Similarities Between The Tempest And The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Discovery is one of the most important parts of a human’s existence as it affects the way we think and how we react to new understandings. The Tempest by Shakespeare and The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky both show discoveries through acts of love and emotional self-discoveries which can be ‘fresh and meaningful’ for the individual and also the ones around them. In The Tempest, we see the main characters go through a notion of the power of love and also emotional discoveries. Likewise, in The Perks of being a Wallflower, the main character Charlie, goes through a journey of discovery that balance around his own self discovery and also finding new friends and how they affect his life.

Shakespeare portrays the process of discoveries to be fresh and meaningful through the characters Miranda and Ferdinand and their love that evolves throughout the play. When Miranda sees Ferdinand for the first time, the discovery is fresh for her as she has only known two men for her whole life. When
“‘It’s okay Charlie. Just go to sleep.’ Sam said. But I wasn’t talking to Sam anymore. I was talking to someone else.’” Charlie implies in this paragraph that when Sam started to touch Charlie he realised that’s what his Aunt did to him and how she sexually abused him. This discovery changed him as a person by re-living the incidents which led him to being hospitalized. It’s only when Charlie connects the dots and discovers that his Aunt Helen was also molested when she was younger. “I will not say who. I will not say when. I will just say that my Aunt Helen was molested.” Often history repeats itself and in this case the victim of abuse becomes the abuser. Aunt Helen took advantage of Charlie’s love and trust and left him scarred for life and changed the course of his