Feminism means that women are equal to men. William Shakespeare uses the characters of Miranda, Prospero, Ariel and Sycorax to reveal that in the play The Tempest, feminism does not exist. All the male characters in the play have positive attributes: strength, intelligence and power. All the female characters in the play have negative attributes: they are physically and mentally weak. The story gives the message to mistreat women and to respect men.
The character Miranda is the innocent daughter of Prospero. Prospero’s oppression of Miranda leads to her not having control of her life. Prospero doesn’t teach her anything. She virtually has no education and doesn’t want to learn. Miranda says, “More to know/ Did never meddle with my thoughts.” (1. 2. 22, 23). She is uneducated because she is not exposed to the outside world. She has not even read Prospero’s books. She demonstrates naiveté because she doesn’t say anything significant or intelligent in the entire play. Her dialogue consists of complimenting her father: “Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.” (1. 2.107). She also defends him to other people: “My father’s of a better nature, sir.” (2.1. 495). The only thing she brings to the story is complimenting her father and getting married to a man that Prospero approves of.
By playing matchmaker, Prospero has control over Miranda and Ferdinand’s marriage. At the very young age of fifteen, she is merely thrown into a marriage with a man she hardly knows. She was with one man all her life, and that is her father. When she is free from him, she is then traded to another man, Ferdinand. She needs approval from her father and other men and is obedient to them. If her father hadn’t approved of her marrying Ferdinand, she wouldn’t have married him. Miranda displays submissive behaviour by not having a lot of power due to her lack of education and experience.
The Tempest gives a message to the audience that women should be admired only for their beauty and men should be admired for their affirmative personality traits.
Dictionary.com says the name “Miranda” means: “a female given name: from a Latin word meaning ‘to be admired’” (n. page). Her character is based on how she looks. She is objectified and judged on the outside. That is proven as Ferdinand likes her only for her beauty. Dictionary.com says that “Ferdinand” is: “a male given name: from Germanic words meaning ‘bold’ and ‘peace’,” while “Alonso”: “Comes from the name Alphonso “a male given name: from Germanic words meaning ‘noble’ and ‘ready’” (n. page). All these male names bring positive connotations.
Ferdinand works for Prospero in order to be able to marry Miranda. He talks about labour and how he doesn’t mind working so hard because he will be rewarded for it: “The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead/ And makes my labours pleasures.” (3.1. 6, 7). He has a lot of energy when he says “quickens what’s dead” as a way of saying he is brought back to life. He sees that Miranda is nothing like her father: “Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed.” (3. 1. 8). Miranda would have easily married him without making him work for it. Prospero makes Ferdinand work as if he is earning the prize that is Miranda. They objectify her as a trophy wife.
Ariel is a spirit. He is suppressed like Miranda because he also serves Prospero. Ariel is a unisex name and he is very indefinite in gender. He is like a woman because he is weak and under the control of a man. He is more masculine because he does the majority of the active bidding for Prospero. Ariel is a slave to Prospero, but Ariel is released from slavery at the end of the play to be on his own.
Prior to Prospero and Miranda’s arrival on the island, a female witch named Sycorax was there with her son Caliban. Sycorax has access to magic but there are negative consequences that come with it. A female using power is terrible. In contrast to Prospero’s magic brought a marriage for his daughter, and he got his daughter and himself off the island. Miranda doesn’t have power, and in return nothing bad happens to her. Sycorax gave birth to a Caliban who is a monster. Since Caliban originates from a bad woman, the only way to validate himself is by being a slave to a good man like Prospero.
Prospero and the majority of the men have a lot of education and power. The exceptions are Trinculo the jester and Stephano the drunken butler because they are supporting characters. Prospero is the sole parent to Miranda, and he is overprotective of her. He is firm about sex after marriage, and he mentions it often. Prospero is a powerful magician and is in control of something as big as nature like the weather. He’s smart because he learns his magic from his books. Prospero is harsh and forces Ferdinand to work like a slave like Ariel and Caliban do. This proves that he has power over a prince who should outrank him.
The men mistreat women. For example, Prospero calls Miranda a wench, which is an insult. He talks down to her and disrespects her. She doesn’t retaliate in response. (1.2.412.) He doesn’t listen to her opinion and instead he tells her to be quiet: “Silence! One word more/ Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee.” (2. 1. 475, 476) Prospero calls her inferior: “What, I say, / My foot my tutor?” (2.1. 468, 469) Apparently it’s okay to disregard women even if they are your daughters.
Judging from The Tempest, William Shakespeare doesn’t believe that feminism exists. He shows the lead female character Miranda as fragile and the lead male character Prospero as tough and authoritative. Women with access to power like Sycorax are evil. Shakespeare gives the moral of the story that women should never have control of their lives and that men should instead be the ones in control.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Ed. Jon C Stott, Raymond E. Jones, and Rick Bowers. The Harbrace Anthology of Literature. 4th ed. Toronto: Thomson, Nelson, 2006. 406-463.
“Miranda.” Dictionary.com. 2006.
“Ferdinand” Dictionary.com. 2006.
“Alonso.” Dictionary.com. 2006.
9 comments:
If you knew the first thing about any of Shakespeare's plays, you would know that everything you have written here is a complete abomination to everything that Shakespeare and his plays stood for!! I can't tell how angry your arguments made me as they are so ignorant!!! What would you say about Shakespeare's portrayal of women in his comedies? NOTHING BECAUSE YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE NO IDEA!! I appreciate the enthusiasm to discuss Shakespeare, but please please please do some more research before you make such shallow comments.
Nah, she pretty much nailed the fact that Shakespeare was a patriarchal bastard -- what else can one expect from a conservative 16th century writer anyway?
His heroines in comedy are more smart and dynamic than the men-- but for all that daddy's approval is more important to them in marriage than whom they love.
Please, please actually read the plays before you make such fanboyish comments.
I would like to offer opposing evidence direct from the text that proves Prospero has in fact educated Miranda more than any other princess in a "normal" situation would be educated.
"... here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit
Than other princesses can that have more time
For vainer hours and tutors not so careful" (I.ii.286-89).
Princesses in the comforts of court spend more time on "vainer" things than learning and their "tutors" do not take so much time and care to educate them throughly and correctly. I contrast, Prospero is invested in Miranda as his "cherubim", and like a good father, has taken the time to focus on her learning, thus empowering her more in the future once she matures. The fact that he kept their past a secret from her until she was fifteen is perhaps only protecting her from sorrow or holding the truth until she was ready to hear and comprehend it; ence, Prospero's continual references to the timeliness of everything he does. Parents should keep some information from children and judge when it is the right time to deliver.
It's also not quite justifiable to place 20th and 21st century feminist philosophy on a text written in a time when feminism didn't exist (consider that it was expected for royal fathers to marry their daughters to royal suitors who would protect daughter and country -- the people at the time would not have questioned this concept whatsoever, and would have likely seen Prospero as a good father for his actions). You must first seek to understand the text through the minds of the people in early 17th Century England. Even women of the time would have interpreted this differently than we do today. Sure, Prospero does have much control over Miranda as King and Father, but he enforces the same control over ALL characters in the play. In fact, he is more gentle and more loving toward Miranda than any other in the play, even over himself.
Yes, I am a woman as well, and a literary scholar who specializes in Early Modern British Literature. Like the first person who commented above, please be careful to fully know the text and the mentality of the time period before posting writings on a period piece to the internet for all to see.
...and to continue the previous post, I found another excerpt that proves Prospero believes Miranda is valuable and intelligent enough to even take charge of Ferdinand if only it were the right time to do it (again indicating Prospero's wise timing of events and relinquishing of power and knowledge):
Prospero: [Aside to himself, regarding Ferdinand] The Duke of Milan
And his more braver daughter could control thee,
If now 'twere fit to do't. (I.ii.611-12).
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