Explore How the Character of Prospero Develops in the Course of the Tempest. How Does the Prospero of Act One Scene Two Compare to That We Hear in the Final Scene of the Play? Compare Your Interpretation of the Play with That of Other Critics.
Prospero is the most central character in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. The play revolves around his personal task to regain his dukedom, which his brother Antonio usurped from him. Throughout the play it is shown how Prospero develops and changes as a character and seems a different person to the character we first meet in Act One Scene Two. How Prospero’s character develops happens in a variety of ways, one of the most potent ways appearing to be the treatment of the other characters within the play. Prospero’s character is introduced into the play in Act One Scene Two, after the tempest has shipwrecked Antonio and Alonso’s ship. We firstly come to realise that Prospero and Miranda are looking down upon the tempest and so the shipwreck and that Prospero is the cause for the storm. This makes the character of Prospero immediately appear powerful, in a physical sense. We learn this through Miranda.
“Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.”(1)
This shows that Prospero has great physical power; we also learn that he has supernatural powers. These powers play a large part in the play and Prospero uses his own supernatural powers and Ariel’s powers to manipulate the other characters throughout the play.
By the end of the play, Prospero repents these supernatural powers.
“I’ll break my staff,”(2)
This shows a great change in Prospero’s character. As throughout the play, Prospero relies on the power he and Ariel possess to fulfil his ambition to once again become Duke of Milan. The most obvious reason for giving up his powers is that he only needed them when on the Island. Now that he is returning to Milan, he may no longer feel the need for these powers. Yet this change shows an immense change in his character. It could also be because in the time, this play was written and performed witchcraft and magic were prosecutable offences and could lead to the death penalty. Shakespeare may have Prospero dispose of all of his supernatural powers, as it would not
“Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.”(1)
This shows that Prospero has great physical power; we also learn that he has supernatural powers. These powers play a large part in the play and Prospero uses his own supernatural powers and Ariel’s powers to manipulate the other characters throughout the play.
By the end of the play, Prospero repents these supernatural powers.
“I’ll break my staff,”(2)
This shows a great change in Prospero’s character. As throughout the play, Prospero relies on the power he and Ariel possess to fulfil his ambition to once again become Duke of Milan. The most obvious reason for giving up his powers is that he only needed them when on the Island. Now that he is returning to Milan, he may no longer feel the need for these powers. Yet this change shows an immense change in his character. It could also be because in the time, this play was written and performed witchcraft and magic were prosecutable offences and could lead to the death penalty. Shakespeare may have Prospero dispose of all of his supernatural powers, as it would not