Notes on The Tempest

Themes in The Tempest

Power

The pursuit of power and the exercise of power is one of the leading themes of William
Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest. The theme is all-pervasive in this well-knit play. Before
the play starts, Antonio, Prospero's brother who was put in charge of administration by Prospero,
usurped power and conspired to banish Prospero from Milan. Here, he incites Alonso's brother,
Sebastian, to kill the sleeping king and become the ruler of Naples.

Alonso's daughter is married in far-off Tunis and his son is obviously drowned in the storm
raised on the sea through Prospero's magic. He should, therefore, have no fears of conscience in
putting the king to the sword, as also the old lord Gonzalo, if he is to fulfill his dormant
ambition.

On another level, Caliban is so grateful to the drunken butler Stephano for the glorious gift of
liquor that he acknowledges him as his master and pledges to be his loyal subject only if he were
to murder Prospero. Caliban lures him further by marriage to the beautiful Miranda. Stephano
and Trinculo fall for the bait and are humiliated. Their plan is foiled much in the same manner as
the plan of Antonio and Sebastian to seize the kingdom of Naples by doing away with Alonso.
Prospero still rules the dukedom of Milan that he lost to the conspiracies of his treacherous
brother, twelve years ago when he was banished along with his infant daughter Miranda. When
he arrived on this uninhabited island, he seized power by dispossessing Caliban of his rightful
inheritance - a fact that Caliban strongly resents. He curses Prospero and conspires against him
with Stephano and Trinculo to murder Prospero so that he is saved the torment inflicted upon
him by Prospero's spirits. He is willing to exchange his, slavery under Prospero to Stephano.
The other side of the power equation in The Tempest is the quest of spiritual or supernatural. In
this sense, Prospero and Ariel are the two all-creatures in the play. In his quest of spiritual or
supernatural power, Prospero had neglected his worldly duties in Milan and deputed his brother
Antonio to look after the day-to-day affairs of his dukedom - only to be banished from Milan
along with his infant daughter Miranda. But Prospero pursued his study of magic on the
uninhabited island with the help of the books that Gonzalo had provided him with on the boat
that brought him to the island. Here he freed Ariel from his torment as he was imprisoned in a
cloven oak tree by the wicked witch Sycorax and turned Sycorax's son, the deformed Caliban
into his slave. This is spiritual or supernatural power leading to temporal power.
 
Ariel, along with his spirits of the air, helps Prospero in rising a fierce storm on the sea, thus
bringing all his enemies at one place and at his mercy. It is through this spiritual or supernatural
power that Prospero brings them to their knees, makes them repent for the grievous wrong done
to him twelve years ago and arranges the meeting of Ferdinand and Miranda that leads to their
marriage. He keeps both Ariel and Caliban on a tight leash, promising Ariel eternal liberty after
his plan has been accomplished and punishing Caliban relentlessly for the curses heaped upon
him while carrying out the tedious tasks assigned to him. He also puts Ferdinand through severe
physical rigor and tests his love for Miranda before consenting to their union.
The difference between the supernatural power exercised by Sycorax and Prospero is that, while
Sycorax was evil and devilish, Prospero is benign and forgiving. Sycorax's power was derived
through her pact with the devil, of which the deformed Caliban is a living embodiment. While
keeping Caliban in his place, Prospero seeks the assistance of Ariel and other heavenly spirits to
carry out his designs. Prospero's power is not derived from the devil or black magic. It is the
spiritual or supernatural power achieved through the development of his mind and art. Prospero
has subdued all his evil instincts, unlike Alonso, Antonio, Sebastian, Stephano, Trinculo and
Caliban in the pursuit of world power. The conspirators do no suffer from any pangs of
conscience in plotting against Prospero - whether it was in Milan twelve years ago or on this
island. Antonio and Sebastian are the living examples of this relentless pursuit of world power at
all costs.

Having achieved the acme of world-power, Prospero is moved by Ariel to give it all up as
forgiveness is nobler than revenge. Once his mission is accomplished, he pledges to drown his
books and break his magic wand. He decides to forgive his enemies once they have repented and
decides to spend the last days of his life in scholarly pursuits in Milan after the marriage of
Miranda has been celebrated in Naples. He frees Ariel and all the heavenly spirits that he has
controlled so far. He had subdued his enemies through the exercise of his supernatural powers
and he has now no use of any worldly power which he renounces in his quest of further spiritual
power - the ultimate triumph of the inner self over the outer self.

Prospero achieves this by controlling the forces of Nature with the help of Ariel and other spirits
of the air. He is fond of them. The decision to forgive his enemies comes chiefly from within and
that is his greatest achievement. The Tempest exemplifies not only the pursuit of worldly and
spiritual power, but also regeneration, forgiveness and reconciliation through the exercise of
spiritual power which triumphs in the end.

Symbols of Prospero’s Power

The Tempest
The tempest that begins the play, and which puts all of Prospero’s enemies at his disposal,
symbolizes the suffering Prospero endured, and which he wants to inflict on others. All of those
shipwrecked are put at the mercy of the sea, just as Prospero and his infant daughter were twelve
years ago, when some loyal friends helped them out to sea in a ragged little boat (see I.ii.144–
151). Prospero must make his enemies suffer as he has suffered so that they will learn from their
suffering, as he has from his. The tempest is also a symbol of Prospero’s magic, and of the
frightening, potentially malevolent side of his power.

The Game of Chess

The object of chess is to capture the king. That, at the simplest level, is the symbolic significance
of Prospero revealing Ferdinand and Miranda playing chess in the final scene. Prospero has
caught the king—Alonso—and reprimanded him for his treachery. In doing so, Prospero has
married Alonso’s son to his own daughter without the king’s knowledge, a deft political
maneuver that assures Alonso’s support because Alonso will have no interest in upsetting a
dukedom to which his own son is heir. This is the final move in Prospero’s plot, which began
with the tempest. He has maneuvered the different passengers of Alonso’s ship around the island
with the skill of a great chess player.
Caught up in their game, Miranda and Ferdinand also symbolize something ominous about
Prospero’s power. They do not even notice the others staring at them for a few lines. “Sweet
lord, you play me false,” Miranda says, and Ferdinand assures her that he “would not for the
world” do so (V.i.174–176). The theatrical tableau is almost too perfect: Ferdinand and Miranda,
suddenly and unexpectedly revealed behind a curtain, playing chess and talking gently of love
and faith, seem entirely removed from the world around them. Though he has promised to
relinquish his magic, Prospero still seems to see his daughter as a mere pawn in his game.

Prospero’s Books
Like the tempest, Prospero’s books are a symbol of his power. “Remember / First to possess his
books,” Caliban says to Stephano and Trinculo, “for without them / He’s but a sot” (III.ii.86–88).
The books are also, however, a symbol of Prospero’s dangerous desire to withdraw entirely from
the world. It was his devotion to study that put him at the mercy of his ambitious brother, and it
is this same devotion to study that has made him content to raise Miranda in isolation. Yet,
Miranda’s isolation has made her ignorant of where she came from (see I.ii.33–36), and
Prospero’s own isolation provides him with little company. In order to return to the world where
his knowledge means something more than power, Prospero must let go of his magic.

Forgiveness and Repentance

Forgiveness and repentance are the prime themes of the play The Tempest. Antonio, his brother,
wronged him by dethroning and banishing some twelve years ago. Antonio was supported by
Alonso and Sebastian. These all three corrupted people are the culprit of Prospero and are
rightful to get punished by him. Prospero designs a tempest and brings all his foes on the island.
After some torture and magic over them, Prospero gives his real identity. The moment his
identity is revealed, Alonso asks for his forgiveness, but Antonio and Sebastian never do so.
However, he decides to forgive them all. Prospero forgives Caliban, the deformed monster, who
tried to rape Miranda and even conspires to kill Prospero. He frees the airy spirit Ariel as
promised at the end of the play. The forgiveness given by Prospero is a Christian value which
Shakespeare praises in his life too.

Quest for knowledge

As The Tempest is a Renaissance drama, the quest for knowledge as a theme pertains in the play.
Prospero is the king of Milan, he has a lot of responsibility towards the people and the kingdom
but he fails to accomplish his duty. He remains quite busy in studying book of magic. He is
concerned in his hunger of knowledge that he wants perfection in his learning and forgets
everything about the kingdom. Antonio, his brother, gets right chance to dethrone him with the
assistance of the king of Naples and his brother, Alonso and Sebastian respectively.  Prospero
loses the right to be the king of Milan, only because of his unquenchable thirst for the
knowledge. In a sense, he is ready to lose everything for the sake of learning. He is the right
example of Renaissance man. Whereas on the other hand, there is Caliban, a deformed being on
the island who does not have any interest in learning, to be knowledgeable. Prospero teaches him
the language to make him civilized and learned one, but he never learns it well. He learns few
words, with which he curses Prospero for his ruthless treatment. It is obvious however that the
quest for knowledge leads to the quest for betrayal, greed and power. Knowledge helps the
characters like Prospero and Caliban to try and betray other characters of the play in order to get
what they want.

Power, Betrayal and Greed

The pursuit of power and the exercise of power is one of the leading themes of William
Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest. Before the play starts, Antonio, Prospero's brother who
was put in charge of administration by Prospero, usurped power and conspired to banish
Prospero from Milan. Here, he incites Alonso's brother, Sebastian, to kill the sleeping king and
become the ruler of Naples. In the same manner, Prospero wants to be powerful with the help of
magic and he seizes all the power of the island from the witch, Sycorax. The main political
theme of the play is gaining power and control over others.

The difficulty of distinguishing "Man" from "Monster"

The identity of Caliban remains ambiguous in this play. Sometime he is addressed as monster
and in some places he is called man. In the play when Miranda first sees Ferdinand she says that
he is the third man she has ever seen. On that basis, we can say that the two other men must be
her father and Caliban. Here she regards Caliban as a man. Prospero refers to him as a born
devil, a thing most brutish, a vile race, which significantly rejects him being a man and takes him
as a monster. The views of Miranda and Prospero contradict in terms of Caliban’s identity. They
think that if they provide him with the western education along with the language, he can be
uplifted and his status can be improved. But at the same time, they seem to see him inherently
devil and monster to whom no education can reform. Caliban himself says he was generous to
Prospero but when he starts dehumanizing him and oppressing him, he starts disliking him. It is
vague to generalize that Caliban is born brutish or he is made brutish by the oppression of
Prospero.

Colonialism

The Tempest is interpreted as a play about colonialism primarily because Prospero comes to
Sycorax’s island, subdues her, rules the land and imposes his own culture on the people of the
land. Pushing the native to the side, he places himself at the helm of affairs. He displaces
Caliban’s mother and treats her as a beast. He has full control over everything on the island. He
makes Caliban work as his servant and calls him a thing of darkness. Caliban is being
dehumanized or treated as subhuman. This shows the colonizer’s attitude of looking down on the
colonized people. Caliban is seen as a despicable entity. The whites looked down on the people
of other color. Some are born to dominate while others are born to be dominated. Caliban is
treated as inferior. The colonizer used words like light, knowledge and wisdom to refer himself
while he used terms like darkness, ignorance and elemental to describe the colonized. This
binary opposition shows how Prospero as a colonizer creates essences about the colonized
people. Prospero sees himself as a ruler carrying out the project of civilization mission. The way
light dispels darkness and knowledge dispels ignorance Prospero as a colonizer educates and
civilizes Caliban but without much success. The civilizing mission is always accompanied by the
politics of domination over the colonized. These elements confirm the theme of colonialism
in The Tempest.

Definition of SUBPLOT

This is a secondary or subordinate plot in the play. It can also be called a mini-plot or a
‘play within in a play’.

The Tempest has one major plot – Prospero’s desire to gain his rightful position as Duke of
Milan. He does this by creating a shipwreck so that the royal part would end up on his
island and then uses his magic tactics to scare them out of their wickedness and betrayal.
This particularly happened at the banquet when he sends ghosts to frighten them and
forced them to repent.

However, there are many other subplots in the play, for example:

 The love story between Ferdinand and Miranda

 Caliban’s revenge on Prospero and his friendship with Stephano and Trinculo (in
which he has made Stephano his new master)
 Antonio’s and Sebastian’s plot to kill King Alonso and Gonzalo so that they could
usurp the king.

Importance of subplot to a play

 Shows the various themes

 Shows character development
 Shows suspense and other drama elements such as dramatic irony (this is when
the audience knows something about the character and his/her plans and the
other characters in the play do not know. It is as if the audience is let it on a
secret)

If you are going to refer to any one of the themes or characters or techniques, YOU MUST
DISCUSS THEM. Do not just state it and then leave it alone. You must discuss the
character development and the theme properly and HOW THE THEME SHOWS THE
CHARCTER DEVELOPMENT
 Caliban’s Revenge on Prospero

Caliban is a product of nature, the offspring of the witch Sycorax and the devil. Prospero has
made Caliban his servant or, more accurately, his slave. Throughout most of the play, Caliban is
insolent and rebellious and is only controlled through the use of magic. Caliban claims the island
as his own and maintains that Prospero has tricked him in the past.

Caliban represents the black magic of his mother and initially appears bad, especially when
judged by conventional civilized standards. Because Prospero has conquered him, Caliban plots
to murder Prospero in revenge. It is clear, though, that Caliban is a poor judge of character: He
embraces Stefano as a god and trusts his two drunken conspirators to help him carry out a plot to
murder Prospero. In many ways, Caliban is an innocent, reacting to emotional and physical
needs without the ability to think through and fully understand the events and people who
surround him. He is truly a child of nature, uneducated and reacting to his surroundings in much
the same way that an animal does.

In Act II, Scene 2, The scene opens with Caliban cursing Prospero. When he hears someone
approach, Caliban assumes it is one of Prospero's spirits, coming to torture him once again.
Caliban falls to the ground and pulls his cloak over his body, leaving only his feet protruding.
But instead of Prospero, the king's jester, Trinculo, enters. Trinculo is looking for shelter from
the coming storm when he sees Caliban. With his body partially covered with the cloak, Caliban
appears to be half man and half fish, or at least that is Trinculo's initial impression. Trinculo
immediately sees the possibilities that this find presents. He can take this "monster" back to
civilization and display it, charging admission to spectators who want to view this aberration of
nature. Yet after touching Caliban, Trinculo decides that his "find" is not half man-half fish, but
an islander. With the coming storm, Trinculo decides to seek shelter under Caliban's cloak.

The king's butler, Stefano, enters, clearly drunk. Stefano stops at the sight of the object on the
ground, covered with a cloak and with four legs sticking out. Like Trinculo, Stefano immediately
sees the financial possibilities that such a creature offers back home. But all of Stefano's poking
has alarmed Caliban, who thinks that he is about to experience a new form of torture, beyond
what Prospero has provided.

After pulling the cloak from Caliban's head, Stefano begins to pour wine into Caliban's mouth.
Trinculo emerges from under the cloak and, happy to find another survivor of the storm on the
island, joins Stefano and Caliban in drinking wine.

Caliban drunkenly watches the happy reunion of Stefano and Trinculo and decides that Stefano
is a god, dropped from heaven. Caliban swears devotion to this new "god," and the three leave
together, amid Caliban's promises to find Stefano the best food on the island.

For the first time, the audience is given a close look at Caliban, who appeared only briefly in Act
I. He appears now, cursing Prospero, and so, the depth of Caliban's animosity is quickly evident.
He is very frightened by Prospero, whom he both cowers before and hates. Prospero has made
Caliban his slave. The island was originally Caliban's, and he lived under no man's control.

Although Caliban blames Prospero for all his troubles, it is clear that nature, itself, has turned
against him. In his speech that opens this scene, Caliban admits that the animals on the island
make faces at him, bite him, and hiss at him. This he blames on Prospero, reasoning that he
controls all nature. Every noise is thought to be a spirit, sent by Prospero to torture him. Prospero
has already told the audience of Caliban's attack on Miranda. His behavior recalls the
undisciplined nature of wild animals rather than that of natural man. He has not been civilized to
the rules of social discourse and, instead, functions as the animals in the forest do — obeying the
instincts of nature.

If Caliban represents the most basic elements of nature, then Stefano and Trinculo represent how
low civilized men can sink without self-control. Both men are opportunists, ready to exploit the
new "man" they discover under a cloak. Both Stefano and Trinculo share the same initial thought
— how to make money from a being as unusual in appearance as Caliban. They immediately see
the potential in exhibiting him as a freak of nature.

Of course, Shakespeare is commenting on a real phenomena in English society: Colonization.

Elizabethan entrepreneurs quickly saw a profit in the "natural" people who inhabited the
Americas. Stefano and Trinculo's thinking reveals them to be little more than charlatans, out to
make a quick profit.

Stefano and Trinculo readily fall into agreement with Caliban and plot to commit murder
because they think there is a profit to be made. But there is another reason, as well. Stefano
enjoys his new status as Caliban's god. He delights in the adoration, the reversal of fortune. He
has gone from butler to god and sees it as a huge improvement in status. Just as Sebastian and
Antonio expect power as a reward for violent behavior, the butler and the court jester would like
power with a minimal amount of effort. If murdering Prospero will make them kings of the
island, they are ready to do Caliban's bidding. Of course, just as Sebastian and Antonio were
being watched, so too are these three drunken conspirators.

This scene involves low comedy, the kind of slapstick that depends more on actions than words.
Caliban, Stefano, and Trinculo are funny because the audience thinks their efforts ridiculous.
Trinculo is dressed as a clown, and Trinculo rode the storm to safety in a wine cask. Although
Sebastian and Antonio's plot might represent real danger to Alonso (if Prospero were to permit
it), Trinculo and Stefano's plot can only represent impotence. Their plan to murder Prospero and
ravish Miranda is doomed from the start, and the audience is always aware of this. In their
drunkenness, they are ineffectual and thus can be enjoyed. In Caliban's innocence, he has allied
himself with buffoons. He bribes his accomplices with promises of choice foods and is too
unsophisticated to realize that these men would also enslave him if given the opportunity.
Stefano and Trinculo represent the worst that civilization has to offer — debauchery and
absurdity.
Antonio and Sebastian’s Revenge

In Act 1 scene 1, The scene opens with all the passengers from the ship, except for Ferdinand,
gathered on stage. Gonzalo begins with a speech celebrating their survival of the storm and their
relative safety on the island, but King Alonso cannot be cheered because he is sure that his
missing son, Ferdinand, has drowned. In the meantime, Antonio and Sebastian whisper among
themselves and belittle both Alonso's grief and Gonzalo's cheer.

When Antonio and Sebastian join the general conversation around the king, they make no
attempt to soothe him. Instead, they tell Alonso that he should not have permitted his daughter to
marry the African. Sebastian tells Alonso that, had he not permitted the marriage, the royal party
would not have been at sea and, thus, never in the storm. In short, Ferdinand would still be alive
if Alonso had acted properly. These are harsh words to the grieving father, and Gonzalo gently
chastises Sebastian for his insensitivity.

Ariel now enters, unseen by the group on stage, and puts all of them to sleep, except for
Sebastian and Antonio. Left awake, Antonio and Sebastian devise a plot in which Sebastian will
seize his brother's crown, much as Antonio had years earlier seized his brother's title and
property. Although Sebastian has some concerns of conscience, Antonio dismisses such worries
and urges action while everyone is asleep. Sebastian needs little convincing, and with Antonio,
the two draw their swords and advance on the sleeping king and his party.

At this moment, Ariel takes action. He awakens Gonzalo in time to prevent the murders. Antonio
and Sebastian quickly concoct a story to explain their drawn swords, warning of great noise, as if
from bulls or lions. Alonso is easily convinced of his brother's sincerity, and the scene ends with
the royal party leaving the stage in search of Ferdinand.

This act better defines the personalities of the king's party and more clearly establishes the good
characters from the bad. Alonso's first thought is for his son's well-being. In Act I, Prospero's tale
of Alonso's complicity in his personal tragedy created an image of an uncaring ruler, one who
was willing to overlook Antonio's deceit as long as it was beneficial to the king. But now, the
picture is that of a grief-stricken father, beyond comfort. Alonso says little, but Gonzalo's efforts
to care for and cheer his king, and the efforts of Adrian and Francisco to comfort their king,
reflect well on Alonso's character.

Gonzalo's character is also realized in more depth than in Act I, where his attention was focused
on the storm and on the boatswain's insolence. Beyond the efforts to comfort and reassure his
king, Gonzalo relates a vision of a utopian society. In this society, he would be king. There
would be no commerce or law and no servant class. No one would grow food, and no one would
work. Nature would simply create all that men needed. This vision reveals that Gonzalo, too, has
some concerns about authority and privilege. In Gonzalo's vision, there would be no inherited
wealth, and land would not be enclosed. Thus, there would be no aristocracy and no country
estates. In short, the source of many of the conflicts that exist in English society would be
eliminated. Gonzalo wants the authority that Alonso holds, since Gonzalo would be king in this
visionary world, but he lacks the impetus to put his dreams into actions, as Antonio and
Sebastian would do. In spite of his dreams of personal grandeur, Gonzalo is capable of seeing the
positive aspects of their situation. He alone realizes that their survival of the storm is an
achievement. He is thankful that they have landed on such a lovely island, and he remains
hopeful that Ferdinand has survived. Gonzalo's outlook is positive in many ways, but his utopian
dream indicates that there is a complexity to his personality. On the surface he appears happy
with his situation, but his dreams of being king reveal that he is not completely satisfied with his
lot in life.

In contrast, Antonio and Sebastian's characters are developing as unpleasant and arrogant. Their
sarcastic asides counter Gonzalo's good humor. They justly point out the flaws in Gonzalo's
utopian dream, but they go beyond pointing out the flaws to compete between themselves to see
who can devise the cruelest ridicule of both Alonso and Gonzalo. They are more than thoughtless
and cruel, since they are also capable of forming a conspiracy to murder their king and
Sebastian's brother.

Sebastian and Antonio's action hearkens back to the scene between the boatswain and Alonso in
Act I. Alonso is king and represents authority. To plot his murder and to seize the crown is to
usurp authority given by God. In England, the idea that a king was anointed by god was a crucial
point in maintaining authority over the people. To kill God's representative on earth was a
rebellion against the highest authority in the heavens. These two conspirators seek greater
freedom and power than they are entitled to, and so they plot a coup. However, they forget that
they are stranded on this island, with no kingdom to assume. Their plot to make Sebastian king
neglects to ask king of what? They are far from Naples, with little expectation of rescue. Indeed,
they never mention rescue, and thus, their plot to murder the king and seize his title would make
Sebastian king of nothing.

In their last lines in the play, Sebastian and Antonio mock Trinculo and Stefano (who are
basically their reflections). They show they have learned absolutely nothing, have no remorse,
and do not wish to be forgiven, because they see nothing wrong with themselves. Their plot
against the King, their lack of remorse, and their wickedness in general characterize them as bad
seeds. The entertaining part of this pair is their jesting with words and ideas. They have no
boundaries on the horrible things they'll say, and they make fun of everything, usually cleverly
and with great effect. Basically, we find them disgusting, but fascinating to watch.

Love Between Miranda and Ferdinand

The love between Miranda and Ferdinand is quite interesting. Firstly, Miranda is a young lady
who has never seen the world because she has lived on the island for her entire life. She is
characterized as meek (weak/feeble/mild) obedient, pure, lovely and most importantly, virginal.
This makes her a perfect match for Ferdinand who is more experienced (even with seeing other
women) and who is charming, hardworking and will work for her love. Their love can be firstly
described as love at first sight. The audience remembers when Prospero colluded with Ariel to
use magic to lead Ferdinand. Ariel used his magic to become invisible and therefore he started to
sing a beautiful song to lure Ferdinand. Once Ferdinand heard the voice, he followed it and
stumbled upon Miranda and Prospero. We also remember that if it was not for Prospero’s magic
in creating the storm, inciting the shipwreck, and separating the royal party including Ferdinand,
then Ferdinand would not have been wandering around lonely on the island so that he suddenly
meets Miranda.

Prospero’s magic is therefore important to placing the two lovers together. It is also important in
creating the difficulties/ challenges that the couple faces. We also remember in Act II Scene I
when Prospero turned suddenly on Ferdinand disgustingly accusing him of being a spy trying to
take the island from him. Ferdinand, becoming angry pulled his sword in order to fight him but
Prospero used his magic to paralyze him before he did anything serious. Prospero also thought
that their love was too easy and decided to make Ferdinand work for her. He was then enslaved
to do menial tasks like carry logs, wait on Prospero’s commands and ultimately act like a normal
person or servant as opposed to royalty.

Some persons may think that the love between Ferdinand and Miranda may not be true love for
various reasons. Miranda has been so sheltered and secluded that she does not know what men
are like. Miranda hasn’t had the experience or exposure to the opposite sex to form her opinions
of what she likes or does not like or what she is looking for in a husband. She explains that she
has no memory of another female or male other than her father. Miranda’s seclusion from the
rest of mankind has inhibited her ability to figure out what she wants in a husband. Also
Ferdinand has been out in the world and knows what he is looking for in a wife. However, he has
only met Miranda for the first time and has easily fallen in love and therefore one might think,
they are in ‘lust’ and not in love because he has only seen her beauty. Also, Prospero has taken it
upon himself to stage-manage their relationship by overseeing them as a director, managing their
time together and their feelings towards each other. This may be part of Prospero’s plan to return
to his home country and take up his former position. Marrying his daughter to the King’s son can
only secure his return to power and also secure his future. Therefore, Prospero will no longer be
an outcast to the society he was exiled from. It will also help Miranda to properly integrate
herself into the Elizabethan society where young maidens are married early especially into
royalty to maintain their status and so that she understands how to function in the real world with
real people.

This marriage also allows her to find her voice in the story dominated by men. Unlike the usual
Elizabethan women, she is forthright and very bold with her love. She asks to help Ferdinand
with her chores, she asks Ferdinand if he loves her and she also asks Ferdinand to marry her.
Therefore this storyline breaks down the stereotypical views of women at that time and it allows
us to see Miranda grow in the story or allows us to see a different side of her.
However, some people believe that their love is true and is useful for understanding the story.
The story’s main themes centre around greed, betrayal and abuse of power. However the love
between Ferdinand and Miranda can be the calm centre in the middle of the storm and their
marriage a symbol of peace and reconciliation and a promise for the future.

The relationship between Miranda and Ferdinand is also important because it provides a still
point at the centre of a tempestuous world. There is something less human about the other
characters but Miranda and Normal seem very normal.
Other Themes include:

 Use of Magic
 Love (Romantic and Familial)