The Tempest

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   gbeatty Teacher
   College - Freshman

   This great play by Shakespeare is a quest in a number of ways. Any voyage can become a quest, and this one does when the storm hits. Then Ferdinand engages in a kind of quest when he enters into ongoing labor to earn Miranda. Prospero is in the middle of an extended and involuntary quest, in that he was set adrift years ago, and in many ways, is just trying to get home. There is much symbolism in the play. Start with the play's beginning: the storm is a literal upheaval in the weather, but it is also a symbol of the upset in the proper order of things—it comes from Prospero having been deposed. Many see Prospero as a symbol of Shakespeare. He pulls the strings of everyone in the play, "writing" their adventures with his magic as an author does with his created characters. They see Prospero setting his magic down as Shakespeare stepping down from the theater.    

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   http://www.enotes.com/tempest/prospero-character-analysis

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   Posted by gbeatty on Wednesday August 20, 2008 at 7:11 PM
   
   

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