Skip to main content

How does Shakespeare explore the theme of betrayal in The Tempest?

The Tempest is driven by Prospero’s desire to avenge his betrayal. He says that he loved his brother Antonio more than anyone in the world other than himself. Prospero, “being transported / And rapt in secret studies” (reading, possibly studying sorcery), let Antonio take control of his dukedom. Like Lear’s daughters in King Lear, who presumed themselves rulers when their father gave them his kingdom, Antonio thought himself to be the role he assumed. He made a deal with King Alonso of Naples, “an enemy / To me [Prospero] inveterate,” who agreed to support Antonio’s bid for power. Instead of killing the popular Prospero, the conspirators put him and his young daughter, Miranda, on a rickety boat. The two unexpectedly survived their journey by landing on a desert island.


Prospero has it out for Antonio and Alonso, who crash on his island after Prospero has Ariel create a storm. Alonso’s brother Sebastian is also there, and he seems interested in following in Antonio’s steps. He plans to kill his brother to take the throne: “Thy case, dear friend, / Shall be my precedent; as thou got'st Milan, / I'll come by Naples.” Ariel rebukes and frightens Antonio, Alonso, and Sebastian, referring to them as “three men of sin.” However, Prospero forgives them in the end.


Prospero and Caliban’s relationship demonstrates another example of betrayal. Caliban accuses Prospero of taking advantage of him:



When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest much of me,
…..
... and then I loved thee
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle...



Prospero calls him a liar and claims that Caliban betrayed him, repaying his kindness by trying to violate Miranda. Whatever the truth, Caliban certainly seeks to cross Prospero now. When he meets Stephano, who gives him drink, Caliban says he will serve Stephano if he helps kill Prospero. In spite of these many betrayals of trust, The Tempest ends not in revenge, but in forgiveness.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more