‘Even Prospero, whose magic invests
him with control over life and death,
has his power hedged around with a
sense of its dangers and risks.’ – Martin
Butler
‘Prospero bases his right to power on moral rather
than territorial legitimacy. Caliban cannot rule the
island because he is not really human, and cannot rule
himself.’ – Martin Butler
‘For his part, Caliban recognizes that Prospero’s political power lies
in this presumption of cultural superiority’ – Martin Butler
‘Prospero is a political pessimist, who assumes that men need
to be ruled and that a state without a strong principle of kingly
government will fall into a condition of anarchy.’ – Martin
Butler
‘By the end of the play, almost all the characters have moved
into postures of obedience or alliance to Prospero.’ – Martin
Butler
Forgiveness
‘Prospero forgives Antonio, though in terms which
suggest he does it through gritted teeth – he cannot
acknowledge him as his brother, for example.’ – Martin
Butler
‘The stings of conscience, then, make
Alonso subject himself to Prospero: the
inner trajectory which he follows gives
meaning to Prospero’s offer of
forgiveness.’ - Martin Butler
‘However much Prospero is publically committed
to forgiveness, as a duke he must work by a more
Machiavellian rule-book.’ - Martin Butler
‘For all Prosperos, the price of forgiveness
is the requirement to forgo his magic.’ -
Martin Butler
Colonisation (Prospero and Caliban)
‘the presentation of Caliban as a slave
resonates even more strongly with the
Americas.’ – Martin Butler
‘Nurture having failed, Prospero
resorts to force, for the chastity of
Miranda has to be protected.’ – Martin
Butler
‘Caliban has been exploited, but in some
respects he has willingly become a slave and
brought his subjection upon himself.’ (when he
says to Stephano he will ‘swear myself thy
subject.’) – Martin Butler
Victorians saw themselves as
having a duty to civilise ‘the
natives’’ – Joanna Williams
‘He is every bit the oppressed native.’ - – Joanna Williams
‘The triumph at the end of the play is to
see Caliban gratefully going back to his
previous servitude.’ – Joanna Williams
Women and Marriage (Miranda and Ferdinand)
‘These circumstances put special pressure on his
relationship with Miranda, since she is effectively the
channel through which his [Prospero’s] authority will be
transmitted into the future. Prospero spends much of the
play making arrangements of Miranda’s marriage’ – Martin
Butler
‘Europe’s domestic and political arrangements
depend on the compliance of its women.’ – Martin
Butler
‘Authority cannot be safely passed from father to
son-in-law unless care is taken to ensure the
woman’s obedience.’ – Martin Butler
‘A deflowered daughter would have
tainted the family.’ – Martin Butler
(Prospero talks about Miranda as ‘my rich
gift’) ‘Such language reinforces our
perception of Miranda as something to be
bartered over and traded between men,
rather than a self-determining human
being in her own right.’ – Mike Brett
‘Her [Miranda’s] finest qualities are
both a testament to her character,
and a sad acknowledgement that she
is a pawn in a patriarchal society.’ –
Mike Brett
‘Her [Miranda’s] femininity
becomes an extremely valuable
commodity.’ – Mike Brett
‘She does not genuinely challenge
Prospero’s authority, and submits to
Ferdinand almost from the first
moment that she meets him.’ – Mike
Brett
The Supernatural (Prospero)
Ariel and Caliban ‘force us to
reconsider what we suppose are
the limits of the human.’ – Martin
Butler
Prospero’s ‘magic allows him to
impose his will in situations that he
could not otherwise control.’ –
Martin Butler
Love (Miranda, Prospero, Ferdinand)
‘If anything Prospero is unusual for the tenderness he
shows Miranda, the sensitivity with which he handles her
predicament. Nevertheless, the play makes it apparent
that her marriage is designed, since he engineers it.’ –
Martin Butler
The ‘pointless task’ of moving logs is reminiscent of ‘chivalric’ knights, and ‘proves that he
[Ferdinand] understands that Miranda is a prize to be earned, not stolen or seized as if of
right.’ – Martin Butler
‘She [Miranda] shows herself to be motivated by
the positive force of love, rather than the threat of
violence.’ – Mike Brett
‘Coveted prize’ – Mike Brett describing Miranda
‘For women, goodness equates to sexual fidelity.’ –
Mike Brett
Freedom (Ariel and Caliban)
‘Some critics see Caliban as representing freedom, whilst
others see him as merely savage and uncouth.’ – Joanna
Williams
‘It could be argued that
Miranda’s apparent freedom is
entirely illusory.’ – Mike Brett
He no longer needs the imaginary representations. He has taken all
the necessary archetypes and integrated them within himself’ – Barry
Beck
Social Status (Prospero, Alonso, Antonio, Gonzalo, Caliban)
‘Caliban serves to illustrate ideas about the social hierarchy of the Renaissance
world, which formulated a socially rigid — and very political — hierarchy of God,
king, man, woman, beast.’ – Sheri Metzger
Man vs the Natural World (Prospero, Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano)
‘Caliban represents the primitive and
unrestrained appetite, untouched by
civilised notions of self control.’ – Joanna
Williams
‘Prospero is frowned upon for his attempts to restrain Caliban’s natural impulses’ –
Joanna Williams (In the Romantic era, Caliban’s sexual appetite was seen as a sign of his
freedom and was privileged above the ‘constraints of a stifling society’.)
Nature (Prospero, Ariel, Caliban)
‘Caliban is associated with the elements of earth and water, in
complete contrast to the flighty Ariel.’ – Joanna Williams