I feel that Prospero's plan from the beginning was to bring the people who caused him to be on the island and took away his dukedom to the island. I feel that his plan did not change from the beginning of the play. Two of the reasons as to why I think this way are: he never caused harm to the people who wronged him and that his daughter listened to him when he told her to wait to get involved with Ferdinand. The way I interpreted this play lead me to believe that Prospero's play was to not harm the people who wronged him because he had them placed on the island safely and never harmed them while they were on the island. I also feel that the fact that his daughter listened to him while getting involved with Ferdinand just showed that all pieces of his plan stayed in place.
I feel that these plans had great affect on the other characters in the play. I feel that the plans show this with how Prospero manipulates Ariel by the promise of freedom. I also feel that these plans affect Caliban greatly as Prospero constantly remind him that he owes him service for teaching he had received.
In conclusion I feel that Prospero used his plans to achieve exactly what he wanted to happen and I also feel that these plans really affected all the characters in the play, but I feel that the plans affected Ariel and Caliban the greatest.
i definitely agree, Prospero achieved exactly what he set out to do. In the end, he regained what had been taken from him, yet he caused no harm to those who took it. He essentially wanted to return to his position of power, yet he did not abuse it like those who usurped it from him. Prospero enacted his plans vicariously through Ariel, which affected all of the members of the play. He had each of the players at his mercy, yet chose to preserve them on the shipwreck and also to free them after he achieved his goal.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about it from that perspective- that Prospero had never wanted to harm anyone, but was selfishly only trying to get back what was taken from him. Obviously, he wanted to become Duke again, but I interpreted it more along the lines of his desire to manipulate those who had manipulated him. But I think your argument makes sense- Prospero did have control over Ariel and Caliban because he was able to get them to do anything and everything he asked. In a way, Prospero's actions are somewhat justified if you think about justice. He was only trying to take back what was rightfully his- and what had unjustly been taken from him.
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