Question

The Tempest

Besides anger and revenge, discuss five reasons why Prospero brings his brother, the king of Naples and his son to the island.

Answer 1

The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare It is set on a remote island, where the sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place using illusion and skillful manipulation. He conjures up a storm, the eponymous tempest, to cause his usurping brother Antonio and the complicit King Alonso of Naples to believe they are shipwrecked and marooned on the island.

Prospero created the storm because he had intelligence that his brother, the Duke of Milan, was on a passing ship. He made the storm by magic to wreck the ship, and interrupt the voyage of the Duke, because the Duke was an enemy— Prospero himself was the rightful Duke of Milan. The current Duke, Antonio Prospero’s brother, has unjustly usurped Prospero’s title and properties, exiling Prospero and his daughter Miranda to the island where the rest of the action of the play takes place.

Besides anger and revenge, following are the reasons that made the Prospero to bring his brother, the king of Naples and his son to the island.

1. Antonio has snatched Prospero’s title and properties through unfair means to get back that the Prospero made such plan
2. A second reason was that he needed their ship to sail home with.
3. Third reason was that he wanted to test them and bring them to repentance for their bad deeds and to give them Punishment by making them ashamed of what they did with him.
4. Fourth reasons was that the Prospero wanted to restore the sanity of his brother and then to renounce his magic forever.
5. The fifth reason is that according to plan, Prospero uses Ferdinand's infatuation with Miranda to re-gain power, and eventually take his rightful position as Duke of Milan. Accusing him of being a spy and traitor, Prospero keeps Ferdinand in isolation, and forces him to arbitrarily move logs. However, further into the play, Prospero allows Ferdinand and Miranda to interact, and seeing their desire for one another he allows them to marry.

In conclusion Forgiveness and freedom was the main theme of the play. Though he does ultimately forgive his brother and the king, but this could be considered to be a way to reinstate his Dukedom and ensure the marriage of his daughter to Ferdinand, soon to become King. Prospero has secured his safe passage back to Milan, the reinstatement of his title and a powerful connection to royalty through the marriage of his daughter – and managed to present it as an act of forgiveness!