Free Tempest Essays: The Cycle of Ignorance Tempest essays

The Cycle of Ignorance in The Tempest

Ignorance has been said to be bliss. To equate appearance with reality is a facet

of ignorance, and leads to a part of the bliss. Many of Shakespeare's characters find the

bliss of ignorance and revel in it, and some end up coming to terms with their gullibility.

Some few are unwilling to abandon their ignorance even when they can see real truth.

All are experiencing different stages of the human cycle. Coming into the world, we are

equipped with nothing more than recognition of appearance. We must learn to the

distinguish what is real from what is seen. Those who have the opportunity to learn this

difference will often deny the truth to live in bliss a moment longer, those who are no

longer ignorant can occasionally re-enter the cycle in a moment of absolute trust and

wonder, and finally there are those who have spilled off one end of the cycle or the other,

and are trapped in a particular stage for their life. In all cases, real truth is irrelevant to

the human goal of happiness.

The speaker of sonnet 93 is fighting his own intelligence to stay ignorant. In

order to avoid living a cycle of clear reason, he uses the fogging image of the ideal. He

tells himself he cannot see any trace of falseness in his lover because she is so beautiful:

'Whatever thy thoughts or thy heart's workings be,/ Thy looks should nothing but

sweetness tell'. Essentially he has doubled back on his own mind: convinced himself he

has not seen the change he has seen. He is willing to sacrifice the truth he sees to

prolong his happiness.

Miranda in The Tempest is shown slowly bridging the gap between her untouched

childlike ignorance and the clarity she will not be able to deny once a part of the court.

Nearer the beginning of the book, Miranda seems to almost proudly proclaim her

innocence: ( first and last quote from exam sheet for Tempest, minus Prospero's line ).

Finally in the ending of the book, we see Miranda is coming around slowly:

'Miranda: Sweet lord, you play me false.

Ferdinand: No, my dearest love, I would not for the world.

Miranda: Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,

And I would call it fair play.'

Miranda can abandon her total ignorance because doing so does not destroy her

happiness. In slowly discovering the deception that characterizes the world around her,

Miranda seems to proudly proclaim her love as her new source of happiness and safety

from the tragic portion of truth. Because Miranda's happiness is safe in her love, she can

move a little closer to the truth.

Ferdinand is attempting to rediscover his ignorance through wonder and trust. He

has been in court up until the boarding of the ship that crashed to start the play and could

not have been ignorant in such surrounds. As his happiness is jeopardized by the

apparent death of his father, Ferdinand attempts to rediscover bliss in ignorance. When

he first sees Miranda, his ideal portrayal of her is an attempt to find his ability to

wonder:'Most sure, the goddess/ on which these airs attend! Vouchsafe my prayer/ May

know if you remain upon this island, how I may bear me here. My prime request,/

Which I do last pronounce, is ( O you wonder! )/ If you be maid or no?'. Ferdinand even

attempts to rediscover the wonder of the idyllic state, and his words compare the island to

the Garden of Eden: ( third quote on exam sheet ). Then notice his reversion to a less

ignorant state once his happiness is secure. When Miranda accuses him ( gently ) of

cheating, Ferdinand gives her a proclamation of ignorance: that any person would not lie

with the world at stake. He has switched places to some degree with Miranda, who is

discovering her ignorance while he is re-inventing his own. Then, the moment Ferdinand

finds that his father is alive, he finds he can return to awareness of ignorance and

immediately admits that Miranda is not a goddess, in contrast to his earlier wonderment:

'Sir, she is mortal;...', and begins to talk about courtship and marriage immediately after

this. Ferdinand's position in the cycle is determined by happiness and happiness alone.

Finally, Prospero has come off the cycle and landed permanently in cynicism. He

has been exposed for a lifetime to that which, of all things, can contain the most wonder:

magic, and has found it lacking: Act IV, scene 1, lines 146-158. Having seen all that is

wonderful, and being as intelligent as he is, Prospero cannot re-enter the cycle, even if he

consciously attempts to do so. Happiness is still involved here: Prospero cannot live with

himself as a wondering fool, and so finds what comfort he can in cynicism.

Happiness is the determining factor in each of these character's positions in the

ignorance/awareness cycle. We seek wonder when we are too close to the truth, seek

truth when wonder is empty or exhausted. The only way to tie oneself to the truth is to

wind one's happiness around the truth until they are inseparable, while exhausting the

capacity for wonder.