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Chapter I
Introduction
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with its magical world and spirits, has charmed audiences for centuries. The play opens with a magical tempest, which initiates the avenging plot of Prospero, the former duke of Milan and a powerful magician. Prospero, whose dukedom was taken away by his deceiving brother
Antonio, has been exiled to the isle with his daughter Miranda. The tempest brings his enemies to his isle, on which the magician has carefully arranged a plan to reclaim his stolen dukedom. With his magical power and the aid of his fairy servant Ariel,
Prospero successfully retrieves his dukedom from Antonio, stops possible usurpations, and brings a harmonious bond between Milan and Naples with the marriage between Prince Ferdinand and his daughter Miranda. Although it is the shortest of Shakespeare’s plays, The Tempest has brought to audiences and critics boundless inspiration. In particular, Prospero’s role as a wielder of power has opened a wide range of discussions.
I. Approaches to The Tempest
If approaching The Tempest through its characters, Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban receive the most attention. James E. Phillips associates Prospero and his two servants with the Renaissance conception of the nature of man. Prospero, Caliban, and Ariel echo respectively the three essential parts of soul—Rational, Vegetative, and Sensitive—that are universally recognized in Renaissance literature (148). As the Rational soul is believed to be the leading faculty among the three souls, Phillips
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proposes that by mastering the way to direct the two characters at the end of the play, Prospero achieves the true virtue of a Renaissance man. Approaches of this kind also set up a fundamental recognition that gives Prospero’s magical power a poetic form.
The other aspect of the Sensitive soul, represented by Ariel, refers to inward senses:
memory, fantasy, and imagination. Furthermore, as he carries out Prospero's instructions, Ariel's use of power includes artistic expression such as music, songs, and drama. These artistic agents also strengthen the connection between the poetic faculty and magic.
Thus, The Tempest can be seen as funneling the relationship between magic and general poetic powers into a more specific domain. Some critics further illustrate this association by connecting Prospero directly to its poetic creator. Being the very last play composed before his retirement, The Tempest receives significant attention as Shakespeare’s farewell to his stage life. With its boundless possibilities, magic has been used throughout history as a metaphor for the creative power in literature and arts. Some critics suggest that the almighty protagonist, who is capable of
commanding nature and spirits at will, is the incarnation of the talented playwright himself. Saintsbury has commented on Shakespeare’s last work in the Cambridge History, suggesting the work has an autobiographic meaning to its creator1.In
addition, assumed to be the last play composed before Shakespeare's retirement, The Tempest is believed to deliver a crucial message that strengthens the link between its protagonist and its composer. While Prospero's magical power is connected to Shakespeare's literary talent, Prospero’s voluntary separation from his power is
1 The Cambridge history of English and American literature an encyclopedia in eighteen volumes. New York:
Bartleby.com, 2000. Web..
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associated with Shakespeare’s declaration of retirement from his career as a playwright.
With its close connection with the Age of Discovery, both in its sea-faring theme and the time it was composed, The Tempest has been associated with the British Empire’s overseas colonial activities with no surprise. The Tempest cleverly draws on reports and tales brought back by voyagers and spices them with rich imagination. In discussing The Tempest and the New World, Frey reveals that researchers such as Sidney Lee, Morton Luce, Charles Mills Gayley began to “assert much more detailed and sweeping connections between Shakespeare and the entire colonial enterprise of the Virginia Company” (30). This kind of interpretation is also one of the bases of colonial readings of The Tempest, which compare the powerful magician to a powerful colonizer, his journey to the isle the act of conquering a primitive culture, and the magical power to the technology and civilization used to dominate the natives.
Later, with decolonization movements flourishing in the 1970s in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America, Post-colonialism also stretches its influence from political activities into varied domains, such as cultural and linguistic studies.
Affected by this newly developed trend, traditional readings of literary works have been gradually challenged by post-colonial critics, who address controversial issues such as racial identities and cultural priorities. The relationship between Prospero and Caliban has been reexamined as European colonizer and the colonized natives. Under such a reading, Prospero’s education and manners brought to Caliban are regarded as a reflection of cultural invasions by arrogant Europeans. Meanwhile, Caliban’s lack of education and rejection of commands are justified. Caliban’s rebellion against
Prospero is regarded as an effort to protect his native identity. His rudeness is perceived as reasonable and even praise-worthy, as Greenblatt in the Arden
introduction suggests: Caliban is “ennobled and to some extent empowered” (103).
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However, these approaches are inadequate in defining Prospero justly. Former interpretations have judged Prospero from his competence. No matter what title critics have given him—an artist, the rational soul, or a harsh colonizer— these roles are all formed mostly through his powers. This thesis proposes that Prospero’s compassion shall not be overlooked. With an investigation into the relationship between his compassion and competence, this thesis has given a more justifiable interpretation in understanding Prospero. To support this idea this paper will provide a careful
investigation into political power and magical power. Political power brings a duke his authority, and magic enables a sorcerer to be almighty. The two elements will hold crucial positions in this thesis.