The Tempest - Act IV Analysis

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Sarah Bailiff

The Tempest

Act IV Analysis

Written in 1611, Shakespeare’s drama The Tempest, deals with issues of social order, as well as the ‘natural order’ of how society should function. Conflicts within the text indicate the need for order and a ‘rightful’ leader. These themes are reflections of the story, as Prospero the ‘rightful leader’ was usurped by his brother Antonio, after which, conflicts arise and the drama unfolds. Act four is an important scene in the play and it can be seen as a turning point in the play as well as functioning to produce meanings for the audience. The masque and the marriage act as a representation of a healthy social order, and thus prepare the audience for the mending of social order in the next scene. It also represents fifteenth century ideas of social order and social function of marriage. Finally, the characterization of characters such as Caliban and Prospero in this act shifts the views of the audience in order for the audience to agree with Caliban’s defeat in the final act, and thus support a ‘happy’ and ‘rightful’ ending.

The use of marriage and the masque in act four, function two fold in representing Shakespeare’s ideas of the qualities and implications of marriage. Firstly fifteenth century marriages are conveyed as being less about love and lust, and more predominately about social order and organization. Secondly, the masque can be seen as a device which subtly glorifies marriages as being part of the natural order of things.

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Masques were popular forms of entertainment in England during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They featured masked actors, performing allegorical and ritualized stories drawn from mythology and folklore, which represent ideas relevant to the social context. Functioning within the story line, Prospero’s mask can be seen as an attempt to quell Ferdinand’s ideas of pleasures and loosing Miranda’s “virgin knot”. To the audience, this can be developed to create social understandings of marriage’s function within society; where images of lust and love are eliminated from the marriage and instead are replaced within ideas of social propriety, wealth and abundance. Iris, ...

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