A Tempest i
Shakespeare Had Raised a Tempest in His Era and My Heart
(Take The Tempest as an example)
Lu Mei
Reading Report
Professor He
December 1, 2011
A Tempest ii
Abstract
Shakespearewas the great spirit of the Renaissance as a single person. He wrote many famous poems, dramas and tales, and almost all of his works had raised a tempest in his era. His stories have great impact on their days. Take the famous talesThe Tempest as an example.
In order to usurp the throne, Antonio colluded with the King of Naples and framed his brother, Prospero, who was the Duke of Milan and his three-year-old daughter, Miranda. They were banished to an uninhabited island with no daily necessities and servants. The wretched father and daughter lived in the island for more than ten years and eventually Prospero gained the ability to control the force of nature. He designed a tempest to revenge. In his plan, he made agloss that, Ferdinand,the prince of Naples died in the tempest to make his enemy think about what they had done to him. Knowing this, Antonio and the King of Naples suddenly realized that there were something more important than authority and wealth. It was the love among family members. They felt ashamed of what they had done. They decided to rectify their errorsthoroughly. And Prospero, who was the victim, decided to forgive them and marry his lovely daughter, Miranda to the innocent prince. Thus the story ended with a happy ending.
A Tempest 1
Shakespeare Had Raised a Tempest in His Era and My Heart
(Take The Tempest as an example)
Shakespeare lived in the Renaissance. It was an era that people started to realize the value of human beings rather than had eyes only for the God. This times feature was thoroughly shown in Shakespeare’s stories. And his stories also diverted people’s attention to their own value.
His tale The Tempest was his last masterpiece, and it is said that The Tempest was his willing written with poetic words.And I think it is one of his most powerful stories.
In this tale, every character stood for one specific social group. Prosperowas the representative of people withhumanism thought. Such group of people were out of key with the society. Thus they would suffer a lot just like Prospero, who was framed by his dear brother and had a long hard life in an abandoned island with his young daughter. It was the same with Shakespeare himself. As a humanist, he was pushed aside by the conservative party. Life was hard for people like him. But eventually Prospero won without hurting anybody. It showed Shakespeare’s belief that he would finally win people’s understanding and people would someday awake. AndI think he was absolutely right. And Antonio and
the King of Naplesaccordingly stood for conservative people, who were also so blinded by greed that they only chased for authority and wealth and ignore the principles that they should stick to. Their final repentance not only showed the victory of Prospero but also it was a demonstration of the awakening of the human nature. As for Miranda and Ferdinand, who fell in love with their fathers’enemy but had happy ending were the typical of those who were suckers and knew little about the darkness of the world. Nice people deserve a perfect ending. They were lucky to have a great man like Prospero to protect them.Caliban, the son of the evil witch stood for those who were bad to the bone and even had no grateful heart as he wanted to humiliate the daughter of his benefactor. And finally he became the slave of Prospero. Therefore he stood for the evildoer who would never be moralized. Ariel, the little sprite, was a great help in Prospero’s revenge plan. He stood for those who stuck to justice but were not as powerful as they should be. So they had to look for the help from others or they could be the helper of great people. They were faithful to their masters and long for freedom. To get freedom they would do what their master asked them to do.And Gonzalo, the kind lord of Prospero’s court, who saved Prospero secretly by giving him some daily necessities, was a kind-hearted person who knew where his heart should be.
Above is the symbolic meaning of each character in The Tempest.
We can see that The Tempest is actually a reflection of the real society. During that time, the whole society was superstitious to the God, and people paid almost no attention to themselves. They also admired authority and wealth.Shakespeare was brave to write such stories tosatirize people’s mis-belief and spoke out his assertion. Since his stories obviously uncovered the darkness of the society, it raised a tempest in that era, too.He was criticized and misunderstood for a long time. But finallyhis stories successfully awaken people’s awareness of their existence. Though not all people agreed with him, he did a big strike to the society. There is something that only time can tell.
In my opinion, his stories are not only valuable in his era, but also a precious heritage of contemporary society. It set a tempest in his era and my era. His stories have immortal meaning.
I have learnt a lot from his masterpieces. Firstly, I think it is important to keep a kind heart. Only kind people can receive a happy life. Secondly, there should be some principles that we must stick to, like honesty, charity, and kindness. Thirdly, there are a lot of things that are more important than money and fame. That is love. Last but not least, we should learn to forgive and forget. Forgiving means free yourself from hatred and only this kind of people can lead a happy life.
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