Prospero

In The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, Prospero seems to puppeteer almost all of the actions of the other players. First, he employs the magic of Ariel to crash the ship and then scatter the shipwrecked members throughout the island, so they cannot contact each other. His basic plot seems to focus simply on becoming the Duke again. However, as the play progresses, and the King’s son falls in love with Prospero’s daughter, a perhaps deeper plot unveils itself. I think that Prospero’s original intentions were to only regain his position as Duke and come out of exile on the island, yet eventually, Prospero recognizes the potential outcome with the budding romance between Ferdinand and Miranda and works to capitalize on their love. Ironically, Prospero brushes off the questioning from the other characters at the end and labels the events he has orchestrated as simple coincidence.

            To the reader, Prospero has many contrasting qualities.  At first, he seems selfish and hell-bent on redemption and regaining what is his, which retains a negative connotation for the reader. Then, the reader realizes the nature of the illegitimate Duke of Milan and begins to almost sympathize with Prospero because they fully comprehend his struggles. This empathy continues as Prospero helps propagate the marriage for his daughter. Even with the reader’s growing sympathy towards Prospero, he comes off as a bit of a fool throughout the entire play because of his awkward dialogues with his daughter, the king, and Gonzalo. He perpetually begs Miranda to listen despite her attention, and then he blatantly and awkwardly shakes off the questions of the king and Gonzalo at the end. Contrastingly, Prospero coordinated an elaborate plan to recapture his Duchy, thus exemplifying his intelligence. 

Character Development

In chapter twenty, Ginny finally emerges as an active character, capable of shaping her own destiny. This scene, in which Ginny reprimands her father for his reckless behavior and drunk driving, exemplifies Ginny’s frustrating and chaotic struggle for control of her life.  Until now, each character abuses Ginny’s dependence and her desire to satiate everyone’s wants. Throughout the novel, Ginny has silently worked to maintain her relationships with each character as well as to keep everyone happy, despite the fact that subconsciously she was not happy herself. It seems that Ginny always frantically picks up the pieces of Larry’s rampages, Rose’s outbursts, and Caroline’s apathy. No one but Ginny really cares about the others’ feelings, thus Ginny is solely left to care for everyone. Ginny perpetually lives in a state of fear. Fear of her father. Fear for Rose. Fear for everything in her life she cannot control. Yet finally, a sense of empowerment and self-fulfillment washes over Ginny. She takes a stand with her father, foreshadowing perhaps her future actions with him. This passage is integral to the development of Ginny as a character because it demonstrates her internal tension and serves as the manifestation of her struggle for control. Before this scene, Ginny refuses to raise her voice, passively allowing other characters to manipulate her, use her, and emotionally torment her. However, in this scene, Ginny actively asserts herself, thus finally exerting some mode of control over her situation. Ginny becomes a dynamic character, who is now capable of affecting those around her, rather than always being affected.