The Tempest: Themes
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Summary: In his play, The Tempest, Shakespeare conveys themes through different character pairs. Each pairing is a guise for a different theme in the plays plot. For instance, Ariel and Caliban are thought to be grouped together because they show two contrasting sides of servitude. Other examples lie behind Miranda and Ferdinands “love at first sight”, as well as the forgiveness that Alonso, Antonio, and Prospero receive.
In his play, The Tempest, Shakespeare conveys themes through
different character pairs. Each pairing is a guise for a different theme in
the plays plot. For instance, Ariel and Caliban are thought to be grouped
together because they show two contrasting sides of servitude. Other
examples lie behind Miranda and Ferdinands “love at first sight”, as well
as the forgiveness that Alonso, Antonio, and Prospero receive. Each
grouping of characters is placed strategically throughout the play by
Shakespeare to exemplify different themes.
Ariel and Caliban are both under Prosperos servitude, and are
actually foils for one another. However, while Ariel abides by Prosperos
rules willingly, Caliban only serves Prospero out of fear. They are both
obligated to serve Prospero and do his bidding, but while Caliban is only
trusted to do the simplest of tasks, Ariel is the equivalent to Prosperos
second in command. He is constantly a major aide in Prosperos grand plan,
and he is privy to Prosperos secrets. “All hail great master! Grave sir,
hail! I come to answer thy best pleasure,”(Shakespeare 14). Ariel says this
to his master, living with the hope of soon being free. He could behave as
Caliban, but Ariel is trusted enough to help Prospero complete his master
plan. Ariel even influences Prosperos decision on whether to forgive the
ones who have wronged him.
At the end of the play, Prosperos other servant Caliban, turns out
to be one of the ones who has wronged Prospero, and he himself begs for
forgiveness. Caliban is described as “a born devil on whose nature, nurture
can never stick,”(Shakespeare 71). His solitude had been interrupted years
ago, when Prospero and Miranda first arrived on the island, and he has
disliked Prospero since. Caliban is often described as a beast, so one
would assume that this means that his intellect is not on par with the
other individuals on the island. He feels that his master unfairly treats
him, which is why he latches onto the idea of new masters. When Caliban
asks Prospero to forgive him, Shakespeare is showing how forgiveness needs
to be given to those who do not understand that they are doing wrong.
Miranda and Ferdinand fell in love at first sight. However, if
Prospero had not wrecked the ship during the Tempest, Ferdinand would not
even be on the island with Miranda.