The following Scene 2, comprises Miranda, Prospero having a conversation about the storm, while Miranda expresses sorrow over the storm and people in the ship, Prospero decides to extend the event to her past and explain it to her. He explains the story, but then makes her sleep, mainly to save her innocence, while Prospero talks about what to do with the survivors of the ship wreck with Ariel. Putting her to sleep, shows power, as magic is known as a super-power and is usually impossible to withstand it.
Prospero is the ideal character with knowledge and shows this throughout The Tempest. He is the antagonist with immense amount of power various amount of power from persuasion, magic and knowledge from books. An example of this is: “If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till, Thou has howled away twelve winters.”
Prospero shows that he has the power to do anything. He threatens Ariel to do as he says or Ariel will pay the consequences by being put inside an oak tree. The vocabulary is strong, “I will rend an oak” a strong suggestion of eagerness to fulfil his words with actions – also there is seriousness in his tone which might seem as though he is exaggerating “Thou has howled away twelve winters, if there is a “murmur” from Ariel. Furthermore there is a break in speech with the use of a comma, which reinforces and links the idea of being exiled into an oak tree for twelve winters – the authority over Ariel is just a part of Prospero’s knowledge: “Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me, From mine own library with volumes that, I prize above my dukedom”. From this we learn how educated Prospero is and we can blatantly see that he has a vast knowledge over many volumes where he gained his knowledge and power. There is an emphasis that he had his own library, with various volumes that he could prize upon.
When Ariel is introduced to the play, he appears to be a servant again signaling to authority and control, and when Ariel questions authority, he is harshly reminded by Prospero of how he rescued her and therefore classifies Ariel as being ungrateful and needing to be ‘once in a month’ recalled of Prospero’s good deeds. The punctuation has use of commas that try to persuade him by saying, “Let me remember thee..” this conveys us that he is trying to remind Prospero his promise and emphasizes his aspirations of being free, by reminding him “what thou promised.” When Ariel and Prospero speak about the storm it links back to scene 1 where the storm shows how Prospero has authority over the ship and circumstances through magic. Ariel is treated almost like a pet by being degraded and appreciated at times, showing the magnitude of authority of Prospero. During that Ariel is degraded to being questioned about his past as well. And therefore takes the role of a pupil while Prospero humiliates him through his intellectual and physical threatening power.
Caliban is seen as a ‘slave’ as well with low morals, he is shown to be colonised by Prospero while he is taught the language to communicate with him as well. This shows the authority of the coloniser and ironically outlines the control the colonised Caliban has after being taught the language allowing him to curse Prospero. His authority and inferiority is shown as acceptable. Caliban is an example of this, when he comes across Trinculo and Stephano he immediately asks them to be his masters, by saying that he has given away his authority and has immediately asked to be inferior: “I’ll show thee every fertile inch o’the’island, and I will kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god.” The desperation of Caliban is immediately seen in the quote when he emphasizes that he’ll show the entire land and he will kiss their feet. The vocabulary illustrates the desperation and extreme anxiety of a needed master. In addition it also has a hyperbole, “be my god” – he over exaggerates by saying he wants Trinculo and Stephano to be his Gods. This shows that Caliban has no desire to be an authorative figure; he has accepted his position in the social hierarchy.
When Ferdinand is stranded on the island, he encounters Ariel where they both fall in love, and therefore Ferdinand and Miranda could be seen as a possibility for peace and forgiveness for usurping Prospero. However Prospero dislikes the sudden fall in love between the two, and therefore threatens Ferdinand, where Ferdinand draws his sword, and after drawing it, Prospero freezes him through magic showing control; however Miranda does retaliate towards any harshness towards Ferdinand.
Another example of authorisation is how Antonio uses various cunning methods to persuade and manipulate Sebastian into killing the King. This is shown when he says, “Thou let’s thy fortune sleep – die, rather, winks’t whiles thou art walking.” The imagery used in the language personifies that the human status will raise level of impatience, “fortune sleep” – also the grammar shows the relationship between die and sleep. The dash indicates a pause, engages the readers attention. It also shows Antonio changing his mind, to emphasize on the fact that the chance will be lost to kill the king. Furthermore the vocabulary shows a manipulative tone by suggesting that it is fortune’s wish that they take this opportunity “fortune” to kill the king; in addition the association of eye movement sees the opportunity. The semi-colon links the two ideas together, which accentuates that, he’s missing out on a golden opportunity. All this shows how he is almost talking down to Sebastian, and shows authority and inferiority.
In conclusion the presentation of authority shows that in order to have authority and stabilise it you need to have knowledge and power to do so. Prospero is a perfect example as he shows he has immense amounts of authority by having magic and knowledge from books. However, authority is also illustrated as being unequal the King, being on top of the social hierarchy – doesn’t show any authority and if he tries it is dismissed. On the other hand inferiority is subjective – as some people have accepted that they are inferior for example Caliban. However Ariel accepts this as he is going to get something out of it, freedom. I don’t think you need to be on top of a social hierarchy to have authority, you can gain it.
