Did Shakespeare make a dramatic mistake in making Prospero so dominant?

“The government I cast upon my brother,

And to my state grew stronger, being transported

And rapt in secret studies.”

 His treatment by his brother, Antonio, has taught him not to trust appearances. It may look as if Ferdinand loves Miranda but Prospero is determined to test the strength of this love:

“They are both in either’s pow’rs: but this swift business

I must uneasy make, less too light winning

Make the prize light.”

 Prospero generates the plot almost single handed, as his various schemes, spells and manipulations all work as part of his grand design to achieve the play’s happy ending.

 Many critics and readers of the play have interpreted Prospero as a surrogate for Shakespeare, enabling the audience to explore first-hand the ambiguities and ultimate wonder of the creative endeavour.

 Prospero’s finals speech in which he likens himself to a playwright by asking the audiences for applause, strengthens this reading of the play, and makes the play’s final scene function as a moving celebration of creativity, humanity, and art. Prospero emerges as a more likeable and sympathetic figure in the final two acts of the play. In these acts, his love for Miranda, his forgiveness of his enemies, and his legitimately happy ending his scheme creates all work to mitigate some of the undesirable means he has used to achieve his happy ending. If Prospero sometimes seems autocratic, he ultimately manages to persuade the audience to share his understanding of the world and achievement that is, after all, the final goal of every author and every play.  

 Act 1 Scene 2 opens with the revelation that it was Prospero’s magic, and not simply a hostile nature, that raised the storm that caused the shipwreck. From there, the scene moves into a long sequence devoted largely to telling the play’s background story while introducing the major characters on the island.

 If  is a play about power in various forms (as we observed in the previous scene, when the power of the storm disrupted the power relations between nobles and servants), then Prospero is the centre of power, controlling events throughout the play through magic and manipulation. Prospero’s retellings of past events to Miranda and Ariel do more than simply fill the audience in on the story so far. They also illustrate how Prospero maintains his power, exploring the old man’s meticulous methods of controlling those around him through magic, charisma, and rhetoric.

 This is the one of the longest and most significant scenes in the play. It introduces us to the main characters and provides the necessary background information. It indicates Miranda’s sensitivity to the plight of others. In her first speck she tells her father:

“Had I been any god of power, I would

Have sunk the sea within the earth”

 This is suggesting that she would have caused the earth to swallow up the sea rather than allow the ship to sink with all its passengers and crew still no board. The fact that she appeals to her father to do what she cannot is the first indication we have of Prospero’s magical powers. This suggestion is strengthened in line 25, when Prospero addresses his gown:

“Lie there, my Art”

 The gown is a symbol of his magical powers. In line 77 he admits that he was “rapt in secret studies” and the use of ‘rapt’ and ‘secret’ suggests that he was studying magic.

 In examining Prospero’s character we should be careful not to rely too heavily on his self-evaluation. In the speech beginning on line 89, he tells Miranda that he neglected the affairs of state in order to devote himself to his studies; that he trusted his brother completely and gave him absolute power; that the power brought out the faults in Antonio’s character; and that Antonio’s evil was in sharp contrast to Prospero’s generosity. Perhaps we should remember that being a ruler involves both rights and responsibilities. Prospero wanted the former but not the latter.

 The treatment of time causes two major problems in The Tempest. Because Shakespeare adheres to the classical unities, much of the information required by the audience has to be provided by narration rather that by action. Thus, most of the history of Antonio’s treachery to his brother is provided in Prospero’s long account in Act 1 Scene 2 under the pretext of telling Miranda about her past. It is undoubtedly a mark of Shakespeare’s skill that he can incorporate so much background information into a reasonably naturalistic scene. Even then, he breaks it up for both Miranda and the audience by bringing in Ariel with his account of the shipwreck.

 The second temporal problem relates to the compression of events. I the pace of approximately four hours, the audience is asked to ‘believe’ that many events have taken place.  I feel Shakespeare has tried to achieve more than he could.

 In the play because Shakespeare ahs made Prospero so dominant, other characters are suffering at this expense, due to Shakespeare dominating one particular character. The other characters are becoming weaker due to the use of dominance and not as effectively dramatic in the play, with Prospero having many of the lines. Prospero is very manipulative towards two of the other main characters. I feel Prospero is using physcological manipulation rather than magic. Caliban is ordered to fetch logs and Miranda is ordered to sleep, which shows the audience that this is an authoritarian streak of Prospero. Caliban comments on Prospero being far from being a ‘natural leader’.  

 I feel that if any of the characters is seen to have power that is Ariel, during the tempest, the masque and also the feast.  Ariel is obedient to Prospero, and although he longs for his freedom he seems to take pleasure in his work:

“All hail, great master! Grave sir, ail! I come

To answer thy best pleasure; be’t to fly,

To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride

On the curl’d clouds, to thy strong bidding task

Ariel and all his quality.”

 One of Ariel’s key roles in The Tempest is to provide music. His melodies are heard throughout the island and they can control the actions of the characters. Caliban is frequently lulled by airs “that give delight” and Ferdinand is lured to his meeting with Miranda by Ariel’s music. Ariel’s mature excites the audience’s admiration and that his music gives pleasure.

 Concluding, having considered the question title I feel that \Shakespeare did make a dramatic mistake by making Prospero so dominant. Ultimately I feel Shakespeare was trying to add more than he could which is why Prospero is so manipulative, which leaves the remaining characters  weaker and less involved which is a mistake in theatrical view.