Shakespeares Tempest essays

Shakespeare's Tempest essays Life is a dreamlike play set upon a stage. The beauty of this life lies in the hour of peacethat of sweet slumber. William Shakespeare observes, "we are such stuff/ As dreams are made on, and our little life/ Is rounded with a sleep" (4.1.156-158). This implication serves to explain that life is but a dream, to perturb it then will only lead to misery. From the juxtaposition of many characters in The Tempest, nightmares and dreams come to life in everyday morality where moral characters emerge with a more successful life than those who lack virtue. By forcefully claiming a throne that did not rightfully belong to him, Antonio eventually offsets the hatred of Prosperos heart, leading to the awakening of his dream. On the uninhabited island that Prospero luckily comes ashore to after being cast to sea by Antonio, he remains satisfied with the conditions that even though he has no control of Milan, he still reigns over Miranda, Caliban, and Ariel. During these moments when Prospero is able to exert his power over others, he is happy... and at peace, which allows him to reside in the delicate dream of control. However, when Prospero first conceives that his brother is sailing by the island where he now inhabits, he mistakenly absorbs this incidence as some bountiful Fortune (1.2.176); he proclaims, By accident most strange [...] I find my zenith doth depend upon/ A most auspicious star, whose influence/ If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes/ Will ever after droop (1.2.176-183). Hence, Prospero awakens from his dream to cl aim what he considers a fortunate coincidence by acting on immoral means to seek revenge in the play. At that moment, Prosperos peaceful dream alters to the development of a nightmare by seeking revengea nightmare enveloping some turbulent awakening of his dream. From ambitions and wants, Shakespeare insists that one will awaken to a "Brim full of sorrow and dis...