Illusion and Reality in Shakespeares The Tempest Essays -- Tempest es

Illusion and Reality in Shakespeares The TempestThis essay will discuss the part that conjury and reality quickens in developing and illuminating the theme of Shakespeares The Tempest. This pair of opposites will be contrasted to show what they represent in the context of the play. Further, the characters associated with these terms, and how the association becomes meaningful in the play, will be discussed. A good starting point to discuss the use of illusion and reality in The Tempest is to focus on the vista in Act I, scene ii. Here, the reader (or viewer) realizes that it takes place entirely in Prosperos cell which is a small room where he practices his magic arts. Miranda here asks her father, Prospero, to fasten sure that the people on the ship will be safe even though he has created a act which threatens to capsize their boat and overpower them all. Prospero reassures her. He says that he has no intention of allowing the people to die. To reassure her further, he continu es by explaining his motives in creating the storm. Here the reader learns that Prospero and Antonio are fellows, and that Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan but that his brother usurped his kingdom and exiled Prospero and his daughter Miranda. Fortune saved the two from their rotting ship which had been set to drift, and brought them to the island where Prospero has been granted supernatural powers by the enemies of Antonio. From the above description it is clear that the play embraces both the natural and the supernatural world. dozen years before the action takes place, we are told that Prospero was a prince who had a different type of power than he has now. Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since, Thy father was the Duk... ...and the event then tell me If this might be a brother. Mir I should sin To think nobly of my grandmother. advantageously wombs have borne bad sons. (I, ii, 139-144). Prospero is really the key character about which the nature of illusion a nd reality centers. He is the one who appears to have been stripped of all his power, and in time he is truly the most powerful he lives in a world where he can conjure up an illusion of a storm he lives between a course of regular human action and magic and he is perceptive about philosophies on the topic of illusion and reality. In The Tempest, illusion and reality are opposites which may be considered on many different levels throughout the entire length of the play. Work CitedShakespeare, William. The Tempest, edited by Louis B. slant and Virginia A. LaMar, published by Pocket Books, New York, 1961.