Prospero

Question 1

Prospero is established as a god-like figure seeking what?

Answer 1

Revenge

Question 2

revenge, power, magic

“if by your art…

Answer 2

you have / Put the
wild waters in this roar,
allay them”

Act 1 Scene 2 - Shakespeare explores how art can create
chaos and emotional intensity, setting up Prospero
as a director-like figure manipulating reality through
illusion.

Question 3

revenge, power, magic

“What cares these roarers for

Answer 3

the name of king?”

Boatswain Act 1 Scene 1: subversion of the
divine right of kings and violates the codes of the great chain of being as Prospero displays god-like power in a supernatural manner

Question 4

revenge

how does Prospero justify this desire for revenge? what does he call Antonio?

botanical and parastitic imagery

Answer 4

“he was the ivy which had hid my
princely trunk, and sucked my verdure out on ’t”

Act 1 scene 2: illustrates the deep betrayal fueling Prospero’s
intense desire for revenge (betrayal as a
suffocating causation for revenge)

Question 5

revenge, morality

How is Prospero’s quest for revenge further justified?

Answer 5

through alignment with higher justic and divine retribution (the banquet & the harpy scene)

Act 4 Scene 1

Question 6

revenge and forgiveness

what is Shakespeare potentially commenting on through Prospero’s revenge (and later forgiveness)?

Answer 6

• revenge is framed as an immoral practice which should be refrained from
• perhaps due to the multiple assassination plots against James 1st witnessed during the Jacobean era
• Prospero’s desire for revenge (as well the other usurpation attempts) could reflect the desire the English had to take revenge on the current king

Question 7

what motifs represent and track Prospero’s power?

Answer 7

water, music, and clothing

Question 8

power, magic, clothing

“pluck my

Answer 8

magic garment from me”

Prospero to Miranda Act 1 Scene 2

Question 9

forgiveness

Christian reading of Prospero may also see him as the hero why?

Answer 9

• comedy form prevents deaths from occuring, so Prospero excersises acts of a saviour (unharmed nobles, stops Antonio and Sebastian)
• exposes the sins of the nobles
• offers salvation

Question 10

forgiveness

“the rarer action is

Answer 10

in virtue than in vengeance”

Act 5 Scene 1: Prospero’s aphorism contrasts virtue and vengeance, elevating forgiveness as the nobler choice

Question 11

forgiveness, clothing

first sign of Prospero’s mercy: “that our garments…drenched in the sea, hold notwithstanding

Answer 11

their freshness and glosses”

Act 2 Scene 1: the nobles remain physically unharmed by the storm, displaying Prospero’s calculated preservation and restraint amidst the chaos –> forgiveness can begin with small, non-violent
choices before full reconciliation occurs

Question 12

forgiveness

“hast thou, which art but air…

Answer 12

be kindlier moved than thou art?”

Act 5 Scene 1: Prospero’s own moral reflection is inspired by a supernatural spirit - divine inspiration drives his choice to forgive, aligning with the Christian doctrine that forgiveness is both morally superior and spiritually ordained

Question 13

forgiveness, magic, clothing

“I’ll break my

Answer 13

staff…I’ll drown my book”

Act 5 Scene 1

Question 14

forgiveness, magic

“but this rough magic

Answer 14

I here abjure”

Act 5 Scene 1: recognition of the danger of his magic so renunciation of supernatural authority and thus a move toward natural power

Question 15

tragic hero

in what way is Prospero potentially a victim himself?

Answer 15

• his dukedom was usurped by Antonio in Milan
• falls from a position of hubristic power to a more human position - loses his “high charms”
• anagnorisis from Ariel

Question 16

post-colonial reading

Mannoni’s “Prospero complex”

Answer 16

• suggest his drive for total control is primative
• implies Prospero is obsessed with mastery over others/situations
• this is often seen in colonial dynamics where colonizer feels godlike power

Question 17

post-colonial reading

how does Aime Cessaire present Prospero and Caliban (1969)

Answer 17

• depicted as slave-master
• Caliban as Black slave whose resistance is celebrated - rejects his name as the imposition of Prospero’s
  colonizing language, desiring to be called X

Question 18

Prospero as a father?

Answer 18

• “my cherubin”

Question 19

Leiniger says that “Prospero uses Miranda as an

Answer 19

unwitting player in his political revenge”

Question 20

psychoanalytical interpretation of Prospero?

Answer 20

• the island as Prospero’s mind (Peter brook 1957 - featured gloomy caves and overgrown foliage, which served as a physical manifestation of Prospero’s dark inner world)
• Caliban represents Prospero’s id / immorality
• Ariel represents / morality

Question 21

psychoanalytical reading

“this thing of darkness

Answer 21

I acknowledge mine”

Act 5 Scene 1 - Prospero

Question 22

post-colonial reading & education

“language is the perfect

Answer 22

instrument of empire”

Question 23

revenge?

Ian McKellan 1999 West Yorkshire Playhouse opens how?

🎎

Answer 23

Ian McKellan as Prospero appeared on stage at the beginning clutching dolls representing his enemies

Question 24

John Wood 1988 portrayal of Prospero

Answer 24

Prospero was made to be kinder, tender and gentle with Miranda, desperate for affection with Antonio, yeat prone to sudden rages. He is presented to be pained by the memory of his usurpation in Milan, making him as much a victim, as a victor. This challenges post colonial readings of him, as the all powerful, unfeeling master.