Argument For Drama

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April 17, 2019

Argument of drama

The treatment of “The Tempest” by Cesaire is not different from that of Shakespeare when the character of Prospero is analyzed. Me Cesaire published the playwright “A Tempest” in 1969 used for instrumenting post-colonial concerns. it is a postcolonial revision of the original play “The Tempest” written by William Shakespeare. Although the characters and the central plot remains the same, some changes are apparent in Cesarie's work that reflects a deviation from Shakespeare's play. Cesarie in A Tempest stresses on the plight of Ariel and Caliban who encounters a never-ending quest for gaining freedom. The central characters struggle against Prospero in the play and adaptation, who is the ruler of the island. The story follows the themes of Shakespeare who portrayed the magician living in exile with his daughter on a distant island. Shakespeare’s Prospero anticipate Cesaire’s Prospero

Prospero decides to give up his magic and to show mercy to his enemies to attain reconciliation. Prospero in Cesaire's work is an attempt to please the people and receive their appreciation decided to give up his magic and power. Prospero’s role depicts the traits of forgiveness, hope, and reconciliation. Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” illustrates true forgiveness and reconciliation. Prospero attains the freedom to forgive the sinners against him when they emerged as a victor, facing the pertinent and the mournful ready to pay for their transgression. Prospero undergoes the emotions of forgiveness. The reason for giving up his magical powers is to return to civilization. In The Tempest, Shakespeare constructs his idea of justice and carries it throughout the play.

In the play, the hope to return to normalcy motivates Prospero to quit his powers and forgive Ariel. The character of Prospero in Cesaire’s ‘A Tempest’ shows that he decides to overcome his past by forgiving people. He displays intentions of returning to Milan. Prospero possessed power and dominance “desire for vengeance has apparently lain dormant in Prospero through the years of banishment, and now, with the sudden advent of his foes, the great wrong of twelve years before is stirringly present again, arousing the passions and stimulating the will to action" CITATION Wil04 \l 1033 (Shakespeare). The feelings of redemption motivated him to attend the wedding of Ferdinand and Miranda and afterwards preparing for death CITATION AJa78 \l 1033 (Arnold).

Prospero’s self-realization of the magical powers provokes him to accept it as a weakness in Cesaire’s ‘A Tempest’ that follows the original idea of Shakespeare. He learned that using nature's spirits are only tricks that cause pain to others. He manages to encounter his obsession with magic that motivated him to control the people. Prospero also revealed that his magical powers caused more harm to him generating a feeling of redemption. His decision to control himself encouraged him to give up his powers. Prospero started relying on magic when he was destructed and left with no hope. The feelings of helplessness promoted the evilness, and he learned magic to take control of the circumstances.

Reliance on Prospero over magic reveals his weak character. "Prospero threatens to imprison him again, then tells him to on the shape of sea-nymph add promises him his freedom in two days" CITATION Wil04 \l 1033 (Shakespeare). The failure to overcome hopelessness and rejection motivated him to depend on magical powers. Magic gave him the ability to command other people, and his primary reason was to get back his daughter. “But you are a Princess for how else does one address the daughter of a Prince? I cannot leave you in ignorance any longer. Milan is the city of your birth and the city where for many years I was the Duke" (Cesaire). He used his magic to control his daughter Miranda, but the moment he realized the flaws of his powers, he decided to let her go. Prospero’s reason to quit magical powers was after learning the reality of Miranda. He uncovered that he was unable to stop Miranda from marrying Ferdinand that helped him in overcoming his dependence on evil powers.

Prospero in Cesaire’s ‘A Tempest’ is anticipated by Shakespeare because he learned different things through his life that resulted in his acceptance of reality. The past leaves a profound impact on the character of Prospero. He learned how his miserable life brought him to the world of magic, but he realized the repercussions’ as the magic results in more destructions leaving him without love and companionship. He learned that virtue comes from forgiveness, not revenge. He learned through the sufferings of the enemies about his cruelty. He discovered his cruelty resulted in their pain and sufferings making him a villain. Compassion and forgiveness provoked him to change his attitude and allow everyone to forget and forgive.

Realization of people’s captivity allows him to give up magic. Prospero learned that his magical powers resulted in people’s imprisonment so he realized that he could quit using magic and demand forgiveness from people. Hope to overcome the corrupt past, Prospero gave up his powers to please the people. He though his act would replace the hatred they developed for him with appreciation. He manages to overcome his feelings of revenge that gave him the courage to quit his magical powers. He wanted to exhibit his merciful nature by freeing everyone.

Prospero’s realization of the fact that the magic did not help him in getting with his feelings of helplessness, motivates him to quit magic. Though magic enabled him to earn the status of Duke of Milan, he displayed distractions. His rank as a duke failed to provide him with satisfaction and happiness. His desires of having a different past show he lacks joy and contentment in his life. His realization of his miserable past encouraged him to settle for a better future. His past depicted the absence of love and friendship. In the hope of a better life, he gave up his magical powers. Prospero learned that magic destroyed his life instead of protecting him. He learned to focus on his future, and the only thing that could change his past is giving up magic.

Prospero learned how helpless he was to change the course that he chose for himself. He realized it was not possible to go the past and change his actions; however, he still had time to improve him in future by displaying his humane attributes. He learned that his punishments resulted in enemies’ madness and grief that he encountered during his past. Prospero learned that it is his final chance to change the course of his destructed life and present himself as a better Duke. He uncovered his resentment that had developed due to his miseries. His realization to become a better father Miranda and give her freedom of marrying. Vengeance helped him in gaining no peace or satisfaction, thus depicting his failure as a compelling Duke.

Prospero undergoes the feelings of self-realization when he compares his past with the present. He learned he constructed his path to destruction and evil. He takes him back to the period when he was without magic, causing him to believe that his magical powers outs him in a miserable situation. He realized he developed a hatred for people due to his evil character that can only be replaced with his act of kindness. The best choice that Prospero had was to free the enemy and portray himself as a kind Duke.

Shakespeare uses his thoughts on redemption through the construction of the character Prospero. Through Prospero Shakespeare reveals the sense of justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation that is also apparent in Cesaire’s drama. Prospero in the drama and play portrays his idea of justice through the representation of events and characters in the play. He displays the character of Prospero to highlight the theme of justice and uses characters as a source of celebration, leading to a happy ending. Shakespeare used his redemption to place the characters in different roles that act to represent the concept of forgiveness.

In the play, the writer creates special effects in the play by adding the concepts of magic and power. Shakespeare through his redemption convinces the audience about the rightness. The artistic creativity of Shakespeare allows him to build characters and construct events that change the concept of forgiveness to morality art. The imaginations of artist persuade the audience that happy endings are still attained. Shakespeare through his theme of redemption portrays the good nature and good humans. He envisions the role of freedom and positive side of humanity through self- realization and redemption. Through his theme of redemption, he tries to convince his audience about forgiveness and reconciliation. Shakespeare also displays his personal beliefs by building relevance between power and destruction.

The comparison of ‘A Tempest' and ‘The Tempest' depicts Shakespeare anticipates the character of Prospero. Cesaire has followed the original theme and idea of Shakespeare in creating the character of Prospero. Prospero in Cesaire’s ‘A Tempest’ is anticipated by Shakespeare because he learned different things through his life that resulted in his acceptance of reality.

Work Cited

Arnold, A. James. "Césaire and Shakespeare: Two Tempests." Comparative Literature 30.3 (1978): 236-248.

Cesaire, Ame. A Tempest. 1969.

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Simon & Schuster, 2004.