The Tempest
William Shakespeare
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Character Analysis: Miranda
Being Prospero’s daughter, Miranda is clearly an important part of the play. But her significance extends far beyond her familial role; she forces us to contemplate some pretty big questions.
Miranda’s most prominent (and some would say most admirable) trait is her ability to force the audience into seeing the beauty and wonder of life. Not only does her name mean ‘wonder’ or ‘admired,’ but her sheer naivety and innocence mean that everything she sees is a new and exciting experience, and therefore a new and exciting experience for the audience. When she first meets Ferdinand, literally the first man she’s ever met besides her father, she believes he’s a spirit. Then, when she’s told he’s a human, she falls immediately in love with him, believing him the most marvellous thing she’s ever seen. Her excessive joy later in the play, when she meets the rest of the courtiers, has a profound effect on the audience. Her seemingly excessive reaction at simply meeting a few crusty old men (“How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world. / That has such people in’t”) encourages the audience to consider the extraordinary nature of humanity, therefore leading us to the same discovery as Miranda. She certainly brings an element of hope and excitement to what would otherwise be quite a dark play.
But this innocence and naivety definitely has some negative connotations too. I mean, the only reason why she is so amazed by Ferdinand is because she’s been deliberately kept in the dark by her father. He refused to tell her her own history, proving the power language has over Miranda. This power dynamic is reinforced throughout the play by Prospero’s consistent sapping of her autonomy in order to suit his needs. He continuously tells her to obey and listen to his long story, sends her to sleep (and admits he knows she can’t choose otherwise), chooses her husband for her, and uses her as a pawn in his plans for revenge... yikes.
All of this definitely encourages a feminist reading of Miranda, allowing us to gage the potentially misogynistic and patriarchal dimensions of the text. Besides the fact that she is the only female character in the show, she is manipulated and subjected to the control of at least three of the men on the island: first Prospero her father, Caliban in his attempt to rape her, and then Ferdinand. To further this reading, it’s important that we look at how she is characterised. She’s described by her own father as a “prize” (Act 1 Scene 2) and she is consistently portrayed as a beautiful young girl whose innocence is her value.
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The Tempest
Sample Essay
The Tempest begins, conveniently enough, with a tempest. The courtiers – the main ones being Alonso (the King of Naples), Ferdinand (Alonso’s son), Antonio (the Duke of Milan), Gonzalo (adviser to the King), and Sebastian (the brother of the King) – are on board a ship with the Mariners and Boatswain. The storm worsens and chaos ensues.
The conductor of the storm is then revealed – the wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero, who after being usurped by his brother Antonio, King Alonso, and Sebastian, fled to the island which he and his daughter, Miranda, now live on. After years of keeping her in the dark, Prospero decides now is the time to tell Miranda of their past seeing as the storm “hath mine enemies / Brought to this shore.” He then calls his spirit/servant Ariel to the stage and bids him to report on the shipwreck they have just caused together. Ariel recounts the tale of the shipwreck with sheer delight, and reports that all of the royal party are in fact safe upon the shore with “not a hair perished.” After Ariel gets a little bit volatile, Prospero awakens Miranda and off they go to visit Caliban – the ‘monster’ which Prospero has imprisoned within the rocks. It’s revealed that Caliban is furious with Prospero and resents his capture, which will eventually lead to his usurping desires later in the play.
Next, Ariel brings Ferdinand to Prospero and Miranda, and since Ferdinand is the first man that Miranda has ever seen except her father and Caliban, she instantly falls in love. He promises that he’ll make her Queen of Naples and off the happy couple go.
The other courtiers (who Ferdinand believes are drowned!) enter and become absolutely enthralled by the island, confused by its music, wonders, and mystique. Their scenes mostly consist of good-natured Gonzalo trying to cheer up poor Alonso who believes that his son is drowned, as they wander confused around the island. But while Alonso mopes (and naps), Antonio and Sebastian rile each other up to kill Alonso and thereby transfer the throne to Sebastian, seeing as Alonso’s heirs are gone (with Ferdinand believed to be drowned, and Claribel married to the King of Tunis).
We are then introduced to the final set of characters, Trinculo and Stephano, two lower class members of the courtier party. After getting mixed up with Caliban, who proclaims them his new masters, they decide to murder Prospero and take the isle for themselves.
Meanwhile, as Ferdinand and Miranda fall deeper in love (and eventually get married!), Prospero and Ariel haunt and taunt the courtiers drawing them not only closer to Prospero, but closer to the brink of insanity. Eventually, just before meeting with his enemies (both the usurpers of his past and of his present), Prospero decides to part with his magic and rather than pursue revenge, decides upon forgiveness.
Upon Prospero revealing himself to them, the courtiers are dumbstruck. Alonso in particular is so affected by both seeing Prospero and the horrors he has experienced on the island that he immediately revokes the Dukedom from Antonio and restores it to Prospero. Prospero indicts Antonio and Sebastian for their immoral actions before revealing to Alonso that not only is his son Ferdinand alive, he is healthy and in love with Prospero’s daughter Miranda.
After the happy reunion between father and son, Ariel brings the new usurpers (Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano) to Prospero and they apologise for their actions. For Ariel’s obedience, Prospero decides to set him free, but Caliban’s future is unclear. While Prospero and Miranda will be travelling back to Italy with the courtiers, Shakespeare leaves us in the dark regarding Caliban’s fate, ending with a grand epilogue delivered by Prospero, begging the audience to release not just Prospero from his role, but the actor too.
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