Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … Tempest
After Prospero gives his blessing to the marriage between Ferdinand and Miranda, he summons Ariel and instructs him to call the spirits to perform a masque. The spirits appear in the shapes of Iris, Juno and Ceres. The masque is a performance of allegorical and mythical stories and it serves to emphasize various symbolic aspects that are important to the marriage between Ferdinand and Miranda, as well as to the thematic structure of The Tempest as a whole. "The betrothal masque in Act IV may be considered a play-within- the play, giving a timeless and general representation of the Ferdinand and Miranda narrative and illustrating the elaborate power of Prospero's art." ( Brown, J. 1969, 32)
The masque performed in the play has all the elements of growth, prosperity and happiness in society. What the masque achieves is a focus on the regenerative functions of marriage. In essence it is a celebration of hope and unity through love and marriage. This part of the play confirms Prospero's vision and hope for the future, both for Miranda and for society as a whole. It is part of his plot to heal the wrongs and hurtful experiences in the play and to promote a relationship that is pure and untainted...
Bringing together Ferdinand and Miranda is a symbolic healing of the rifts, treachery and unhappiness of the past.
In essence The Tempest is a comment on society. The play is, to a large extent, a vision of the deceit and cruelty that exists within the society. These aspects are still existent in the character of Caliban. The marriage of Miranda and Ferdinand is a symbolic marriage of unification and regeneration in opposition to the decadence of the world. Prospero wants a marriage for Miranda that will transcend or go beyond the ills and evils of the world.
The masque scene is in effect,
... A lyric symphony of the seasons of growth, of fruit and of harvest. The joys of earth's blessings are to be showered upon the lovers. A Golden Age of riches will come to them, with children who will honor their parents. Ceres calls for "Earth's increase, foison plenty, barns and garners never empty."
(Neilson, 1956, p. 177)
The type of marriage that Prospero envisages for Miranda is one in which the power struggles and the greed of the past will have no place. "The strivings for power, the quarrels of royal aspirants, the rise and fall of dynasties have no…
Bibliography
Brown, R, (1969) Shakespeare: The Tempest. London: Edward Arnold
Coursen, H.R. (2000). The Tempest A Guide to the Play. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Neilson, F. (1956). Shakespeare and the Tempest. Rindge, NH: Richard R. Smith.
Orgel, S. (Ed.). (1994). The Tempest. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pask, K. (2002). Prospero's Counter-Pastoral. Criticism, 44(4), 389+. Retrieved May 1, 2005, from Questia database, http://www.questia.com.
Tempest Shakespeare's the Tempest and Chamoiseau's Solibo Magnificent Slavery Slavery is one of the central themes in The Tempest. However, there are many different levels of slavery included other than the typical master and servant relationship that is based on ownership. There are also instances of mental kind of slavery that it carried out by Prospero who can control the minds of others. The two forms of slavery are closely intertwined in a
Tempest In Act I, scene 2 of Shakespeare's The Tempest, the protagonist Prospero explains his case to both his daughter and his familiar spirit Ariel. Thus, the main themes of the play are elucidated in this one scene more than any other. The concept of power, of power overused and power usurped are evident and constant in Act One, scene 2 of The Tempest. This early in the play, before the
Tempest In the epilogue of A Midsummer's Night Dream, Puck speaks to the audience directly not as an actor or a character in a play, while in The Tempest, Prospero is still in character but begs the audience to set him free so he can return to Naples. For Puck, King Oberon and all the other actors are mere shadows, exactly as Theseus described the actors in the play-within-a-play, and his
Miranda even says, "My father's of a better nature, sir,/Than he appears by speech" (I.ii.500-501). Shakespeare may have been writing Prospero like this only to juxtapose his warm nature at the end of the play, which gives the play a "and they lived happily ever after" feel. Prospero uses his magic to control the spirit Ariel, which gives him a lot of power. Prospero knows of Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculos'
This is, in fact, the basis of colonization as the natives are subdued and forced to abandon their language and traditions in favor of the colonizers'. Critics who supported the thesis of "The Tempest" being a description of the Spaniards' experience in the Americas considered Caliban to be a Native American despite the multitude of details that differentiate him from the Indians as they were described in the travelers' reports
The similar treatment of these very different minor characters highlight's Prospero's obsession with control, as well as his own return to the human world. Consider that although Prospero mourns his exile, he even uses captivity as an enticement for Miranda and Ferdinand's courtship, forcing the young man to carry wood like he does Caliban. The young man responds cheerfully, "There be some sports are painful, and their labor/Delight in