The Tempest: Themes (OCR A Level English Literature)

Themes

Having a thorough grasp of the following themes, and crucially, how and why Shakespeare explores these themes will enable you to produce a “conceptualised response” in your exam. Linking carefully to the structure of the plot and what we know about the attitudes of the time period will give you access to the very highest marks on the mark scheme.

• Power and control

• Magic and illusion

• Loss and betrayal

Power and control

In The Tempest, characters are presented as powerful based on their ability to control their environment and make others submit to their authority. For many of the characters, knowledge is a driving factor in gaining autonomy. Those without knowledge are presented as powerless and oppressed. Shakespeare, through the protagonist, Prospero, manipulates the characters' sense of control. In this way, Shakespeare explores the misuse of power gained through fear.

Knowledge and evidence: 

• In the exposition, audiences see noblemen hindering their own survival as they refuse to take orders from the ship’s boatswain:

  • This leads to the shipwreck, during which they almost lose their lives and Alonso loses his son

  • However, all the sailors are under the control of Prospero, who has used his spirit slave to create a storm

• In the rising action, Shakespeare highlights the theme of tyrannical and authoritarian settlers:

  • It is ironic that Prospero, who needs Ariel to carry out much of his magic, has as much control: this highlights Ariel’s loyalty and submission

  • Sycorax, upon arrival on the island with her son Caliban, imprisons Ariel 

  • Prospero’s desire to control the characters on the ship and on the island is vengeful

  • Prosero’s enslavement of Ariel (while she pays him back for releasing her) shows Prospero as a self-absorbed and controlling character:

• Shakespeare highlights the effects of Prospero’s treachery and thirst for power through Caliban’s character:

  • Audiences are introduced to Caliban as a “savage” who vehemently expresses his hatred of Prospero’s oppressive leadership

  • Caliban’s violent conspiracy with Stephano presents the danger of authoritarian control

• Shakespeare depicts the way Prospero, as Miranda’s father, uses his magical powers to control her, limiting her agency on the island:

  • He hides information from her and manipulates her marriage

• However, Shakespeare illustrates the limits of human power:

  • By the resolution, Prospero finds himself powerless against negative reactions to his controlling behaviour

• Shakespeare illustrates how Prospero’s mercy and humility is rewarded:

  • Ironically, many events, such as Miranda’s marriage and his decision to leave the island, remain under his control

  • Alonso gives back the dukedom, and he and Prospero unite through the marriage of their children:

What is Shakespeare’s intention?

• Shakespeare challenges social constructs regarding power and authority:

  • He illustrates the way tyrannical leadership is oppressive 

• Shakespeare presents vengeful characters who seek to take back control with violence 

• Shakespeare raises questions about colonisation by depicting strangers who exploit and control the inhabitants of the island 

Patriarchal structures in Renaissance England

Knowledge and evidence: 

• The patriarchal system in Renaissance families advocated that women were not equal to men:

  • Respect and status were earned via patriarchal definitions of female sexuality 

• The patriarchal structure at the time advocated that men should supervise women economically, sexually, legally and politically:

  • Throughout the play Miranda obeys her father’s commands and remains under his control regarding her education, sexuality and marriage

• The Tempest’s only other female character is the absent mother of Caliban, Sycorax, who is presented as evil, although she behaves similarly to Prospero:

  • It could be argued that Sycorax symbolises a female character exiled for her threat to patriarchal systems

  • Prospero considers her magic to be evil and accuses her of having sexual relations with the devil

  • In the play, she is referred to as a witch who was banished from Argier for her magic:

• Ariel, the spirit under Prospero’s command, has an ambiguous gender:

  • While the play refers to the feminine qualities of the spirit, male pronouns are used, suggesting the fluid gender of the nymph 

What is Shakespeare’s intention?

• Shakespeare shows Jacobean females isolated under their father’s control

• Shakespeare raises questions about female autonomy within patriarchal societies

• Shakespeare illustrates gender as a fluid concept 

Magic and illusion

In The Tempest, Prospero uses illusion and magic for good and bad. Often, his magic exposes the true nature of duplicitous characters. At other times, he uses it to wreak revenge or control characters’ lives. Critics have suggested that the play’s protagonist is based on the playwright himself, as he weaves tangled webs and resolves conflicts as he chooses. In the resolution, Prospero asks audiences for applause to set him free. As The Tempest is his last play, it has been suggested this is Shakespeare’s voice. 

Knowledge and evidence: 

• Duality between illusion and reality is presented via the natural environment, the island’s strange-looking inhabitants and the “unnatural” strangers who arrive:

  • Prospero considers himself more knowledgeable and civilised than Caliban, however Caliban’s knowledge of the land is said to help Prospero survive 

  • Prospero teaches Caliban language which allows the strange-looking “monster” to communicate on the same level as Prospero

  • When Stephano and Trinculo arrive on the island with wine, Caliban is naive to the effects of alcohol: this presents the men as powerful, despite their obvious drunken state

• In the exposition, the theme of illusion is presented as Shakespeare depicts a reversal of power:

  • The powerful duke and his noblemen lack the skill or knowledge of the captain and boatswain during the storm

  • Their powerful status in their homeland is depicted as useless at sea and on the island, on “neutral territory”

• The theme of magic is presented as a powerful tool to expose truth and manipulate others, particularly through the omniscient power Prospero appears to have on the island 

• However, in the epilogue, Prospero’s soliloquy presents the idea that reality does not exist:

  • He considers that "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep", suggesting life is illusory

• Illusions created by Ariel create much of the humour in the play through dramatic irony: 

  • Characters take advantage of brief moments of apparent control, which the audience knows are Ariel’s illusions

What is Shakespeare’s intention?

• Shakespeare comments on the danger of the illusion of power and control

• Shakespeare raises questions about the abuse of power related to cultural knowledge

• Shakespeare illustrates the limited power of humanity 

The Tempest as a tragi-comedy

Knowledge and evidence:

• The play is in the form of a comedy, however it touches on themes which are more in line with a tragedy, such as the psychological torment experienced by Ariel and Caliban:

  • Prospero uses his magic and power over Ariel to control events and expose truths, thus, acting as a deus ex machina

• Typical of a comedy, Shakespeare ends The Tempest with a restoration of order via a wedding:

  • However the marriage of Miranda and Ferdinand is not closely connected to the play’s main conflict which undermines the theme of love 

• A convention of comedy is to resolve earlier complications and clarify misunderstandings:

  • Prospero returns to Italy as Duke of Milan and peace is achieved

  • Ariel and Caliban are released

  • Alonso finds out his son is alive

Loss and betrayal

The Tempest explores the lack of freedom brought about as a result of loss of power or identity. The play explores characters’ reactions to loss and, in particular, the way this leads to further loss and betrayal. The protagonist, Prospero, learns by the end of the play that regaining one's own power is often at the expense of others losing their autonomy.

Knowledge and evidence: 

• In the exposition, Shakespeare suggests, through the storm, that a sense of loss can set in motion an array of chaotic events

• Shakespeare presents characters who react strongly to loss in their lives:

  • The noblemen on the ship almost lose their lives trying to hold on to their sense of control, despite being on unfamiliar territory 

  • Alonso believes he has lost his son, Ferdinand, and begins a search across the island

• Prospero’s loss of power and position as Duke of Milan represents his loss of identity and is presented as the reason for the conflict

• The island setting represents isolation and loss of freedom for those on it:

  • Ariel’s obedience is presented sympathetically, to convey their lack of identity and control 

  • Prospero and Miranda are exiled on the island

  • As soon as Ferdinand arrives, Prospero imprisons him and limits his autonomy 

  • Ariel loses their freedom to two settlers arriving on the island: Sycorax, and then, Prospero:

• Caliban is an explicit representation of loss as he is humiliated and insulted throughout the play:

  • His violent reaction to his loss of freedom on the island (which he believes was once his) creates conflict with the protagonist, building much of the tension

  • His attack on Miranda and conspiracy with Stephano create further mistrust amongst the characters on the isolated island

• Both Prospero and Caliban represent powerful individuals who clash over an intense desire to regain what they have lost:

  • He believes Prospero has corrupted him: “You taught me the language, and my benefit did not come from it. I know how to swear.”

  • Prospero’s oppressive control of the other characters is motivated by a desire to regain his self-respect and identity as powerful leader

  • Caliban is dehumanised, called a “monster” and treated like an animal, which he sees as a betrayal of the former alliance he and Prospero shared:

What is Shakespeare’s intention?

• Shakespeare challenges ideas about colonisation by illustrating loss of freedom as a result of powerful invaders

• Shakespeare comments on violent reactions to loss of dignity and autonomy 

• Shakespeare explores suffering as a result of loss of identity