The Tempest Themes
- Theme is a pervasive idea, belief, or point of view presented in a literary work.
- Themes in The Tempest, a masterpiece of William Shakespeare, present the issue of
freedom and confinement, including themes of betrayal, compassion, and love.
The Illusion of Justice
Prospero is expelled from his own dukedom when his elder brother rises against him
and usurps his powers.
The rest of the play is about Prospero plotting on taking the powers back from
Alonso.
This shows that justice is done if Prospero gets back his throne.
However, he keeps Caliban and Ariel his slaves and does not release Ariel despite
promises.
Prospero uses exploitation and manipulates the situations in his favour, which is
contrary to his idea of justice.
He uses Ariel against his enemies, as well.
When he becomes a merciful monarch, he releases slaves, forgives his enemies, and
even abandons using magic. It shows that justice means the happy ending that
Prospero establishes by the end of the play.
The Tempest tells a fairly straightforward story involving an unjust act, the
usurpation of Prospero’s throne by his brother, and Prospero’s quest to re-establish
justice by restoring himself to power.
However, the idea of justice that the play works toward seems highly subjective,
since this idea represents the view of one character who controls the fate of all the
other characters.
Though Prospero presents himself as a victim of injustice working to right the wrongs
that have been done to him, Prospero’s idea of justice and injustice is somewhat
hypocritical—though he is furious with his brother for taking his power, he has no
qualms about enslaving Ariel and Caliban in order to achieve his ends.
At many moments throughout the play, Prospero’s sense of justice seems extremely
one-sided and mainly involves what is good for Prospero. Moreover, because the
play offers no notion of higher order or justice to supersede Prospero’s
interpretation of events, the play is morally ambiguous.
As the play progresses, however, it becomes more and more involved with the idea
of creativity and art, and Prospero’s role begins to mirror more explicitly the role of
an author creating a story around him. With this metaphor in mind, and especially if
we accept Prospero as a surrogate for Shakespeare himself, Prospero’s sense of
justice begins to seem, if not perfect, at least sympathetic.
Moreover, the means he uses to achieve his idea of justice mirror the machinations
of the artist, who also seeks to enable others to see his view of the world.
Playwrights arrange their stories in such a way that their own idea of justice is
imposed upon events. In The Tempest, the author is in the play, and the fact that he
establishes his idea of justice and creates a happy ending for all the characters
becomes a cause for celebration, not criticism.
, By using magic and tricks that echo the special effects and spectacles of the theater,
Prospero gradually persuades the other characters and the audience of the rightness
of his case.
As he does so, the ambiguities surrounding his methods slowly resolve themselves.
Prospero forgives his enemies, releases his slaves, and relinquishes his magic power,
so that, at the end of the play, he is only an old man whose work has been
responsible for all the audience’s pleasure.
The establishment of Prospero’s idea of justice becomes less a commentary on
justice in life than on the nature of morality in art. Happy endings are possible,
Shakespeare seems to say, because the creativity of artists can create them, even if
the moral values that establish the happy ending originate from nowhere but the
imagination of the artist.
Superiority of Human Beings
- The play revolves around the happy ending and shows the superiority of human
beings in a bleak way.
- When Prospero and his daughter Miranda are stranded on the island, they live there
for almost twelve years.
- Yet, they know how to exploit other humans and creatures for their ends. Ariel is at
the beck and call of Prospero, while Miranda deals with Caliban, who tries to attack
her.
- Though Ariel remains faithful, Prospero does not trust him. He believes that he
should keep him until they have the means to escape or leave the island.
The Difficulty of Distinguishing “Men” from “Monsters”
Upon seeing Ferdinand for the first time, Miranda says that he is “the third man that
e’er I saw” (I.ii.449).
The other two are, presumably, Prospero and Caliban. In their first conversation with
Caliban, however, Miranda and
Miranda reminds Caliban that before she taught him language, he gabbled “like / A
thing most brutish” (I.ii.359–360) and Prospero says that he gave Caliban “human
care” (I.ii.349), implying that this was something Caliban ultimately did not deserve.
Caliban’s exact nature continues to be slightly ambiguous later.
In Act IV, scene i, reminded of Caliban’s plot, Prospero refers to him as a “devil, a
born devil, on whose nature / Nurture can never stick” (IV.i.188–189).
Miranda and Prospero both have contradictory views of Caliban’s humanity. On the
one hand, they think that their education of him has lifted him from his formerly
brutish status.
On the other hand, they seem to see him as inherently brutish. His devilish nature
can never be overcome by nurture, according to Prospero. Miranda expresses a
similar sentiment in Act I, scene ii: “thy vile race, / Though thou didst learn, had that
in’t which good natures / Could not abide to be with” (I.ii.361–363).
The inhuman part of Caliban drives out the human part, the “good nature,” that is
imposed on him. Caliban claims that he was kind to Prospero, and that Prospero
repaid that kindness by imprisoning him (see I.ii.347).
- Theme is a pervasive idea, belief, or point of view presented in a literary work.
- Themes in The Tempest, a masterpiece of William Shakespeare, present the issue of
freedom and confinement, including themes of betrayal, compassion, and love.
The Illusion of Justice
Prospero is expelled from his own dukedom when his elder brother rises against him
and usurps his powers.
The rest of the play is about Prospero plotting on taking the powers back from
Alonso.
This shows that justice is done if Prospero gets back his throne.
However, he keeps Caliban and Ariel his slaves and does not release Ariel despite
promises.
Prospero uses exploitation and manipulates the situations in his favour, which is
contrary to his idea of justice.
He uses Ariel against his enemies, as well.
When he becomes a merciful monarch, he releases slaves, forgives his enemies, and
even abandons using magic. It shows that justice means the happy ending that
Prospero establishes by the end of the play.
The Tempest tells a fairly straightforward story involving an unjust act, the
usurpation of Prospero’s throne by his brother, and Prospero’s quest to re-establish
justice by restoring himself to power.
However, the idea of justice that the play works toward seems highly subjective,
since this idea represents the view of one character who controls the fate of all the
other characters.
Though Prospero presents himself as a victim of injustice working to right the wrongs
that have been done to him, Prospero’s idea of justice and injustice is somewhat
hypocritical—though he is furious with his brother for taking his power, he has no
qualms about enslaving Ariel and Caliban in order to achieve his ends.
At many moments throughout the play, Prospero’s sense of justice seems extremely
one-sided and mainly involves what is good for Prospero. Moreover, because the
play offers no notion of higher order or justice to supersede Prospero’s
interpretation of events, the play is morally ambiguous.
As the play progresses, however, it becomes more and more involved with the idea
of creativity and art, and Prospero’s role begins to mirror more explicitly the role of
an author creating a story around him. With this metaphor in mind, and especially if
we accept Prospero as a surrogate for Shakespeare himself, Prospero’s sense of
justice begins to seem, if not perfect, at least sympathetic.
Moreover, the means he uses to achieve his idea of justice mirror the machinations
of the artist, who also seeks to enable others to see his view of the world.
Playwrights arrange their stories in such a way that their own idea of justice is
imposed upon events. In The Tempest, the author is in the play, and the fact that he
establishes his idea of justice and creates a happy ending for all the characters
becomes a cause for celebration, not criticism.
, By using magic and tricks that echo the special effects and spectacles of the theater,
Prospero gradually persuades the other characters and the audience of the rightness
of his case.
As he does so, the ambiguities surrounding his methods slowly resolve themselves.
Prospero forgives his enemies, releases his slaves, and relinquishes his magic power,
so that, at the end of the play, he is only an old man whose work has been
responsible for all the audience’s pleasure.
The establishment of Prospero’s idea of justice becomes less a commentary on
justice in life than on the nature of morality in art. Happy endings are possible,
Shakespeare seems to say, because the creativity of artists can create them, even if
the moral values that establish the happy ending originate from nowhere but the
imagination of the artist.
Superiority of Human Beings
- The play revolves around the happy ending and shows the superiority of human
beings in a bleak way.
- When Prospero and his daughter Miranda are stranded on the island, they live there
for almost twelve years.
- Yet, they know how to exploit other humans and creatures for their ends. Ariel is at
the beck and call of Prospero, while Miranda deals with Caliban, who tries to attack
her.
- Though Ariel remains faithful, Prospero does not trust him. He believes that he
should keep him until they have the means to escape or leave the island.
The Difficulty of Distinguishing “Men” from “Monsters”
Upon seeing Ferdinand for the first time, Miranda says that he is “the third man that
e’er I saw” (I.ii.449).
The other two are, presumably, Prospero and Caliban. In their first conversation with
Caliban, however, Miranda and
Miranda reminds Caliban that before she taught him language, he gabbled “like / A
thing most brutish” (I.ii.359–360) and Prospero says that he gave Caliban “human
care” (I.ii.349), implying that this was something Caliban ultimately did not deserve.
Caliban’s exact nature continues to be slightly ambiguous later.
In Act IV, scene i, reminded of Caliban’s plot, Prospero refers to him as a “devil, a
born devil, on whose nature / Nurture can never stick” (IV.i.188–189).
Miranda and Prospero both have contradictory views of Caliban’s humanity. On the
one hand, they think that their education of him has lifted him from his formerly
brutish status.
On the other hand, they seem to see him as inherently brutish. His devilish nature
can never be overcome by nurture, according to Prospero. Miranda expresses a
similar sentiment in Act I, scene ii: “thy vile race, / Though thou didst learn, had that
in’t which good natures / Could not abide to be with” (I.ii.361–363).
The inhuman part of Caliban drives out the human part, the “good nature,” that is
imposed on him. Caliban claims that he was kind to Prospero, and that Prospero
repaid that kindness by imprisoning him (see I.ii.347).
