William Shakespeare 's play The Tempest features several different themes that change how the play is viewed. These can range from historical readings to feminist criticisms, all presenting new ideas and insights. When looking from a feminist perspective, facts arise that did not seem important when simply reading the play. For example there are only three women throughout the entire play; one of whom is actually featured in the play, no mothers are present in Tempest, and the woman who appears in the play does not have a very complex personality or mind of her own. The women in Shakespeare 's The Tempest are severely under-represented, overlooked, and dominated throughout the entire play; making women seem far less significant in Shakespeare
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She is never seen in the play, along with Claribel. The only information that the audience is given of her is that she is dark skinned, was impregnated illegitimately, and was rebellious. She arrived at the island pregnant with Caliban and disappeared shortly after delivering him. Blystone theorizes that Caliban can be thought of as a sort of reflection of who Sycorax was and her moral standards. He is ugly, almost fish-like, a servant, and considered to be unintelligent among other things. If she is producing such offspring as Caliban, it must show that she has low moral standards and that either she was unattractive or Caliban 's father was. Her low moral standards come into play with Caliban 's looks when taking into consideration how the people of this time thought of genetics. Lara speaks of how they did not know anything about how people were actually conceived or how it affected looks. In this way, they thought that Sycorax 's low moral standards most likely contributed to his unattractive looks. With Sycorax being so looked down upon and treated so badly, the message is effectively sent to society not to emulate …show more content…
Claribel 's mother is never mentioned and neither is Miranda 's. When retelling to Miranda their journey to the island that they have landed on, Thompson and Loomba point out that, Prospero says nothing of a mother she once had. Miranda does recall six different women taking care of her but no recollection of a mother. As far as the audience can tell, she never had one. It has been theorized by Slights that she simply sprung from the sand due to lack of evidence of a mother. Claribel 's mother is not spoken of either. She is not mentioned when speaking of the wedding and seemingly did not attend. The reason for this, Howard suggests, is because the women were either too insignificant to mention or too powerful. When saying too powerful, it is meant that having the ability to create life within oneself is a grand power that men are physically incapable of doing. In order to discredit this feat, women may have been left out of the play all together so that they would have a lesser role. However, it is also possible that they just were not thought of as important enough to include in retellings of stories, even ones encompassing entire lives. Women are entirely discredited in this way for either avenue picked to describe why the mothers are left out of the play. Discredited in the sense of losing their power or identity
She is never seen in the play, along with Claribel. The only information that the audience is given of her is that she is dark skinned, was impregnated illegitimately, and was rebellious. She arrived at the island pregnant with Caliban and disappeared shortly after delivering him. Blystone theorizes that Caliban can be thought of as a sort of reflection of who Sycorax was and her moral standards. He is ugly, almost fish-like, a servant, and considered to be unintelligent among other things. If she is producing such offspring as Caliban, it must show that she has low moral standards and that either she was unattractive or Caliban 's father was. Her low moral standards come into play with Caliban 's looks when taking into consideration how the people of this time thought of genetics. Lara speaks of how they did not know anything about how people were actually conceived or how it affected looks. In this way, they thought that Sycorax 's low moral standards most likely contributed to his unattractive looks. With Sycorax being so looked down upon and treated so badly, the message is effectively sent to society not to emulate …show more content…
Claribel 's mother is never mentioned and neither is Miranda 's. When retelling to Miranda their journey to the island that they have landed on, Thompson and Loomba point out that, Prospero says nothing of a mother she once had. Miranda does recall six different women taking care of her but no recollection of a mother. As far as the audience can tell, she never had one. It has been theorized by Slights that she simply sprung from the sand due to lack of evidence of a mother. Claribel 's mother is not spoken of either. She is not mentioned when speaking of the wedding and seemingly did not attend. The reason for this, Howard suggests, is because the women were either too insignificant to mention or too powerful. When saying too powerful, it is meant that having the ability to create life within oneself is a grand power that men are physically incapable of doing. In order to discredit this feat, women may have been left out of the play all together so that they would have a lesser role. However, it is also possible that they just were not thought of as important enough to include in retellings of stories, even ones encompassing entire lives. Women are entirely discredited in this way for either avenue picked to describe why the mothers are left out of the play. Discredited in the sense of losing their power or identity