Signet Essay Contest Winner 2017: Divya Dayanidhi

Divya Dayanidhi

The resiliency and determination of human nature cause people to strive for the highest ground—even a position that was once lost. However, the process of reclamation may result in a change in personality, sometimes for the worse. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Prospero sees himself as an honest, caring man who is trying to find his way back to his former life. However, while executing his elaborate plan, Prospero belittles the spirits he controls, often by ridiculing their intelligence and insulting their appearances. Ultimately he becomes a dictator who does not understand how his actions affect others, which is more dangerous than a dictator who is aware of his or her consequences. His decision to surrender his powers at the end of the play was wise, because he was already conceited, as well as on the path to corruption, and could not have found a middle ground to retain his powers yet still be moral.

Prospero is initially presented as a well-rounded man who is thoroughly educated and had everything he could have desired. He describes himself in his former life to his daughter Miranda as, “The prime duke, being so reputed / in dignity, and for the liberal arts / without a parallel”. Prospero was at his height when he was driven from Milan. Yet all this is from Prospero’s perspective, so he is portrayed as the wronged man. Prospero decided that his books were more important than the dukedom and handed over his position of power to his brother Antonio. Prospero’s anger at Antonio and his anguish at the loss of his dukedom are not fully justified because he himself had provided the opportunity for wrongdoing. In addition, Prospero’s increasingly condescending nature is already apparent when he describes his supporters as “the creatures that were mine”. Even at the beginning, he saw those who stood by him as objects under his power. Prospero may portray himself as a wronged man, but his seed of corruption existed early on.

Magical powers only succeeded in increasing Prospero’s haughtiness, although he still views himself as a righteous person. Prospero commands the spirits of the island, including Ariel, and Caliban, the son of a witch. Although they carry out his orders, Prospero denigrates them at the slightest protest. When Prospero encounters Caliban later in the play, he addresses Caliban with a series of insults, not limited to “thou poisonous slave, got by the devil / himself” and “hagseed”. When Ariel asks Prospero about his promised freedom, Prospero is instantly angered and says, “thou liest, malignant thing!”. Ariel requests that Prospero remember his “promise / to bate [Ariel] a full year”. However, Prospero insists that Ariel is ungrateful for being freed from the witch, Sycorax, and makes Ariel continue to do his bidding. Prospero does not treat those he commands with kindness, even those who efficiently aid him in his plan.

A softer, kinder side of Prospero is also seen in the play as well, but not as often as his harsh actions. Miranda does mention that her “father’s of a better nature… than he appears by speech” . This “better nature” is observed most prominently when Prospero tries to bring Miranda and Ferdinand, the Prince of Naples, together. Prospero is the kindest when attending to his daughter and her future, but he can be rough with her as well. While he tells Miranda about his past, he repeatedly interrupts his story to ask her, “Dost thou attend me?”. Ironically, while portraying himself as an honest, wronged man, his behavior indicates his more overbearing nature. Prospero furthers his claim to be a wronged man in his encounters with Caliban. He initially treated Caliban “with humane care, and lodged [him]”, but now sends spirits to “mow and chatter at [him], / and … with cloven tongues/ do hiss [him] into madness”. While his kind actions are generous and sweet, they are outweighed by numerous insults.

Prospero is a rather pompous person when in a position of power, but is reduced to nothing without any magical abilities. He puts on a grand display of “some vanity of [his] art” for Miranda and Ferdinand. In the performance, the spirits are named after Ancient Roman goddesses, almost as a suggestion at the extent of Prospero’s power. Yet, at the end of the play, Prospero reveals that his powers come through domination when he says, “now my charms are all o’erthrown, / and what strength I have’s mine own, / which is most faint”. Prospero himself is nearly insignificant without subjects to command.

Overall, Prospero is an arrogant and almost tyrannical man who strongly believes he is kind and was unjustly wronged. All those he mistreats, including Ariel and Caliban, remind him of his forgotten promises and harsh actions, which Prospero immediately dismisses as untrue. Prospero fails to see his own misdeeds and does not realize his authority comes from forced domination over others. Such a failure suggests that he cannot be a moral man as long as he has magical powers. Therefore, Prospero was wise to give up his powers before any lasting damage was done.