The Tempests Power :: essays research papers

Lust for Power whatsoever good story starts with an observation an observation of the silent neighbor, the infamously loud auntie at the family reunion or the mysterious stranger, smiling at nothing. William Shakespeare unendingly wrote of these observations. His characters in each of his plays represent some part of society or desire lying within society. The Tempest, Shakespeares farewell to playwriting, contrasts the judgment of civilization and raw nature pertaining to the desire for power, and the greed that overwhelms a someone to get that power. Does greed and power override the rules and structure of civilization? Is it ineluctable? These universal desires bring two seemingly contrasting characters, Prospero and Caliban, closer than whatsoever other pair of characters in the play.The Tempest centers on the loss and absorb of power. Prospero is stripped of his power in civilization, and thus uses his magical powers in arrange to return to nature and regain some kind o f leadership role. His bowl over involvement in the shipwreck, the overthrowing of Caliban, and the romance between his own daughter Miranda and Ferdinand, shows that he is attempting to regain the status that he had lost. Prospero, on the out array, seems to be the all-knowing ruler. However, his uncommon magical gifts give him undefeatable power to wreak vengeance on his enemies. greed and vengeance as his motives shows that corruption cannot be fled from. It complicates the relationship between Caliban and Prospero for although Prospero claims to own his savage his savage speaks not like one who is owned. Caliban feels the flip side of the power struggle. He is the defeated. The reader, however, is distracted from this because Caliban is made out to be a villain, and a savage. The reader hears of his attempts to rape Miranda and he is first introduced as a tortoise and often referred to as a beast or monster with a deformed body. But, interestingly, despite Calibans deformed body and animal like fashion he possesses remarkable eloquence that gives him power.