Relationships In The Tempest

Prospero and Miranda’s relationship in the Tempest is a strongly bonded one. However, Prospero has a very strict control over Miranda, especially any aspects relating to sexual relations. Prospero loves having and controlling power, and Miranda is another thing to add to his list, which he can have complete power over. Like every parent and their children, they are bound to have arguments at some points through their life, but these hardly change the relationship between them. In the time that Shakespeare was writing this play, woman played less important roles in society that men did, so we have to take this into account.

There are also many different ways in interpreting what Shakespeare has said, so sometimes, we have to choose what we, ourselves think is right.

From the beginning of the play, we can tell that Prospero and Miranda’s relationship is a strong one, when Prospero uniforms her of their past. Miranda is obviously very close to her father, because when he tells Miranda about being usurped by his “false brother” Antonio, this immediately provokes hatred in Miranda.

If she wasn’t so close to her father, and did not love him as much, then she wouldn’t have been so moved by what she just heard. She says: “I should sin To think but nobly of my Grandmother; Good wombs have born bad sons.” This quotation expresses her disbelief in the feat of such a good and honourable woman producing such an evil son.

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Which Character Relationship In The Tempest Is The Best

We can see just how much love Prospero has for Miranda when Prospero tells the audience, about when they left Milan on an unworthy boat, in a storm, when Miranda was quite young. Prospero says: “Thou was thou did preserve me.” The word “preserve” seems to show that even when he was crying and groaning, Miranda was what kept him going, kept him determined to survive. This shows how strong their relationship is and how much love that Prospero has for Miranda even though some of the time; he does not always show it.

Since arriving on the island, Prospero has had to do a lot of things for Miranda, including p being her tutor, as there are no teachers on the island to educate Miranda: “Have I thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit Than other princes.” Because Prospero is such a great man, he has been able to give her better education than other princes. The love and kindness in the relationship is reciprocal, as Miranda expresses her gratefulness towards her father: “Heavens thank you for’t.” Next the audience witness Prospero using his magic in order to lull Miranda to sleep so that he might have to chance to speak with his magical sprite Ariel. In this way, Prospero uses sleep to separate his family life and his business of bringing his enemies to justice. Miranda says: “The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me.”

Shakespeare uses this power of Prospero’s to allow sub-plots into the play, and even mystery in the plot, and the characters within the play. For example, the audience is aware of Prospero’s dialogue with Ariel and the history of Ariel, Sycorax and Caliban whereas Miranda is ignorant of this. Prospero may have wished to protect Miranda’s innocence by putting her to sleep so that she would not know about Ariel or his torment as a result of the witch Sycorax. Whatever the reason, Prospero uses sleep to remove the complications, so that he may speak with Ariel openly without having to answer any questions of explain anything to Miranda.

However, other people may take this power as the easy way out, and that he cannot be bothered to explain anything to Miranda. To others, it may seem that he is keeping something from his daughter, and he shouldn’t be doing this. I believe that the first reason is the real reason, but we are left to make our own choice. Prospero shows great caring towards Miranda, and a good example of this is after Ariel and Prospero have spoken, and it is Miranda’s turn to awake: “Awake, dear heart, awake; thou has slept Well.” The words “dear heart” express the caring feeling towards Miranda, and also shows us what Miranda possesses.