Tempest Chain of Prosperos education
Great Chain of Prospero’s Education While commenting on Prospero’s character in The Tempest, Robert Uphaus writes, “Because Prospero is, among other things, an artist who has staged a tempest within a play called The Tempest, it seems fair to assume that the play is also a kind of psychodrama with the character and events of the play acting out facets of Prospero’s mind” (Ferguson 456). ... By the end of the play, Prospero’s perfection of reason and knowledge of his own mind results in his ‘proper’ placement on The Great Chain of Being. The Great Chain of Being is central to Elizabethan thought. On this chain, man holds a unique position, residing between the realms of angels and beasts, as well “all other created beings exist for man’s sake”(Lovejoy 186). In Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, this system of order and class is apparent with Ariel representing the lower angels, Caliban representing the higher beast, and Prosper representing man’s unique position between the two. As a kind man and noble of stature, Prospero’s ‘proper’ place and unique position on ‘The Chain’ is a position of perfect balance between the realms of angels and beasts—Ariel and Caliban. Another central idea to The Great Chain of Being is the idea that, by bridging the chasm between these two realms, man, the “middle link”(Lovejoy 190), can use his free will to perfect his reason, know himself and, thus, become more like the angles (Lovejoy 191). In terms of The Tempest, Prospero’s control over both Ariel, who “is a mediator between the realm of divinity and mankind”(Stephens 17), and Caliban, “who represents nature in it’s most atavistic form”(Stephens 17), indirectly results in the perfection of Prospero’s reasoning, as well as a greater knowledge of himself. This reasoning and self-knowledge is balanced by the two sides of the Great Chain that Ariel and Caliban represent; Ariel as “the voice of humility and obedience”(Hamilton 110), and Caliban as “a rude voice of challenge, complaint and accusation”(Hamilton 110). ... Due to these and other independent actions, Prospero’s and Caliban’s relationship must be seen as more than just a ‘tool’ for Prospero’s bidding, and must take into account the greater outcome of the play, which is Prospero’s education.