QUESTION THREE: ‘Shakespeare’s primary focus is on those who govern and the
ways they exercise power. Use The Tempest to focus a discussion on the extent to
which this is true. You may confine your discussion to The Tempest or include other
Shakespeare plays you have studied.
Shakepeare’s primary focus seems to be on those who govern and the ways they exercise power. This
is clearly evident in many of his plays, be they tragedy or comedy. Macbeth, for instance, kills his
cousin King Duncan and many others, in his ruthless pursuit of power. Claudius, in Hamlet, kills his
own brother King Hamlet to take his title and marry Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. Oberon, in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream uses magical charms to control his wife Titania to steal the changeling boy
she keeps from him, and in The Tempest, Prospero manipulates all in his quest for governance of
Milan, Naples and the very island the play takes place. This essay will focus on the way Prospero
governs and how he exercises power.
Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan executes a master plan that throws all characters of the play into a
metaphorical tempest in the pursuit of governance and power. We learn in the expository scene Act I:II
that 12 years previous both Prospero and his daughter were cast to sea by his evil brother Antonio; O!
That a brother should be so perfidious. He tells his daughter of their past in an impassioned speech,
Thy father was the Duke of Milan and a prince of power, and soon illustrates to us his plan to regain his
old position of power. Knowing Antonio, the King of Naples Alonso, and others to be sailing home
from Tunis, Prospero exercises power by commanding Ariel, his magical servant, to wash them up on
the island following an orchestrated tempest. As the play progresses, we learn of his aim; to cause
emotional grief to Antonio and Alonso (but to forgive them both in the end), to take back his previous
roll as Duke, and to have his daughter wed to the Prince of Naples, Ferdinand, so that he may extend
his power of governance through matrimony. It is clear, therefore, that in the cases of The Tempest,
Shakespeare’ primary focus is on Prospero’s governance and the way he exercises power, as it is this
behaviour that drives the narrative of the play.
The audience response to Prospero’s actions has varied as time has passed. The play, written in 1611,
showed all the qualities that a Jacobean court audience would have admired. Prospero, much like King
James I, is a learned man, in possession of natural authority and an understanding of magic. He was
considered by E. Dowden in Shakespeare: His Mind and Art (1875), to be a ‘harmonious and fully
developed will.’ And yet a modern audience struggles to consolidate their understanding of Prospero
with the archetypal Shakespearean hero. In fact, E. Baughan wrote in a Daily News Review (Jan 8,
1926) that he had ‘never seen a performance of The Tempest which did not make it quite clear why
Prospero’s brother had kidnapped him and sent him adrift on a ship which even the rats had deserted.’
He calls Prospero both an ‘insufferable bore’ and a ‘cruel egotist.’ It’s that latter description of the
protagonist and hero Prospero that a modern audience is likely to relate to.
Where it seems Prospero failed in his duties to exercise power and govern Milan adequately (he had
offered his brother Antonio de facto control of Milan while he occupied himself with his learning), he
also took it upon himself to govern the island where he and Miranda took residence. And here again, he
exercises his power poorly.
Caliban, the only native of the island appears at first savage, bitter and evil. The epitome of the savage
native that English colonizers encountered as they explored the Caribbean and other far flung locations.
Prospero at first does what any white colonizer does and takes Caliban under his wing. He teaches him
religion and language and Caliban even says, ‘When thou camest first, thou strokedst me and madest
much of me… and then I loved thee.’ However, we soon learn Prospero exercised his power by taking
control of the island and of Caliban, turning him into his slave. Caliban cries, ‘For I am all the subjects
that you have, which first was mine own King: and here you sty me in this hard rock whiles you do
keep from me the rest o’ the island.’ We begin recognize the plight of the poor savage and our
sympathies are reinforced when Caliban later comments on the beauty of the island to Stephano and
Trinculo. His tender speech has a lyrical quality normally reserved for characters of noble origin. ‘Be
not afeard, the isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.’
As we see Caliban for who he really is, we begin to feel for him and regret the governance Prospero
has over Caliban and his domain. No one appreciates the island as much as Caliban. No one
understands the island as well as Caliban. His loss, therefore, is even more greatly felt. It is sadly ironic
that Prospero needs Caliban so badly to help sustain his and his daughter’s existence on the island, yet
he treats him worse than any other character. He exercises his power over Caliban through cruel and
inhuman measures. He tortures Caliban until he does his bidding, and the effects upon the poor creature
are extreme, so much so that he cowers from the sound of Thunder as he assumes it’s another way
Prospero has devised to hurt him, ‘His spirits hear me,’ he cries. Through the experiences of Caliban
we see how Shakespeare has placed Prospero’s hunger for governance as a primary focus, and a
modern audience dislikes the way in which Prospero exercises his power over the complex character
Caliban.
Caliban is not the only character who is unfairly governed by Prospero. Ariel too, although clearly
loved by Prospero, is subject to Prospero’s governance. Ariel only seeks his freedom, ‘Let me
remember thee what thou has promised, which is not yet perform’d me.’ Ariel wants his liberty, but
Prospero refuses to do so until he is done using Ariel. Miranda his daughter, is also governed unfairly
by Prospero. It is not until she is fifteen that he decides to tell her who she is and where she comes
from, as now is the time it suits him best. He manipulates her view of her uncle by telling her of his
‘perfidious’ act and she agrees that ‘good wombs have borne bad sons.’ He arranges for her to fall in
love with Ferdinand so that they might be wed, thus marrying her to the Kingdom of Naples and
extending through matrimony his own reach of control. These are all examples of Prospero’s need to
govern, and the way he executes his power as governor of the island and as a father often seems unfair.
Shakespeare has clearly made this issue a focus in his play.
Governance is a primary focus in The Tempest. Shakespeare’s hero and protagonist Prospero embodies
governance as an idea, and through manipulative and often cruel means does he exercise his power
over others. His position as chess player who manipulates other men like mere pawns on the chess
board is made even more apparent when, in the closing scene, we see his own daughter playing the
game with her new love Ferdinand. The audience is left knowing that the quest for governance will
continue in generations to come. In this play Shakespeare has clearly placed focus on those who govern
and the ways they exercise power.