The Tempest Act 1

In Act 1 of Shakespeare's The Tempest, the main character or protagonist is Prospero, who uses his words more so than his magical powers. He manipulates his daughter, noblemen, and servants through the use of words and gestures, creating illusions. He creates a goal and sets forth to it—to prosperity. Prospero’s desire for power and control through knowledge plays a great deal with his plans to seek vengeance for loosing his dukedom to the King of Naples. Prospero’s influence on the crew is all about control. I mean he has pride and an ego, but he also wants to be able to control and use his resources well in order to survive or prosper. In relation to the subject of power and knowledge, in George Orwell’s 1984, Winston deals with the struggles and forces of the government—the brainwashing methods and how to overcome such painful experiences. Both Prospero and the government want to take over the masses (people) and use them for one goal, which usually is closed-minded and ill-advised.

The influence of knowledge being powerful is profound in both works, where Prospero’s knowledge of magic makes him Duke of Milan, and how the government in 1984 pushes citizens to learn, do, and speak a certain way. For example, Prospero uses Caliban as his servant—acquainting him to the island which Prospero stole from him. Caliban speaks with a brutal and vice words to all of the crew members and denounces the language that he was taught in order to communicate with Prospero. I know it is a handful, but my point is that Caliban is so far the second most established character even after Scene 1 (the storm), and I think William Shakespeare wrote the play this way so Caliban’s character could be loved, hated, or neither.