Tempest Blog #3

Ross Schonberg

Ms. Gubanich

English

December 3, 2015

Tempest Blog 3: Love

In the play The Tempest there is so much happening throughout the story. There is action, magic, revenge, betrayal, and especially love. Love is probably the most prominent theme within the story, it changes people’s feelings. There are a few examples of love in the play. Prospero towards Miranda, Ferdinand and Miranda, even the (family) relationship between the brothers Alonso and Sebastian. The way people interact in the play based on their relationships plays out interestingly.

First, One of the most important relationships is between two family members, Prospero and Miranda. Prospero is the father of Miranda, and many years ago Prospero, and when Miranda was a little girl, were kicked out of Milan, fortunately they made to an island. So ever since they were kicked out of Milan Prospero has been very protective of his daughter. A good example of this is when Prospero and Miranda go to meet with Caliban, their slave, who wanted to have sex with Miranda, because he said to Prospero “O ho, O ho!Wouldn’t had been done! Thou didst prevent me. I had peopled else this isle with Calibans.”(1.2.419-421). Prospero is totally against what caliban wants to do, also the relationship between Caliban and Prospero is basically hatred towards one another. Even later on in the story Caliban makes a plan to try and kill Prospero.

So later on, after the shipwreck and everyone has made to the island, Ferdinand, King Alonso's son, is seen by Prospero and Miranda just walking around the island. When ferdinand and miranda first meet it is easy to see that they are beginning to fall for one another. As they get closer with each other Prospero is somewhat protective of Miranda, since Miranda has never really met a man, also that Ferdinand is the son of the king who betrayed him years ago, so it can be somewhat justified as to why Prospero is trying to protect his daughter. As mentioned earlier, in the beginning of the play we see the another one of the most important relationships, which is Ferdinand and Miranda. This is a love story very similar to another shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet, because Ferdinand and Miranda come from two separate families, who have a bad connection, but Ferdinand and Miranda still love each other. Their love story is really not that complex, so it is really just the two of them falling in love, with Prospero looking over them.

Another key relationship in the story is between two brothers, King Alonso and his brother Sebastian. On the outside Sebastian seems as if nothing is wrong and that him and his brother are on good terms, but really Sebastian does not like the his brother and feels that he should be king. Alonso is unaware of this hatred from Sebastian, and always acts kindly to him. Sebastian is not the smartest as well, because in the play while Gonzalo and Alonso are asleep Sebastian gets tricked into killing them by his friend Antonio, who also wants to take power from the king, but fortunately right before they're about to kill them they both wake up.

In conclusion, the way people act in the play based on their relationship is very interesting. I find the most interesting relationship in the play is the one between the two brothers, since we know that this is a comedy and that no one dies in a shakespeare comedy, I am curios as to what will happen to Sebastian. This is one of the key aspects of the play and it is presented in a very nice way, showing how they are all connected to each other.