Prospero in 'The Tempest'

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that it is only human nature to want to start anew, to escape a life situation that one is powerless of changing or undoing. The writer maintains that this personal desire to commence a new way of life was central to almost all of the characters in 'The Tempest'. The writer discusses that if there is one character from 'The Tempest' who exhibited the most potent desire for power, authority and control over the others, it would have to be the central character Prospero. The writer analyzes the character of Prospero and maintains that he is not very easy to like, his arrogance and his seemingly uncaring attitude towards the plight of others would easily turn off any reader or member of an audience.

From the Paper:

"In this instance, it can be deduced that Prospero considers himself to be a generous master, for he has personally educated and taught Caliban their language, earnestly believing that language was a powerful means to know oneself. However, Caliban shuns what Prospero considers as the magnificent gift of self-knowledge because until he was taught, he never realized how different he was from the persons of Prospero and Miranda. Even when he is already away from his kingdom, Prospero still vehemently believes that what he decides, what he grants unto others are in the best of intentions and are ultimately for their best interests. In this part of the play alone, one can see the typical master-slave, colonizer-colonized relationship of the majority of conquered lands. The colonizers believe that they have the local population's best interests at hand, only to realize that this view is not shared by the colonized people."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Shakespeare, William. "The Tempest." Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 6 December 2007 <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/tempest/full.html>

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