Essay on Prospero as an Ideal Ruler in in Shakespeares...

Prospero as an Ideal Ruler in The Tempest Prosperos magical powers allow him to single-handedly take control of a situation of slowly developing chaos, caused by his eviction from Milan, and turn the plot of The Tempest. Prospero has powers over his surroundings, far greater than those of an ordinary mortal, and he uses them for good in the course of the play. This essay will discuss whether Prospero combines his magic with power over the self, and whether Shakespeare actually presents him as an ideal ruler. Although we hear the story of Prosperos eviction from Milan from him, the manner in which he tells his history inspires distrust -- Prospero is pompous, self-pitying and apparently unforgiving. The nature of†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, Prosperos treatment of the court party seems to show that he is interested only in frightening them, and at this point we do not realize that he wants to educate them. When we see Alonso dashing offstage apparently to kill himself, we can only assume that Prospero wants to take his revenge on the relatively blameless Alonso by allowing him to commit suicide. As yet, we have heard no other speech from Prospero about his intentions for the court party except for the long history he told to Miranda, when he called Alonso an enemy / To me inveterate and spoke bitterly at great length about Antonio. Prospero is also consistently self-indulgent and vain. At the beginning of the play, he calls himself poor man in his story to Miranda, and answers her question in extremely long-winded fashion, suiting his own wishes rather than hers. Although he says that his only care has been to serve Miranda, the first thing we see after that is Miranda serving him by helping him take his cloak off -- implying hypocrisy. When Stephanos party is getting ready to kill Prospero and the court party is apparently going to commit mass suicide, aided by Antonio, Prospero indulges his vain desire to show off his art to his children, and make the most of it before he gives it up. Even at the end, we are slightly uneasy at Prosperos desire to tell everyone his life story -- a wish thatShow MoreRelatedThe Postcolonial Interpretations Of Shakespeares The Tempest1512 Words   |  7 Pages The Tempest, written by playwright William Shakespeare is one of his most popular, yet also controversial plays. This paper will discuss the postcolonial interpretations of Shakespeare’s play, by looking at the nature of colonialism, and how it has been incorporated within his play, through the role of the colonized versus the colonizers. 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