The Tempest

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The Tempest

The Tempest is a play that has a theme of nature and civilization. It has a strong theme that deals with issues of colonizer and the colonized. While to many people this play may simply be just a play, it really has a story of what happens when nature and civilization collide. The character Caliban represents a being of pure nature. The character Prospero is civilization. These characters can also be seen as the colonized and the colonizer. The relationship they have is very complex and is a constant struggle, much like any relationship between a colonizer and colonized. It questions what is pure nature? Is it savage and monster like, as Caliban is? In this paper I will examine the relationship between Caliban and Prospero and what it represents, as well was what it means to be civilized and “Godly”. Prospero is given a God like role to judge all those around him and demand they repent. There are traces of not only good and evil but also colonization and the problems it creates, as well as the benefits of it, although meager.

Prospero, the righteous Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda have been on an Island for twelve years. Prospero’s brother Antonio sent him and his three-year-old niece out into the sea for them to die. His motive for this was so that he can become Duke of Milan. After managing his brother’s affairs, while Prospero immerses himself in the studies of liberal arts, Antonio driven by power decides to seize the opportunity to become the Duke. Fortunately for Prospero, Gonzalo the counselor instructed to send them to sea to drown takes pity on Prospero and his daughter. He stocks their boat with food, clothes, books, as well as many other things to aid in their survival. Prosp...

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...have ruined two lives for wealth, and Antonio who left his brother and niece to die for power.

This is a play about Godliness, redemption, forgiveness, and the basic struggle between nature and civilization, which is carried out through the relationship between Caliban and Prospero. Prospero, the God like character plays an important role in the lives of all the characters. He is the reason they are on the island. He uses his powers to control them, as well as to reprimand them for their evil doings. Prospero, the civilized man, takes form as being close to Godliness. He puts each character through some form of hardship as a trial, and demands they repent. In the end Caliban repents for his plotting against Prospero, the reader sees Prospero as “prospering”. And as a civilized man with God like qualities, he forgives them of their sins and evil plotting.

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