of the form Shakespeare crafted in The Tempest is that this detailed, complex narrative, told us in the first part of the play, keeps reappearing within the play’s action. The story of the coup d’état that expelled Prospero “twelve year since,” for example, is made the model for the Antonio/Sebastian assassination plot (“Thy case, dear friend,” says Sebastian to Antonio, “shall be my precedent: as thou got’st Milan, I’ll come by Naples” [ 2.1.332 –34]); the story appears at the center of the Harpy’s message ( 3.3.86 –93); and it is told yet once again by Prospero when, in the play’s final scene, he attempts to forgive Antonio ( 5.1.80 –89). Caliban’s story—“this island is mine”; “I serve a tyrant”—is told by him again and again. The story of Sycorax, who died years before the dramatic “now,” is alluded to so often—her powers described one last time by Prospero even as the play is ending ( 5.1.323 –26)—that she seems to haunt the play, as does the absent, distant, unhappy Claribel.

As the play reaches its conclusion, each of the stories recounted in the early narrative scenes is conjured up a final time, though the pressure now is toward the future—toward the nuptials of the royal couple, toward a royal lineage with Prospero’s heirs as kings of Naples. As that virtual future is created, the structuring process of the opening scenes is reversed: where narrative was there incorporated into the play, now the play opens back out into the next pages of the narrative from which it had emerged. As we watch and listen, the play we have been experiencing moves into the past, becomes a moment in the tale Prospero promises to tell to the voyagers—“such discourse as . . . shall make [the night] / Go quick away: the story of my life / And the particular accidents gone by / Since I came to this isle” ( 5.1.361 –64). As Alonso notes, this is a “story . . . which must / Take the ear strangely” ( 5.1.371 –72).

By folding the story into the play and then unfolding the play into its own virtual narrative future, Shakespeare creates a form in which past and future press on the present dramatic moment with peculiar intensity. We sense this throughout the play, but see it with special clarity in the confrontation between Alonso and the Harpy. The Harpy brings the past to Alonso as a burden Alonso must pick up—an intolerable burden for Alonso, who goes mad under the simultaneous recognition of his guilt and its consequences, given to him as Time Past, Time Present, and Time Future. In Time Past: “you . . . / From Milan did supplant good Prospero, / Exposed unto the sea . . . / Him and his innocent child” ( 3.3.87 –90); in Time Present: “for which foul deed, / The powers . . . have / Incensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures / Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso, / They have bereft” ( 90 –94); and finally, in Time Future: “Ling’ring perdition . . . shall step by step attend / You and your ways, whose wraths to guard you from— / Which here, in this most desolate isle, else fells / Upon your heads—is nothing but heart’s sorrow / And a clear life ensuing” ( 95 –101). This pressure of past and future on the present moment—a pressure that is created in large part by the way Shakespeare folds chronological time into plot-time, and that we feel throughout the play in Prospero’s tension, in Ariel’s restiveness, in Caliban’s fury—makes believable in The Tempest that which is normally suspect: namely, instant repentance, instant inner transformation. Because the dramatic present is so permeated with the play’s virtual past, so pressured by the future—the six o’clock toward which the play rushes, after which Time as Opportunity will be gone—that Alonso’s anguished repentance, his descent into silence, madness, and unceasing tears, his immediate surrender of Milan to Prospero and the reward of being given back his lost son—can all take place in moments, and can, even so, seem credible and wonderful.

The interplay between The Tempest ’s elaborate voyage story and its tightly constricted “play” is not the only doubleness toward which the drama’s Harpy/king encounter points us. It points as well to two kinds of travel tales embedded in the drama: ancient, fictional voyage narratives and contemporary travelers’ tales buzzing around London at the time the play was being written. The Harpy/king encounter is shaped as a sequence of verbal and visual events that in effect reenact and thus recall ancient confrontations between harpies and sea voyagers. In each of these harpy incidents—from the third century B.C. Argonautica through the first century B.C. Aeneid to The Tempest itself—harpies are ministers of the gods sent to punish those who have angered the gods; they punish by devouring or despoiling food; and they are associated with dire prophecies. The Tempest ’s enactment of the harpy encounter is thus one in a line of harpy stories stretching into the past from this island and this set of voyagers to Aeneas, and through Aeneas back to Jason and the crucial encounter between the terrible harpies (the “hounds of mighty Zeus”) and the Argonauts. 2 In replicating the sequence of events of voyagers meeting harpies, combining details from Jason’s story and from the Aeneid, Shakespeare directs attention to the specific context in which such harpy confrontations appear and within which The Tempest clearly belongs—that of literary fictional voyages.

At the same time, he surrounds the encounter with dialogue that would remind his audience of present-day voyages of their own fellow Londoners. Geographical expansion, around-the-world journeys, explorations of the new world of the Americas had heightened the stay-at-homes’ fascination with the strange creatures reported by travelers. Real-world creatures like crocodiles and hippopotami, fantastic creatures like unicorns and griffins, reported monstrosities like the men whose heads grow beneath their shoulders—all were, at the time, equally real (or unreal) and equally fascinating. The dialogue preceding the Harpy’s descent in The Tempest centers on such fabulous creatures. When the supposed “islanders”—creatures of “monstrous shape”—appear, bringing in the banquet, Sebastian says: “Now I will believe / That there are unicorns, that in Arabia / There is one tree, the phoenix’ throne, one phoenix / At this hour reigning there.” “Travelers ne’er did lie,” says Antonio, “Though fools at home condemn ’em.” Gonzalo adds, “If in Naples / I should report this now, would they believe me? / If I should say I saw such islanders . . . ” ( 3.3.26 –36). It is into this dialogue-context that the Harpy descends—that is, into a discussion of fantastic travelers’ tales and fabulous creatures.

When the Harpy—one of these creatures—actually appears, claps its wings upon the table, and somehow makes the food disappear ( 3.3.69 SD), she is very real to Alonso and his men—as real as the harpies were to Jason and to Aeneas; as real as the hippopotami and anthropophagi were to fifteenth-century explorers; as real as is Caliban, the monster mooncalf, to his discoverers Stephano and Trinculo. The attempts to kill the Harpy are classical responses—that is, they are the responses of Jason and Aeneas when confronted by the terrible bird-women. The response of Stephano and Trinculo to their man-monster is a more typically sixteenth-century response to the fabulous. When, for example, Stephano finds Trinculo and Caliban huddled under a cloak and thinks he has discovered a “most delicate monster” with four legs and two voices, he responds with the greed that we associate with Martin Frobisher and other sixteenth-century New World explorers who brought natives from North America to England to put on display: “If I can recover him,” says Stephano, “and keep him tame and get to Naples with him, he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat’s leather. . . . He shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly” ( 2.2.69 –81). Trinculo had responded with equal greed to his first sight of the frightened Caliban:

What have we here, a man or a fish? . . . A strange fish. Were I in England . . . and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man. Any strange beast there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian.

( 2.2.25 –34)

While the finding and subjugating of “wild men” was a feature that ancient and new-world voyage stories held in common (for example, Jupiter promises that Aeneas, as the climax of his sea journeys, will “wage a great war in Italy, and . . . crush wild peoples and set up laws for men and build walls” 3 ), Prospero’s subjugation of Caliban has a particularly New World flavor. The play itself, no matter how steeped it is in ancient voyage literature and no matter how much emphasis it places on its Mediterranean setting, is also a representation of New World exploration. While it retells the stories of Aeneas and of Jason, it also stages a particular Virginia voyage that, in 1610–11, was the topic of sermons, published government accounts, and first-person epistles, many of which Shakespeare drew on in crafting The Tempest . The story, in brief, goes as follows: A fleet of ships set out in 1609 from England carrying a new governor—Sir Thomas Gates—to the struggling Virginia colony in Jamestown. The fleet was caught in a tempest off the coast of Bermuda. All of the ships survived the storm and sailed on to Virginia—except the flagship, the Sea-Venture, carrying the governor, the admiral of the fleet, and other important officials. A year later, the exhausted and dispirited colonists in Jamestown were astounded when two boats sailed up the James River carrying the supposedly drowned governor and his companions. The crew and passengers on the flagship had survived the storm, had lived for a year in the Bermudas, had built new ships, and had made it safely to Virginia. News of the happy ending to this “tragicomedy,” as one who reported the story called it, soon reached London, and many details of the story are preserved in The Tempest .

Among the details may be the disturbing picture of the relationship of the “settlers” and the “Indians” in Jamestown, represented perhaps in Caliban and his relationship with Prospero. In one of the documents used by Shakespeare in writing The Tempest, William Strachey describes an incident in which “certain Indians,” finding a man alone, “seized the poor fellow and led him up in to the woods and sacrificed him.” Strachey writes that the lieutenant governor was very disturbed by this incident, since hitherto he “would not by any means be wrought to a violent proceeding against them [i.e., the Indians] for all the practices of villainy with which they daily endangered our men.” This incident, though, made him “well perceive” that “fair and noble treatment” had little effect “upon a barbarous disposition,” and “therefore . . . purposed to be revenged.” The revenge took the form of an attack upon an Indian village. 4

As we read Strachey’s account today, we find much in the behavior of the settlers toward the natives that is appalling, so that the account is not for us simply that of “good white men” against “bad Indians,” as it was for Strachey. In the same way, whether or not this particular lieutenant governor and these treacherous “Indians” are represented in The Tempest, Shakespeare’s decision to include a “wild man” among his island’s cast of characters, and (as Stephen Greenblatt notes) to place him in opposition to a European prince whose power lies in his language and his books, 5 raises a host of questions for us about the play. The Tempest was written just as England was beginning what would become massive empire-building through the subjugating of others and the possessing of their lands. European nations—Spain, in particular—had already taken over major land areas, and Shakespeare and his contemporaries had available to them many accounts of native peoples and of European colonizers’ treatment of such peoples. Many such accounts are like Strachey’s: they describe a barbarous people who refuse to be “civilized,” who have no language, who have a “nature” on which “nurture will never stick” (as Prospero says of Caliban). Other accounts describe instead cultural differences in which that which is different is not necessarily inferior or “barbarous.” When Gonzalo says (at 2.1.157 –60), “Had I plantation [i.e., colonization] of this isle . . . And were the King on ’t, what would I do?” he answers his own question by describing the Utopia he would set up ( lines 162 –84), taking his description from Montaigne’s essay “Of the Cannibals.” In this essay, Montaigne (“whose supple mind,” writes Ronald Wright, “exemplifies Western civilization at its best” 6 ) argues in effect that American “savages” are in many ways more moral, more humane people than so-called civilized Europeans.

As with so much of The Tempest, Caliban may be seen as representing two quite different images. Shakespeare gives him negative traits attached to New World natives (traits that seem to many today to smack of racist responses to the strange and to the Other) while giving him at the same time a richly poetic language and a sensitive awareness of nature and the supernatural. He places Caliban in relation to Prospero (as Caliban’s master and the island’s “colonizer”), to Miranda (as the girl who taught Caliban language and whom he tried to rape), and indirectly to Ferdinand (who, like Caliban, is made to carry logs and who will father Miranda’s children as Caliban had wished to do). Shakespeare thus creates in the center of this otherworldly play a confrontation that speaks eloquently to late-twentieth-century readers and audiences living with the aftereffects of the massive colonizing of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and observing the continuing life of “empire” in the interactions between the powerful and the formerly colonized states. 7 As many readers and audiences today look back at the centuries of colonization of the Americas, Africa, and India from, as it were, Caliban’s perspective, The Tempest, once considered Shakespeare’s most serene, most lyrical play, is now put forward as his representation, for good or ill, of the colonizing and the colonized. 8

This relatively new interest in the colonization depicted in The Tempest has had a profound impact on attitudes toward Prospero. For centuries seen as spokesman for Shakespeare himself, as the benign, profound magician-artist who presides like a god over an otherworldly kingdom, Prospero is now perceived as one of Shakespeare’s most complex creations. He brings to the island books, Old World language, and the power to hurt and to control; he thus figures an early form of the colonizer. But he carries with him other, complicating associations. He is, for example, a figure familiar in voyage romances popular in Shakespeare’s day. The hermit magician (or exiled doctor, or some equivalent) in Greek Romance tales comes to the aid of heroes and heroines, protects them, heals them, often teaches them who they really are. In such stories, the focus is always on the lost, shipwrecked, searching man or woman—that is, on the Alonso figure or the Ferdinand or the Miranda figure. In The Tempest, Prospero, the hermit magician, is center stage, and the lost, shipwrecked, and searching are seen by us through him and in relation to him. Prospero thus carries a kind of power and an aura of ultimately benevolent intention that complicates the colonizer image.

Prospero is also the creator of the maze in which the other characters find themselves—“as strange a maze as e’er men trod,” says Alonso ( 5.1.293 )—and thus carries yet other complicating associations. The scene of the Harpy/king encounter opens with Gonzalo’s “Here’s a maze trod indeed through forthrights and meanders,” a statement that picks up suggestively Ovid’s description of that most infamous of mazes, created by Daedalus to enclose the Minotaur. The Daedalus story has unexpected but rich links with The Tempest . Daedalus, the quintessential artist/engineer/magician, built the maze to sty the monstrous creature that he had helped to bring into being. (It was sired by a bull on King Minos’ queen, but it was Daedalus who had lured the bull to the queen, encasing her, at her urgings, in the wooden shape of a cow.) Having built the maze, Daedalus (in Golding’s 1567 translation of Ovid’s Metamorphosis ) “scarce himselfe could find the meanes to wind himself well out / So busie and so intricate” was the labyrinth he had created (Book 8, lines 210–20).

The story of the maze and its Minotaur is a familiar one, involving the sacrifice of Greek youths to the bloodthirsty Minotaur, an annual horror that stopped only with Theseus’ slaughter of the Minotaur and his escape from the maze through the aid of King Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, whom Theseus marries and then abandons. Less familiar is the connection between the story of the maze and that of Daedalus and his son Icarus’ flight from the island of Crete:

Now in this while [when Theseus was overcoming

the Minotaur] gan Daedalus a weariness to take

Of living like a banisht man and prisoner such a time

In Crete, and longed in his heart to see his native

But Seas enclosed him as if he had in prison be.

Then thought he: though both Sea and land King

Minos stop fro me,

I am assured he cannot stop the Aire and open

It is at this point that Daedalus turns to “uncoth Arts” (i.e., magic), bending “the force of all his wits / To alter natures course by craft”—and he constructs the famous wings that take him home, at the cost of the life of his son, who falls into the sea and drowns.

When Prospero stands “on the top,” looking down and commenting on the trapped figures below him, he to some extent figures the magician/artist Daedalus. Throughout the play he, like Daedalus, is almost trapped in his own intricate maze, an exile who “gan . . . a weariness to take / Of living like a banisht man and prisoner such a time,” who “longed in his heart to see his native Clime,” and who thus bent “the force of all his wits” and his magic powers to find a way to get himself and his child home. The associations of Prospero with Daedalus, his maze, and his magic flight are less accessible to us today than they would have been to a Renaissance audience. But the sense of Prospero’s weariness, of his hatred of exile, of the danger facing him as he heads back to Milan having abjured his magic—these complicating emotional factors, even without a specific awareness of the Daedalus parallels, are available to us. We notice them especially in Prospero’s epilogue, where he begs our help in wafting him off the island and safely back home.

Like The Tempest itself, then, Prospero is complicated, double. He, like the play, is woven from a variety of story materials, and like the play he represents a particular moment, the moment at which began a period of colonizing and empire-building that would completely alter the world, leaving a legacy with which we still live. But he, like the play, also embodies ancient stories of travel and exile and the emotions that accompany them. And The Tempest ’s nineteenth- and twentieth-century retellings and sequels (Browning’s “Caliban on Setebos,” Aimé Césaire’s Une Tempête, Auden’s “The Sea and the Mirror,” and such film versions as Forbidden Planet and Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books, to name but a few) suggest that those stories and emotions have continued to intrigue. The magician fascinates, the journey and the maze still tempt, despite the near certainty that magic—like all power—tends to corrupt and that islands and labyrinths hold as many monsters as they do “revels.”

• I am using the word “story” here both in its general sense of a narration of events and in the more particular sense that translates the Russian formalists’ term “fabula”—that is, the events sequenced in chronological order. The formalists contrast the “fabula” with the “szujet”—the fiction as structured by the author (a term I translate as “play”). See Keir Elam’s The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama (London and New York: Methuen, 1980), pp. 119–26.
• See Barbara A. Mowat, “‘And that’s true, too’: Structures and Meaning in The Tempest ,” Renaissance Papers 1976 , pp. 37–50. The pertinent sections of the Argonaut stories are Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2:178–535, and Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 4:422–636; Virgil’s account of the Harpies as encountered by Aeneas and his men is found in the Aeneid 3:210–69.
• Aeneid , Book I, lines 261–64 (Guildford trans.).
• “A True Reportory of the Wreck and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight,” in A Voyage to Virginia in 1609 , ed. Louis B. Wright (Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1964), pp. 1–101, esp. pp. 88–89.
• “Learning to Curse: Aspects of Linguistic Colonialism in the Sixteenth Century,” in Learning to Curse: Essays in Early Modern Culture (New York and London: Routledge, 1990), pp. 23–26.
• Stolen Continents: The “New World” Through Indian Eyes (Toronto: Penguin Books, 1993).
• See Edward W. Said, “Empire, Geography, and Culture” and “Images of the Past, Pure and Impure,” in Culture and Imperialism (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), pp. 3–14, 15–19.
• For example, in “Nymphs and reapers heavily vanish: the discursive con-texts of The Tempest ,” Alternative Shakespeares , ed. John Drakakis (pp. 192–205), Francis Barker and Peter Hulme state that “the discourse of colonialism” is the “dominant discursive con-text” for the play.

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The Tempest as a Post-Colonial Text: Exploring Power, Identity, and Oppression

William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" has been widely regarded as a post-colonial text due to its themes and portrayal of power dynamics, colonialism, and the effects of colonization on both colonizers and the colonized. This essay aims to delve into the post-colonial elements present in the play, examining how it challenges traditional narratives of colonialism and explores themes of power, identity, and oppression.

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International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation

International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation (IJLLT)

The twentieth century brought about a new form of understanding, producing and living art that has become a mean to react against the oppression that different groups suffered for centuries. Post-colonial criticism is an approach of analysis that questions racial identity and gender equity. This study investigates how Shakespeare's plays relate to the social codes and the more recent history of the reception of Shakespearian drama within decolonization movements. The Tempest by Shakespeare is defined as a postcolonial text because the colonised is represented in regarding cultural hybridity in which the Self and the Other enlace the colonial experience. Literature has naturally given a voice to these omitted groups and this play is thought to be an early post-colonial work by some scholars. Shakespeare had intended to criticise the European attack of the new lands to the West, and the theme of colonialism is outrightly presented in The Tempest. Post-colonial reading of the text examines the projection of the colonial experience back to Europe. Slavery, colonialism, and the power of changing other civilisations by the West are themes to make inferences.

SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH

Prabha gour

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is indubitably the best playwright of all time. He acquired an unique place in the world of literature. His plays earned international commendation and acceptance as the finest dramatist in the entire history of English literature. His play, The Tempest has been decoded differently by critics as a postcolonial text. In1611 when William Shakespeare wrote the play The Tempest, colonization was a recent concept in Britain. This paper is an attempt to inspect the postcolonial issues such as subjugation, dominance language, power and knowledge etc. and conjointly converse about the complex relationship that exist between the master and slave in The Tempest.

Talent Development & Excellence

Thamir R . S . Az-Zubaidy

William Shakespeare's The Tempest is both created in and influenced by an era when colonialism was coming into being. It begins with the arrival of a European coloniser, Prospero, to an island in the Mediterranean Sea where he imposes his colonial domination, norms and culture on its natives. In addition to exploring these issues, this paper examines questions of racism, slavery, suppression, and the role of language in consolidating the process of colonisation and maintaining the colonisercolonised politics. It also critiques the coloniser's involvement in the exchange of women as gifts for political gains as he does with his daughter Miranda. Moreover, while highlighting the discursive practices of othering the native, Caliban, the paper investigates his attempts to resist cultural and political European colonisation through Caliban's linguistic and political appropriation of Prospero's power.

Zahra Sadeghi

Colonization and imperialism are of those interesting critical conversation throughout the world and this study examines how English theater addressed, promoted, and at times challenged ideologies of colonization and notions of civility and civilization. The Tempest in regarded as a New World drama by many critics because of colonization and civilization debates presented on the London stage and depiction of the colonizers and the colonized to present and, at the same time, question those colonial debates. Shakespeare depicts the New World’s indigenous cultures in an ambiguous way to both present and question the ideologies of empire. This dramatization of the “other” helped sixteenth and seventeenth century audiences to recognize New World indigenous peoples as different rather than uncivilized and reevaluate what they have read or heard of these native peoples. Shakespeare presented the contemporary rhetoric through the medium of the theater and helped audience to visualize the process of conquest and colonization. He helped to civilize audiences about the reality of colonization, civility, and the New World. This theatrical medium makes audiences to challenge those established stereotypes of the New World natives and understand them as different, not inhuman or monster, and ignorant of European language and cultures, but no incapable of being civilized. Shakespeare, in dramatization of the New World, neither support nor oppose the process of colonization but he tries his best to show both sides of the issues and let the audiences to decide whether it is legitimate or not. This ambiguous representation of both colonizers and the colonized encourages the audience to examine colonial debates in as objective manner.

Md. A M I R Hossain

In this paper, my purpose is to focus on the underlying reading of The Tempest in the 21st century attempt with a view to revealing the colonizing attitudes of human psychology and embittered experiences of nations, ethnic groups and race. Shakespeare’s The Tempest during the late 20th century and early 21st century has been influenced by “post-colonialism” from the point of view of either Prospero or Caliban. Post-colonial criticism is dealt with Western colonialism of different nations, creed, and caste with the colonial relations of hegemony and submission, especially with regard to race and gender. Shakespeare has drawn upon the language of prayer and religion as a storehouse of emotion and symbol for which his audience and reader are readily responsive as a mode of intensified expression for the feelings and values. Shakespeare’s curses are the language of fury, hatred, helplessness, and despair wrought to its uttermost. The language of prayer is used in expressions of love, kindness, and gratitude, in outbursts of joy and wonder, and in countless eloquent pleadings for mercy, forgiveness, and compassion. The discourse of prayer, elegant and artful thought is an attempt to euphemize the 21st post-colonial domination of the island. Prospero’s ideas and thoughts extend the discourse of prayer into the life of audience. Caliban’s curses are regarded as an integral part to the dialectical structure and the discourse of prayer in the play for which they belong as cataplectic threats of Prospero. Ariel is being held to his side of a bargain at a time of desperate need; Ferdinand is being tested in self-control and in his respect for Miranda; Prospero’s enemies are subjected to corrective punishments designed to bring them through suffering to self-knowledge and a change of heart. Keywords: Ariel, Caliban, Ferdinand, Post-colonialism, Prospero, The Tempest

Deborah I K E O L U W A Jayeoba

This study seeks to explore and enunciate the characteristics of and pointers to the presence of colonialism which validates the events of colonialism in these three plays: William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Aime Casaire’s A Tempest and Esiaba Irobi’s Sycorax. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest exposes a Western view and political indifference to colonialism; neither invalidating nor justifying. Aime Casaire’s A Tempest and Esiaba Irobi’s Sycorax presents a writing back and questioning as it restructures the narrative of colonialism in its adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Rituparna Paul

The objective is to present a critical study of discursive practices of ‘othering’. The post colonial critics have referred to Caliban as the ‘other’ and this makes ground for us to delve into the politics of unsaid, or things that have been omitted. Hence, the chief focus of a post-colonial investigation of The Tempest is through the character of Caliban, seen not as the ‘deformed slave’ of the dramatis personae but as a native of the island over whom Prospero has imposed a form of colonial domination.

Ramayana Lira

Taking on assumptions about oppression, identity and representation as they are developed in contemporary postcolonial theory, this study proposes the analysis of the 1993 theatrical production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest by The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). It aims to discuss the role of Caliban's monstrosity in the production and how it pertains to issues such as power relations and spectacle. The main benefit of doing an analysis of a performance of a Shakespearean text seems to be the possibility of seeing the play's meaning as contingent, as a result of a series of elements (actor's body, visual clues, the theatrical institution, spectatorship) that release it from the burden of being considered as the work of a single, universal, non- contradictory mind that contemporary criticism has pointed out as the 'Shakespeare Myth'. I conclude that the 1993 RSC production presents a Tempest that, in many ways, reinforces traditional positions about th...

International Review of Humanities Studies

amir mohammad

The paper focuses on how the colonizers who in this play are Prospero and Miranda in particular, endeavor to inflict their own socio-cultural precept including their language to make the colonized fully unprotected in The Tempest as a colonial play, but eventually fail to fulfill this attempt. In addition, the high importance of learning the language of the colonizer by the colonized gets illuminated which finally contributes to Caliban so as to undermine the roots of the colonizer in the colony. This article fully evaluates affected literary works by The Tempest, the importance of transferring the colonizer's language to the colony, and the main colonizer and his manners and attitudes towards the colonized; it also brings forth postcolonial concepts including Mimicry, Orientalism, the double consciousness of the colonized and his unhomeliness. Furthermore, it features the dirge situation of mimic men who come across a disappointing dead end from both colonizers and the colonized. After all, this article reflects on the ever-presence of ambivalence and mimicry in colonial discourse and also the vital importance of violence as an inseparable part of the decolonization.

Injamamul Hoque

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Tempest — The Power of Love in William Shakespeare’s Play the Tempest

The Power of Love in William Shakespeare’s Play The Tempest

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The Tempest Themes

Shakespeare tends to focus on very specific issues in each of his masterpieces. In The Tempest , the themes of power and magic are the dominant ones. However, a little bit of attention is also drawn to the topic of colonization .

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Looking for The Tempest themes? Find them all described here! This article prepared by Custom-Writing.org experts contains descriptions and analysis of the key themes in The Tempest . If you wish to dive deeper into the world of this play and understand the underlying issues, this section is for you!

• ⛓️ Colonialism

🔗 References

💪 power in the tempest.

It seems like almost every scene goes back to the questions about power in The Tempest . Even in the opening scene, the audience has the pleasure of observing the boatswain commanding the royal party, who are the passengers. Moreover, an exciting aspect of this play is that power is taken by force in most cases. As it would be anticipated, it leads to even more instability in the relationships and the vicious cycle of desiring even more. One of the best examples is how Antonio and Alonso betray Prospero. It is an immensely political problem, which yet shows that no illegal manipulation with authority can be left in the past. Later on, it leads to Antonio wishing for more power and attempting to murder the king. At the same time, the audience sees that this time his attempt fails. Therefore, it proves that violence is not a universally successful tool when it comes to gaining power.

Another relationship based on gaining power in The Tempest is Prospero and Caliban. After Prospero takes over the island with magic, Caliban swears for revenge and wants his rights and freedom back. However, the culmination of this theme in The Tempest appears to be the moment when the main character decides not to keep going with the vicious cycle. The fact that Prospero refused to seek revenge on Antonio influenced other a lot. They all come to peace and understanding at the end. Shakespeare’s main message regarding this theme is that compromise and forgiveness are a much better tool for settling things down than violence.

The Tempest Quotes about Power

Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere It should the good ship so have swallow’d and The fraughting souls within her. The Tempest act 1, scene 2

I must obey: his art is of such power, It would control my dam’s god, Setebos, and make a vassal of him. The Tempest act 1, scene 2

His mother was a witch, and one so strong That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs, And deal in her command without her power. The Tempest act 5, scene 2

💫 Magic in The Tempest

In The Tempest , magic is one of the main themes. Supernatural elements are not uncommon in Shakespeare’s works , but this piece is full of magic manipulations. Prospero is the character who applies magic almost all the time. The first scene begins with him using it, and the play ends with him using it for the last time. However, it should be noted that a lot of times, he puts on illusions that do not harm his enemies except for psychologically related troubles. At the same time, Prospero possesses almost total control over the events and people on the island. Thanks to the spirit, he knows what is happening everywhere and can think through his next moves.

There is a certain resemblance between the way Prospero alters reality with magic in The Tempest and how the author does the same with words. Many times, Prospero is found peaking from the hiding at some of the scenes, just like the director manages the action. This is quite symbolic , and there have been a lot of assumptions made about these kinds of comparisons. One of the suggestions is that Prospero appears on the scene of the play as Shakespeare himself . It makes sense if we look into the last part of this literary piece. In the epilogue, Prospero asks the audience to set him free by applauding. It wouldn’t be so significant if this play wasn’t one of the last ones that Shakespeare wrote. Such an epilogue might be the way of saying goodbye to the theater. Therefore, as one of the main themes of The Tempest , magic has interpretations.

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The Tempest Quotes about Magic

My master through his art foresees the danger That you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth– For else his project dies–to keep them living. The Tempest act 2, scene 1

But this rough magic I here abjure, and, when I have required Some heavenly music, which even now I do, To work mine end upon their senses that This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound I’ll drown my book. The Tempest act 5, scene 1

Now my charms are all o’erthrown, And what strength I have’s mine own, Which is most faint: now, ’tis true, I must be here confined by you The Tempest Epilogue

⛓️ Colonialism in The Tempest

Colonization in The Tempest appears to be quite a fascinating subject. At least it was exciting for the readers during the time when the play was written. The attempts of colonizing distant lands attracted a lot of attention. In The Tempest , colonialism as a theme is opened up through the complex relationships between Prospero and Caliban. Prospero sees an uneducated islander as less of a human than himself and expects him to be grateful for teaching. However, it has never occurred to him that Caliban might be the rightful ruler of the island because such a savage cannot possibly perform such a complicated role. In return, Caliban understands that Prospero doesn’t respect him at all and traits him as a slave. Finally, it leads the islander to realize that he gave up the ruler’s position for nothing. Naturally, such an unfair situation evokes anger and violence in Caliban, making Prospero even more convinced in the savage nature of his protégé. It perfectly illustrates the relationship between the native people and the colonizers when every little misunderstanding leads to violent conflicts.

Moreover, Shakespeare explores the fears related to the theme of colonialism and slavery in The Tempest . For example, it is evident that people can hardly tolerate the marriage of a king’s daughter and an African. Another situation pointing out colonization and slavery issues is when both Trinculo and Stephano see an opportunity to capture Caliban and make money on him back home. On the other hand, colonization offers the chance to build perfect contemporary societies, just like Gonzalo dreams about.

The Tempest Colonialism Quotes

Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child. The Tempest act 1, scene 2

You taught me language; and my profit on’t Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language! The Tempest act 1, scene 2

This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first, Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me Water with berries in’t, and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee And show’d thee all the qualities o’ the isle, The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile: Cursed be I that did so! The Tempest act 1, scene 2

Thank you for reading this article! If you need more information about literary themes, check the article about themes in literature . You might also want to take a look at The Tempest essay topics collection . And if you need to make the text of your essay more colorful, try our paraphrasing tool . Any questions left? Check The Tempest QA section !

• ‘The Tempest’ Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices
• A Guide to Power Relationships in “The Tempest” – ThoughtCo
• The Meaning of Magic in Shakespeare’s The Tempest – Medium
• Shakespeare’s Tempest and the Discourse of Colonialism – jstor
• Post-colonial reading of The Tempest – The British Library
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Argumentative Essay On Power In The Tempest

Type of paper: Argumentative Essay

Topic: Island , Power , Shakespeare , Education , People , Literature , Ruler , Drive

Words: 1375

Published: 2020/12/20

Within The Tempest, the relationships between master and servant are the primary expression of power. Prospero, for example, is the master of both Ariel and Caliban. However, Prospero treats the two servants differently, which in part motivates Caliban to adopt Stefano as a new master. Ariel agrees to be “correspondent to command and do [his] spiriting gently” (I.ii.435-437). However, Caliban has not materially changed his situation, as he is merely swapping one master out for another when he tells Stefano that he can govern the island if he kills Prospero. He drunkenly sings, “Cacaliban has a new master: get a new man. Freedom, hey-day!” (II.ii.1267) to celebrate the potential change. Indeed, Caliban is one of the more problematic characters in the story. He is the indigenous character from the island in the play, and it is easy to compare him to the native peoples whom the British (and other European powers) disturbed and displaced as they started establishing colonies throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Caliban is strident in insisting that Prospero has taken the island away from him. In a way, this makes Caliban’s situation analogous to that of Prospero, whose sway over Milan was taken from him by Antonio. This makes Caliban’s plot with Trinculo and Stephano to slay Prospero not all that dissimilar from Antonio and Sebastian’s conspiracy to drive out Prospero and later to undermine Alonso. Caliban is just as defiant to Prospero as Prospero was apparently nonresponsive to Antonio’s stratagem. Caliban stands up to Prospero; one wonders what the interactions between Prospero and Antonio were like before Prospero left Milan. Ultimately, though, he becomes a mockery of himself. At the start of the play, he reminds Prospero of the ways in which he familiarized Prospero with the island upon his arrival. It only takes Caliban a few scenes to hit rock bottom, though, as he gets really drunk with Stephano, even offering to lick Stephano’s shoe. When Caliban makes his final stand, he ends up having to clean Prospero’s cell. This decline masks Caliban’s more sensitive side, which appears when he talks about the beauty of his island. In situations involving the exercise of power, native and indigenous beauty often goes by the wayside, and that is exactly what happens here. As the play unfolds, multiple characters reveal what they would do if they were only in charge of the island. Gonzalo imagines a society in which people mutually respect one another. Caliban’s dream is to “people the isle with Caliban’s” (I.ii.501) while Stefano wants to pull a Richard III and simply kill anyone in his way. This scheming dates all the way back to the first inhabitation of the island. When Sycorax arrived from Algiers to colonize the island, she and Caliban (her son) performed some evil deeds. Prospero, who was exiled by his brother Antonio, who “made such a sinner of his memory” (I.ii.189) usurped Prospero’s rightful role as the Duke of Milan, made it to the island and promptly made everyone his slaves, spurring a colonial struggle that mirrors the issues that Great Britain faced as it developed a colonial empire of its own. While Prospero resigned himself to his fate, telling himself that his “library was dukedom large enough” (I.ii.109) to satisfy himself, he also enjoyed enslaving the people on the island. The pursuit of knowledge, of course, is what causes many of Prospero’s woes. When he was still the duke, the time he spent in the library gave Antonio the opportunity he needed to start a rebellion against him. While this does not make Antonio a sympathetic character, it does show that Prospero demonstrated a definite weakness in the practice of exercising power, Prospero is indeed one of the most complex protagonists in all of Shakespeare’s comedies. It is true that Antonio took his rightful place in Milan, but now that Prospero has found a way to exercise total power over the others in the play, he has lost a great deal of the sympathy that he otherwise might have earned (Morrison 81). When he first appears in the play, he comes across as nothing but pompous, and as the play proceeds, he comes across as someone that the people of Milan were likely to have been glad to see run out of town on a rail (Lee 204). The fact that he keeps telling Miranda to pay attention to him makes him even less interesting. The fact that he has learned the skills of magic makes him a powerful character, but it also makes the reader wonder why he did not turn those powers against Antonio. Perhaps the ability to have an entire island to himself, without any potential usurpers in his world, are what drew him away from Milan. Now that he has magic, though, he does not relax in his power, as a confident omnipotent man might. Instead, he is a vengeful and petty ruler. When Caliban curses, Prospero has ordered his spirits to pinch him. When Ariel reminds Prospero that Prospero promised to let him out of his work early if he performed them with a good attitude, Prospero throws a fit and threatens to send him back to confinement and torture. When he encounters Ferdinand, instead of being pleasant, he takes Ferdinand to his daughter and then makes him a slave, confining him (Messer and Patton 23). For better or worse, though, Prospero is the center of the play’s narrative. It is his spells, stratagems and machinations that drive the story toward its eventual happy ending. Seeing Prospero at work is much like watching a person standing high above a stage, dandling marionettes above the stage below. The marionettes, of course, are the other characters, and the puppeteer is sending them through their motions, already knowing the coming events and having their future in his mind. Prospero has his own concepts of justice and goodness that are more idealistic than one might expect from his pompous, almost cynical presentation early in the play. Prospero is the closest one gets to seeing a creator at work in Shakespeare’s plays. While Hamlet sets matters in motion with the play-within-the-play in order to confirm the guilt of Claudius, he does not write that play, and he does not drive the action. If anything, the poisoned sword that Laertes holds proves that point. Prospero remains above the entire action, driving it toward the end that he wants. That is the ultimate power at play in the story. In fact, Prospero compares himself to a playwright in the last speech, even asking for applause from the audience. The closing of the narrative does make Prospero more sympathetic, because the audience can see what his ends are. He has forgiven Antonio, he truly loves his daughter, and he wants the best for everyone, despite the iffy means that he uses to bring things about. Gonzalo, over the course of the play, shows some of the characteristics that an ideal king would possess, such as fealty, honesty and compassion. In his speech during Act V, his words about the miracle of reconciliation show the joy of the idealist whose beliefs have been justified. He is the first to notice how beautiful the island is when the group lands on the island. His ability to talk about such matters with rhetorical beauty and power shows that he feels deeply about significant matters. He stands in stark contrast to the ways of Caliban and Prospero throughout the play, and one wonders why he has not had the chance to exercise power; perhaps it is a curse of excess reticence. Indeed, by showing the viewer three different prototypes for a king (Prospero, the omnipotent, cruel ruler; Caliban, the hereditary native; and Gonzalo, the idealist), Shakespeare places before the audience the question as to which type of ruler is best. While Ferdinand and Miranda end up in charge, a valid question is whether they will be able to manage things as well as any of the other three would have.

Works Cited

Lee, Charlotte. "'Durch Wunderkraft Erschienen': Affinities between Goethe's Faust and Shakespeare's The Tempest." Modern Language Review 107.1 (2012): 198-210. Messer, Tasha, and Cynthia Patton. "Feminist Analysis: A History of Patriarchy and Covert Rebellion in The Tempest." The Best of ESU (2013): 23. Morrison, James. Shipwrecked: Disaster and Transformation in Homer, Shakespeare, Defoe, and the Modern World. University of Michigan Press, 2014. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/tempest/full.html

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Impulsive Behavior in Catcher in the Rye

This essay about “The Catcher in the Rye” examines the pervasive theme of impulsive behavior through the lens of Holden Caulfield’s tumultuous adolescence. It highlights how Holden’s impulsive actions drive the narrative forward, often leading to consequences and moments of self-discovery. By exploring Holden’s interactions with others and his struggle for identity, the essay delves into the complexities of impulsive behavior as both a curse and a catalyst for growth. Through its analysis, the essay sheds light on the turbulent nature of adolescence and the ways in which impulsive decisions shape our journey toward self-discovery and redemption.

How it works

Within the pages of J.D. Salinger’s seminal work, “The Catcher in the Rye,” lies a tumultuous exploration of adolescence, woven with threads of impulsive behavior that ripple through the narrative like a stormy sea. Holden Caulfield, our enigmatic protagonist, serves as the vessel through which this tempest of impulse surges, leaving in its wake a trail of consequences and revelations.

Holden’s impulsive nature is a defining characteristic, a force that propels him forward even as it threatens to engulf him.

From the moment we meet him, it’s clear that he operates on the whims of his impulses, often to his own detriment. Whether it’s his abrupt departure from Pencey Prep or his ill-fated encounters with strangers in the city streets, Holden’s actions are guided by the unpredictable winds of impulse.

One of the most poignant examples of Holden’s impulsive behavior lies in his interactions with others, particularly women. His encounters with Sunny, the young prostitute, and Sally Hayes, his former flame, are marked by impulsivity and recklessness. In these moments, Holden’s desires clash with his sense of propriety, leading to decisions that are driven more by instinct than reason.

But beneath Holden’s impulsive exterior lies a deeper struggle, a battle for identity and meaning in a world that often seems devoid of both. His impulsive actions serve as a coping mechanism, a way of asserting control over a reality that feels increasingly chaotic and uncertain. In this sense, his impulsivity becomes not just a flaw, but a survival mechanism—a means of navigating the stormy seas of adolescence.

Yet for all its destructive power, Holden’s impulsivity also holds the key to his redemption. It is through his impulsive actions that he ultimately finds a sense of purpose and meaning, a way of transcending the turmoil that threatens to consume him. In the end, it is his impulsive decision to reach out to his sister, Phoebe, that serves as the catalyst for his journey toward self-discovery and healing.

In “The Catcher in the Rye,” J.D. Salinger paints a vivid portrait of adolescence, one that is as turbulent as it is transformative. Through the character of Holden Caulfield, he explores the complexities of impulsive behavior, revealing it to be both a curse and a blessing—a force that can lead us astray, but also one that can ultimately guide us home.

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Activist Wawa Gatheru on Championing Black Women as Climate Leaders This Earth Day—And Beyond

By Wawa Gatheru

Earlier this year, we saw one of the greatest environmental wins of the decade—and Black women were its unsung heroes. President Biden paused all new expansions of dangerous gas export hubs in the U.S., which experts have called carbon bombs . There’s been fanfare and criticism around the decision, but few have acknowledged how Black women made it possible through community organizing and generational grit. The job won’t be done until there is a permanent halt on new expansions of dirty gas. But to get there, we have to turn toward the women who are leading on climate progress around the country.

As a Black girl who grew up in the climate movement, I’ve always been perplexed by the paradox of representation in this space. While people of color are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis, we are routinely sidelined and boxed as ‘victims’ rather than the leaders we are. This is particularly true for Black women.

Women are particularly at risk to climate impacts because enforced gender inequality makes us more susceptible to escalating environmental harms. Black girls, women, and gender-expansive people in particular, bear an even heavier burden because of the historic and continuing impacts of colonialism, racism, and inequality. And that’s why I believe these circumstances uniquely position Black women as indispensable leaders in the climate movement.

A few years ago, I came across a term that encompassed what I have always known to be true. Coined by Dr. Melanie Harris, eco-womanism is a theological approach to environmental justice that focuses on the viewpoints of Black women across the diaspora. An eco-womanist approach to climate solutions is happening in the underbelly of climate injustice in the US, the Gulf South.

I have been honored to learn from and be inspired by the Black women leading on climate in the Gulf South: leaders like Sharon Lavigne of Rise St. James , Dr. Beverly Wright of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice , Roishetta Ozane of The Vessel Project of Louisiana , and Dr. Joy and Jo Banner of The Descendants Project . I’ve heard firsthand how they launched educational campaigns, organized marches, rallies, and petitions, commissioned research, joined lawsuits, and challenged everyone from local lawmakers to the EPA—all to protect their communities. Step by step, they have fought polluters in an 85-mile stretch from New Orleans to Baton Rouge that’s home to more than 200 fossil fuel and petrochemical operations, earning the name ‘Cancer Alley.’

By Margaux Anbouba

By Hannah Coates

By Amel Mukhtar

The fight in Cancer Alley is for life, community, and legacy. Where there are now toxins poisoning Black families, there were once plantations enslaving their ancestors. It’s not a coincidence that two history-defining tragedies struck the same area of Louisiana—it is the same system of oppression and racial capitalism in different forms. And it’s no coincidence that the resistance to it calls on a legacy passed down for generations: solidarity, creativity, and bold leadership.

The fight is local and personal, but it’s also global and systemic. And failing to recognize Black women as climate leaders isn’t just a moral dilemma. It is a poor strategic decision for all of us to win on climate.

The same industries that poison Louisiana are also fueling the climate crisis. Last year was the hottest in history , and in 2024, we’ve already seen extreme weather events making this planet increasingly difficult to inhabit. Black and Brown communities might be ground zero for climate change, but our response to this destruction impacts everyone.

The women behind the president’s pause have proven that winning on climate is not impossible. Another world is possible and we can collectively build a better world for all. The organization I founded— Black Girl Environmentalist —puts that lesson into practice around the country. As one of the largest Black youth-led climate organizations, we are ushering the next generation of Black women and gender-expansive individuals into environmental work—cultivating their talent and creativity to protect our communities, and win the fight of our lives against the climate crisis.

As a Gen-Zer, I know how tempting it can be to feel immobilized by eco-anxiety or even climate doom. But we can’t.

We can’t afford to, nor do we have the privilege to. Every fraction of a degree matters. Instead, we must look to and join the leaders who, against all odds, continue to fight and win on climate issues across the country. The pause on dangerous gas expansions showed there is power in our collective voice. Black women have lit the way, showing that the power comes from fighting for—and with—our communities. The work isn’t done, but we’ve come too far to turn back.

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Guest Essay

The Freedom Caucus Started Believing in the Myth of Its Own Power

By Brendan Buck

Mr. Buck worked for two Republican speakers of the House.

On Saturday the House of Representatives approved the most consequential legislation of this Congress, a foreign aid package for American allies. More Democrats than Republicans voted in favor of the measure that allowed the package to pass. And once again the speaker’s job is at risk.

This is just the latest example of how this House of Representatives has become unmoored from the normal practices of a body that has long relied on party unity to function. The speaker, Mike Johnson, holds his role only because a few hard-line Republicans ousted the previous speaker for being too dismissive of their demands. But since the moment they threw their support behind Mr. Johnson, these hard-liners have encountered the reality that they’re irrelevant to the governance of the House of Representatives.

For all its rank partisanship, the House right now is functionally and uneasily governed by a group of Republicans and Democrats. The House is led by a conservative speaker, but for any matter of lawmaking, he cannot count on a Republican majority. Instead, a coalition has emerged that is willing to do what is necessary to save the House from itself. But still we must wonder how long a G.O.P. speaker can sustain a position he owes to Democrats. It is no small thing for any speaker to rely on the opposition party to govern.

In the past year, the House has averted a catastrophic debt default, passed foreign military aid when it seemed hopeless and funded the government when a shutdown seemed all but inevitable. Should we expect more from Congress? Of course. But the critical items are getting done in a more bipartisan manner than would seem possible in this era of negative partisanship.

The most conservative voices are getting shut out, and the House Freedom Caucus, ironically, has made sure of it. The sustainability of it all will be decided by whether Mr. Johnson continues down a path of realistic policymaking or feels the urge to now appease the discontents who have worked to stymie him from the start.

To understand how broken down the normal power structures have become — and how, in the process, the hard-liners have removed themselves from lawmaking — consider the basic procedures with which the business of the House is done.

The job of the Rules Committee, often referred to as the speaker’s committee, is to bring the agenda of the majority to the floor and set terms of debate on legislation. It is not a high-profile panel, but its work is critical to the operation of the House. It has long been the responsibility of the majority party to carry the votes on these agenda-setting rules. One of the few things stressed to new members of the House is to never vote against their party on a rule.

Members of the Freedom Caucus, however, now see themselves as watchmen of the floor. They set conservative policy demands that are impossible to achieve with Democrats controlling the Senate and White House. And when these demands are inevitably not met, they routinely hijack the process to stop legislation before it can even get an up-or-down vote, no matter if a measure has the overwhelming support of the Republican conference or the House.

Seven times in the past year an effort to bring a bill up for a vote through the rules process has failed, primarily defeated by conservatives. Before this Congress, it had been more than two decades since a rule had been voted down. A party unable to bring its agenda to the floor for a vote is no longer a functional majority.

But the business of the House must go on somehow, and Mr. Johnson has been forced to go around the blockades. When he reached a bipartisan agreement for funding the government this year, he took the extraordinary step of considering the bill under fast-track procedures that limit floor debate , bar amendments and require a two-thirds vote for passage. This process, typically reserved for noncontroversial measures, is how we’re funding the entire government.

Another procedural abnormality was necessary for last week’s foreign aid package. Despite it being obvious that the House overwhelmingly supports aid for Ukraine, the Freedom Caucus vowed to block consideration of the bill. Democrats were forced to carry the rule teeing up the vote, providing more votes than Republicans.

As a result, Mr. Johnson now waits for Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the anti-Ukraine Freedom Caucus member from Georgia, to follow through on threats to force a vote to remove him from the speakership. She claims it is he who has betrayed Republicans, not the conservatives who continually undermine their own colleagues.

Some Democrats have expressed at least an openness to helping Mr. Johnson retain his speakership if it is threatened for doing what they viewed as the right thing in passing Ukraine assistance. An overwhelming bipartisan repudiation of Ms. Greene’s speaker-removal tactic would be the single best thing the House could do to regain its credibility as a deliberative body.

The Freedom Caucus’s power stems from its willingness to take out the speaker. When those tools are removed, their threats quickly become more bark than bite.

The potential for a bipartisan rejection of the effort to oust Mr. Johnson has spawned hope for a new era of comity in the House. But this is not fairy-tale politics. There will be no sweeping compromise on immigration or the federal deficit.

A coalition works only as long as both sides are getting something from the deal. Mr. Johnson’s survival as speaker for the remainder of this Congress is aided by the fact there is very little that the House must do before the elections. But he will no doubt feel extraordinary pressure to take actions to get back in the good graces of conservatives.

Kevin McCarthy, the previous speaker, lost his job because Democrats had lost faith in him as an honest broker. Mr. Johnson is not immune from a similar erosion of trust. It could happen if he were to abandon the spending agreement put in place last year by President Biden and Mr. McCarthy. He similarly may not be able to count on Democrats again if he tries to impeach the president.

The speakership seems to have given Mr. Johnson, who himself rose to the job from the ranks of the discontented conservatives, a new perspective on the hard-liners, who simply cannot be counted on. And the past week has demonstrated that governance is still possible in the House if, as the speaker said last week, you “ do the right thing .”

Whether it’s Mr. Johnson or Mr. McCarthy or the two previous Republican speakers for whom I worked, it has not been the Republican leadership that cut out the Freedom Caucus. The Freedom Caucus, by believing in the myth of its own power, made itself irrelevant to legislative outcomes.

Brendan Buck is a communications consultant who previously worked for the Republican speakers of the House Paul D. Ryan and John Boehner.

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