The Need For Power In Shakespeare's The Tempest

Power has always been the dominant force throughout history, encouraging people to explore, start wars, and to seek ways to improve life. Behind almost any historical event one can find a power struggle that created it. In Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” the need for power is one of the most dominant themes, as many characters actions are spurred by the lust for power, as they commit treachery, enslave others, and attempt to kill each other in order to gain control. I see power lust as one of the roots of all evil, because it corrupts people and can cause them to lose their sense of humanity. The world would not be where it is today without the desire to expand one’s power. Many characters such as Caliban, Stephano, Gonzalo, and Sebastian sought …show more content…
Prospero has two slaves, Caliban and Ariel, whom he often treats unfairly. I realize that in this time period slavery was expected in most European societies, but that doesn’t make it any more acceptable or any less cruel. Colonists were so power hungry that they enslaved thousands of people for their own advantages and forcefully took land from natives just because they could. Caliban symbolizes these natives who were rapidly losing power that was rightfully theirs to the expanding Europeans. At this time slave were seen as nothing more than animals that were there just to serve the master, and they couldn’t express opinions of their own nor have any control over what they did. Caliban is often referred to as a monster or told that he is like an animal, which demonstrates how “civilized” people viewed those who were different from them. For instance when Prospero and Miranda go to Caliban with seemingly no other purpose than to bully him, Prospero refers to him as a turtle and Miranda reminds him that, “When thou didst not, savage, Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like a thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes with words that made them known.”(Act 1, Scene 2 Lines 427-430) She compares his original speech to that of an animal, and decided that he needed her language in order to overcome his savagery. Ariel is a native spirit of the island, who was first enslaved …show more content…
During my first reading, I was merely trying to grasp its overall plot, and I missed key details that became evident when watching the film. For instance, I hadn’t realized that Antonio and Sebastian had been plotting to kill Alonso because I had assumed that they were only making plans to rule the island. Upon watching the film I also gained a different representation of the characters than the ones formed in my imagination while reading it. When I saw that Caliban was of African descent in the movie, it appeared to be a potentially racist representation at first, and it inspired me to more closely look at his character in the original text, where I discovered that his mother had been from Niger. The film also helped me understand the stage directions of the play, which was useful when I read it again. My second reading was definitely more enjoyable because I was able to focus on the themes and symbolism that Shakespeare makes such excellent use of, and I could understand it better since I already had a firm grasp of the