The Tempest is a philosophical discourse exploring true leadership
and the power of forgiveness. Prospero, a disenfranchised duke,
becomes obsessively controlling through his magic to compensate
for the past abuse of his trust. He is required to engage in reflection
and awakened compassion to overcome his anger. In this essay, I
will demonstrate that only by mastering his resentment over the
royals’ betrayal can the magus navigate from past pain to possible
harmony as leader of Milan, as evident in his relationships with Ariel
and Caliban.
Accepted political views of the time, endorsed the importance of the
Divine Rights of Kings, which confirms God’s mandate on the
selected leader. In this belief, the leader, as God’s representation on
Earth, is flawless of misgivings. His word is final and his actions never
questioned. Shakespeare contests this view of leadership, showing
how a “prince of power” must rather be a leader who recognises his
own failings and accounts for them. Prospero shifts his thinking from
a worldly view of the Divine Rights of Kings to a more humanist
approach that embraces servant leadership. As Duke of Milan, he is
a passive leader, never feeling the need to work at his leadership,
even though his people loved him “with colours fair”, choosing
rather to be “rapt in secret studies” and thus “neglect[ing] worldly
ends”.
Political chaos ensues, actioned by the betrayal of his “perfidious
brother”. Consequently, Prospero is left with inner turmoil, trapped
in the past and unable to move into the future until he reflects and
engages with leadership in a more positive light. The shift from
chaos to harmony is the subject of the play. The storm that opens
the play becomes the pathetic fallacy of “the wild waters in this
roar”.
Shakespeare never simplifies the difficulty of Prospero’s trajectory.
The detailed description of his “sea-sorrow” that Prospero narrates
to Miranda articulates his inability in the early stages of the play to
recognise his own failings. For twelve years, Prospero is consumed
by anger. It is only his incessant care of his “cherubin”, Miranda, that
offers him hope. Since leaving Milan, Prospero engages with
different forms of leadership on the quintessential island. In
microcosm, it becomes the stage for his learning as he moves from
tyrant to humanist leader. The acknowledgement of his errors
becomes as painful as the “sulphurous roaring” of the symbolic
Tempest. Such an epiphany must occur so that he can develop the
and the power of forgiveness. Prospero, a disenfranchised duke,
becomes obsessively controlling through his magic to compensate
for the past abuse of his trust. He is required to engage in reflection
and awakened compassion to overcome his anger. In this essay, I
will demonstrate that only by mastering his resentment over the
royals’ betrayal can the magus navigate from past pain to possible
harmony as leader of Milan, as evident in his relationships with Ariel
and Caliban.
Accepted political views of the time, endorsed the importance of the
Divine Rights of Kings, which confirms God’s mandate on the
selected leader. In this belief, the leader, as God’s representation on
Earth, is flawless of misgivings. His word is final and his actions never
questioned. Shakespeare contests this view of leadership, showing
how a “prince of power” must rather be a leader who recognises his
own failings and accounts for them. Prospero shifts his thinking from
a worldly view of the Divine Rights of Kings to a more humanist
approach that embraces servant leadership. As Duke of Milan, he is
a passive leader, never feeling the need to work at his leadership,
even though his people loved him “with colours fair”, choosing
rather to be “rapt in secret studies” and thus “neglect[ing] worldly
ends”.
Political chaos ensues, actioned by the betrayal of his “perfidious
brother”. Consequently, Prospero is left with inner turmoil, trapped
in the past and unable to move into the future until he reflects and
engages with leadership in a more positive light. The shift from
chaos to harmony is the subject of the play. The storm that opens
the play becomes the pathetic fallacy of “the wild waters in this
roar”.
Shakespeare never simplifies the difficulty of Prospero’s trajectory.
The detailed description of his “sea-sorrow” that Prospero narrates
to Miranda articulates his inability in the early stages of the play to
recognise his own failings. For twelve years, Prospero is consumed
by anger. It is only his incessant care of his “cherubin”, Miranda, that
offers him hope. Since leaving Milan, Prospero engages with
different forms of leadership on the quintessential island. In
microcosm, it becomes the stage for his learning as he moves from
tyrant to humanist leader. The acknowledgement of his errors
becomes as painful as the “sulphurous roaring” of the symbolic
Tempest. Such an epiphany must occur so that he can develop the
