1answer.
Ask question
Login Signup
Ask question
All categories
  • English
  • Mathematics
  • Social Studies
  • Business
  • History
  • Health
  • Geography
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Computers and Technology
  • Arts
  • World Languages
  • Spanish
  • French
  • German
  • Advanced Placement (AP)
  • SAT
  • Medicine
  • Law
  • Engineering
Crank
3 years ago
6

Team up with a partner and analyze Shakespeare's The Tempest.

English
1 answer:
Y_Kistochka [10]3 years ago
8 0

The Illusion of Justice

The Tempest tells a fairly straightforward story involving an unjust act, the usurpation of Prospero’s throne by his brother, and Prospero’s quest to re-establish justice by restoring himself to power. However, the idea of justice that the play works toward seems highly subjective, since this idea represents the view of one character who controls the fate of all the other characters. Though Prospero presents himself as a victim of injustice working to right the wrongs that have been done to him, Prospero’s idea of justice and injustice is somewhat hypocritical—though he is furious with his brother for taking his power, he has no qualms about enslaving Ariel and Caliban in order to achieve his ends. At many moments throughout the play, Prospero’s sense of justice seems extremely one-sided and mainly involves what is good for Prospero. Moreover, because the play offers no notion of higher order or justice to supersede Prospero’s interpretation of events, the play is morally ambiguous.

As the play progresses, however, it becomes more and more involved with the idea of creativity and art, and Prospero’s role begins to mirror more explicitly the role of an author creating a story around him. With this metaphor in mind, and especially if we accept Prospero as a surrogate for Shakespeare himself, Prospero’s sense of justice begins to seem, if not perfect, at least sympathetic. Moreover, the means he uses to achieve his idea of justice mirror the machinations of the artist, who also seeks to enable others to see his view of the world. Playwrights arrange their stories in such a way that their own idea of justice is imposed upon events. In The Tempest, the author is in the play, and the fact that he establishes his idea of justice and creates a happy ending for all the characters becomes a cause for celebration, not criticism.

By using magic and tricks that echo the special effects and spectacles of the theater, Prospero gradually persuades the other characters and the audience of the rightness of his case. As he does so, the ambiguities surrounding his methods slowly resolve themselves. Prospero forgives his enemies, releases his slaves, and relinquishes his magic power, so that, at the end of the play, he is only an old man whose work has been responsible for all the audience’s pleasure. The establishment of Prospero’s idea of justice becomes less a commentary on justice in life than on the nature of morality in art. Happy endings are possible, Shakespeare seems to say, because the creativity of artists can create them, even if the moral values that establish the happy ending originate from nowhere but the imagination of the artist.

The Difficulty of Distinguishing “Men” from “Monsters”

Upon seeing Ferdinand for the first time, Miranda says that he is “the third man that e’er I saw” (I.ii.449). The other two are, presumably, Prospero and Caliban. In their first conversation with Caliban, however, Miranda and Prospero say very little that shows they consider him to be human. Miranda reminds Caliban that before she taught him language, he gabbled “like / A thing most brutish” (I.ii.359–360) and Prospero says that he gave Caliban “human care” (I.ii.349), implying that this was something Caliban ultimately did not deserve. Caliban’s exact nature continues to be slightly ambiguous later. In Act IV, scene i, reminded of Caliban’s plot, Prospero refers to him as a “devil, a born devil, on whose nature / Nurture can never stick” (IV.i.188–189). Miranda and Prospero both have contradictory views of Caliban’s humanity. On the one hand, they think that their education of him has lifted him from his formerly brutish status. On the other hand, they seem to see him as inherently brutish. His devilish nature can never be overcome by nurture, according to Prospero. Miranda expresses a similar sentiment in Act I, scene ii: “thy vile race, / Though thou didst learn, had that in’t which good natures / Could not abide to be with” (I.ii.361–363). The inhuman part of Caliban drives out the human part, the “good nature,” that is imposed on him.

You might be interested in
“First, I went to the wrong classroom for math." What purpose does this sentence serve in the paragraph
Norma-Jean [14]
The sentence is stating what the person did first in the list of all the things he/she did in the rest of the paragraph.

<span><u><em /></u>See in the sentence how it says, <u><em>“First,</em></u> I went to the wrong classroom for math."



</span>
4 0
3 years ago
Read 2 more answers
In Act 1, Scene 5, who says, "My only love spring from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late"?
Elena-2011 [213]

Answer:

Juliet, when she finds out who Romeo is

Explanation:

She laments, "I must love a loathèd enemy," referring to the House of Montague.

5 0
2 years ago
A supplementary assignment is one that is _[blank]_.A supplementary assignment is one that is _[blank]_. required deleted extra
Karolina [17]

Answer:

extra

Explanation:

8 0
3 years ago
Which statement best summarizes one central theme of “The Gun” by Philip K.?
lidiya [134]

Answer:

People designed the system to solve others problem, however each solution that was solved created an additional problem.

Explanation:

8 0
3 years ago
Which piece of evidence would best support the underlined topic sentence in the excerpt?
larisa [96]

Answer:

Mahatma Gandhi used his ambition to help India become independent from England and gained renown in the process, but he led a simple life and never chased fame.

Explanation:

The underlined topic sentence is the following:

  • But, if we are ambitious to do good, without any regard for the fame we may win or the praise we may command, our course will be honorable and our acts will be worthy.

The topic sentence is the most important sentence of the paragraph. It lets us know what the rest of the paragraph will be about and is usually found at its beginning.

The evidence that supports the given topic sentence is the sentence about Mahatma Gandhi. We can see that he helped India gain independence but not because he wanted fame. He simply wanted to help his people and always led a simple life, despite his achievements. This is exactly what the underlined sentence tells about - being ambitious, but not for selfish reasons.

4 0
3 years ago
Other questions:
  • Why must you learn to recognize key characteristics of the animal you're hunting?
    8·1 answer
  • Imagine you are listening to a conversation about studying at university. To better understand a conversation, it’s useful to th
    9·2 answers
  • What is the term for the position a person hold in a society?
    14·1 answer
  • I need help on this ? Like what do I do ?
    5·2 answers
  • If you are trying to do a close reading of the structure of Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron," what are some good quest
    7·1 answer
  • Strong readers make connections with the texts they read to form a deeper understanding. There are four kinds of connections rea
    9·1 answer
  • MARKING AS BRAINLEST!!!!!!!! examine the writing scenario below
    9·1 answer
  • Read the following plot summary. Then, answer the question that follows.
    15·1 answer
  • What convention of fact sheets makes it easy to find the article's central ideas?
    7·2 answers
  • Good Evening All,
    10·2 answers
Add answer
Login
Not registered? Fast signup
Signup
Login Signup
Ask question!