The Tempest Themes: Freedom, Imprisonment and Authority

This essay sample on The Tempest Themes provides all necessary basic information on this matter, including the most common “for and against” arguments. Below are the introduction, body and conclusion parts of this essay.

In the Tempest you see a variety of themes set in many different contexts which develop further as the play progresses, many of the themes are based on what would have been current issues around the time the play was written. However the strongest of these themes have to be Freedom, imprisonment and the Authority, which Shakespeare has decided specifically to highlight.

This is probably due to the fact that the Tempest was written in the early 17th Century, which is a period in time well known for the very powerful monarchy.

It is also during this era that Magicians were very high profile, and people in these times actually believed the magic they witnessed on stage and therefore in this play the audience would have believed the unrealistic elements and spellbinding scenes that take place.

Such as Prospero having the ability to create the illusion of a storm to the sailors and having a spiritual slave. The Oxford Dictionary definition of Imprisonment is “put into prison, confine”.

An overview of the play would be that only Ariel was imprisoned in the tree and Ferdinand in a prison, however an in depth look at the play shows that there are many other examples of confinement, be it physically or emotionally. The definition of Freedom is “the condition of being free or unrestricted”, which we see only at the end of the play when Ariel is set free and Caliban is left alone.

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Other examples of freedom are of being free of the island and in the Kings case, free of feeling guilty for exiling Prospero, an innocent man.

Authority Theme in The Tempest

The definition of Authority is “the power or right to enforce obedience”, which is exactly what Prospero does throughout the play, he “enforces” people under his control. It is in the very first scene where the sailors are being put through the storm where the theme of authority arises for the first time. A complete role reversal occurs and the authority of the king and his men is almost completely taken away by the Boatswain. “Good Boatswain, have care. Where’s the master? Play the men. ” “I pray now keep below. ” “Where’s the master boatswain? ” “Do you not hear him? You mar our labour – keep your cabins.

You do assist the storm. ” Shakespeare has tried to emphasise that fact that although the king is regarded as the absolute power, when put in this situation he has no real power. Which could also be seen as a criticism of society then, how they just do as they are told, without questioning the king. Similarly in Act 5, Scene 1, where Prospero addresses the king a complete role reversal occurs again. Here the king asks Prospero for forgiveness which a King in these times, or even today would never have done because of the high power they had and because people in those times believed in the Divine Right of Kings.

This means that people thought the Monarch was chosen by God to take up his position on earth as the head of England. “Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat thou pardon me my wrongs. ” Although both Prospero and the King remain powerful, there is one huge difference in their authority. Whereas Prospero gains his power by scaring people through his magic, the king’s status is enough to make him as powerful as he is. The theme of imprisonment is one that is highlighted throughout the play and from the very beginning, is the strongest theme.

It can be expressed in a variety of ways, such as Prospero and Miranda trapped on the island, or even the actual imprisonment of Ariel in a tree under Sycorax’s control. The sailors being put through the storm can be seen as them being imprisoned on their boat, they are unable to go anywhere and are trapped on the boat. However sleep is not a punishment it is seen as a relief, however the sleep the sailors are being put through could be seen as a punishment to them for forcefully being made to do something.

This carries on for the duration of the play, when Ariel says to Propsero, “The mariners all under hatches stowed, whom, with charm joined to their suffered labour, I’ve left asleep. “, It proves the situation the sailors have been left in. You can almost describe the sailors as being confined from the rest of the island by their own sleep. Another element of this imprisonment is the fact that Prospero and Miranda are trapped on the island, they are unable to go anywhere else safely.

They were as good as given the death penalty when they were put on “a rotten carcass of a butt, not rigged, nor tackle, sail, nor mast. ” But their arrival on the island cannot be seen as them being given their freedom, as they are restricted to the island, unable to go anywhere, like being given a prison sentence to life on the island. Miranda does not, however see herself as being imprisoned, because that is how she had been brought up and would not have known any difference although in reality she is confined and deprived.

The further implications of this confinement to the island are clearly seen later on in Miranda’s remarks upon seeing Ferdinand for the first time. “It carries a brave form. But t’is a spirit… A thing divine, for nothing natural I ever saw so noble. “, this is not because Ferdinand is so incredibly handsome, but because he is the first man, bar her father than Miranda can ever remember seeing, which means that any other human is going to be beautiful to her.

Similarly the implications of this entrapment on the island is visible in Prospero by his ever-growing sense of wanting power. Following his banishment from his Dukedom he is reluctant to let go of Miranda to another man an in turn uses Ferdinand as his slave, showing he is unwilling to have another human being on the island without them under his authority. Or this can be seen as the caring father scared for his confused teenage daughter to get hurt, as he probably well knows what it feels like to be betrayed or cheated by someone close to you, in Prospero’s case, Antonio.