An Overview of William Shakespeare’s "The Tempest"

William Shakespeare’s The Tempest
A story where the audience follows the interesting life of the Duke of Milan, Prospero. For twelve years, they were forced to live on this treacherous remote island until Prospero had his chance at vengeance. Shakespeare’s The Tempest, one of his well-known plays throughout the world, is an enigmatic renaissance drama masterpiece.
Shakespeare’s last complete play may seem like fantasy because of the heavy presence and influence of magic, but The Tempest is abundant with recognizable and relatable matters. Shakespeare showcased many arguments in this piece. The pursuit of power, the fixation on confinement and the complications brought by colonialism are some of the most discernable issues in the play.
Power plays a very important role in society. This is why it is not surprising that many people desire it. One example would be Antonio, Prospero’s brother. While Prospero was preoccupied with the study of magic, Antonio was running Milan for him.
Eventually, Antonio grew tired of having Prospero as a duke and wanted the power to himself. He conspired with Prospero’s arch-nemesis, Alonso, to banish Prospero and his daughter from Milan. Prospero’s negligence of duty gave Antonio the chance to grab power over his dukedom.
On the island, Sycorax, the late witch who ruled and abused the island for many years, imprisoned all those who came against her. Years later, Prospero gained power over its spirit inhabitants. He did this by freeing them with the use of his knowledge of magic.
Caliban, the son of the witch, wants to overthrow Prospero as the island’s ruler. This is because he thinks he is the rightful heir to his mother who ruled the island first. Aside from the horrible things this monster has done to Prospero and Miranda, he even conspired with shipwrecked-sailors to overthrow Prospero’s rule on the island.
The pursuit of power and more power leads to many problematic behavior and actions. This is seen not just from the characters of the story but in real-world situations. Shakespeare has highlighted this in his plays numerous times, not just in The Tempest.
One famous theme for this play is colonialism. This is shown inn the way Prospero came to the island and imposed his culture. He immediately enslaved the inhabitants and treated them differently compared to the way he treated Miranda. He made his way to be the ruler of the island. This is exactly how colonizers work which Shakespeare showcased in his play.
Another recurring theme that is seen throughout the play is its fixation on confinement. This can be observed from the exile of Prospero to his subjugation of the island’s spirit inhabitants. This theme applies to many levels in this work of Shakespeare.
Ariel is the good and powerful spirit trapped by Sycorax because he did not want to be under her control. When Prospero came to the island, he freed Ariel from that prison. Ariel then returned the favor by working for Prospero. Ariel did thi...