The Importance of Ideas in The Tempest Essay -- Tempest essays

The Importance of Ideas in The Tempest Shakespeares spell, The Tempest, is constructed on a framework of ideas rather than on any dramatic principle. It is ideas that are presented without, and the play is built around the presentation of these themes -- themes such as the argument all over whether nature is superior to farm or vice versa (as in the role of Caliban and Antonio, the first being one on whom all efforts at nurture can never stick due to the inherent baseness of his nature, the morsel being one whom neither nature nor nurture has availed to deter him from consciously choosing evil), the moral duties of the sovereign (in the case of Prospero and Alonso, both of whom have to go through physical or emotional distress because of their negligence, in one appearance or another, or these duties), the transitoriness of all material things (as in Prosperos actors line following the masque), the rights of the colonialist and whether he is exploiting or educating the nati ves (in the case of Prospero and Caliban), the argument over whether educated civilization is superior to the natural man or otherwise, and the importance of retaining kind hierarchy. It is also, to a certain extent, not inaccurate to suggest that the characters, or at least the important ones, have a symbolic function. Prospero does symbolize device and enlightened civilization, Caliban Nature and the primitive, uncontrolled succumbing to instinctual, sometimes base, urges that results from the lack of civilization, Ferdinand and Miranda the sinlessness and virtue of noble birth, most of the court party (Antonio, Alonso, Sebastian on a different level, Stephano and Trinculo) the imperfection of civilization in the form of ... ...nd Political Thought. A boyfriend to Shakespeare. Ed. David Scott Kastan. Massachusetts Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1999. 100-116. Gervinus, G.G. A review of The Tempest. Shakespeare Commentaries. (1877)787-800. Rpt. Scott. 304-307. More, Sir Thom as. Utopia. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Vol 1. Ed. David Damrosch. New York Addison-Wesley educational Publishers Inc., 1999. 637-706. Platt, Peter. Shakespeare and Rhetorical Culture. A Companion to Shakespeare. Ed. David Scott Kastan. Massachusetts Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1999. 277-296. Sacks, David Harris. Political Culture. A Companion to Shakespeare. Ed. David Scott Kastan. Massachusetts Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1999. 100-116. Snider, Denton J. A review of The Tempest. The Shakespearian Drama a gossip The Comedies. (1890). Rpt. Scott. 320-324.