The Tempest Group

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minicooper18
minicooper18
Student
Community / Jr. College

How far and in what ways do you see usurpation as a central concern of "The Tempest"?

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Posted by minicooper18 on Monday April 6, 2009 at 4:31 AM and tagged with caliban, island, ownership, prospero, shakespeare, the tempest, usurpation.

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  1. robertwilliam

    eNotes Editor

    It undoubtedly is a central concern of the play. Prospero, of course, as Duke of Milan, was usurped by his brother Antonio long before the play began - which is how he got to the island in the first place. Yet when he got there, he usurped the island's natural inhabitants. Here's one of the play's most famous speeches from Caliban, arguing that Prospero has stolen his island:

    This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
    Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
    Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me
    Water with berries in't, and teach me how
    To name the bigger light, and how the less,
    That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee
    And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
    The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile:
    Cursed be I that did so! All the charms
    Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
    For I am all the subjects that you have,
    Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me
    In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
    The rest o' the island.

    Prospero is usurped, but usurps Caliban. Caliban longs to usurp him back, putting Trinculo and Stephano in charge (they too then become usurpers). Antonio and Sebastian consider killing the king and taking his power.

    Thematically, there are even mini usurpations. Caliban wants to father children on Miranda. Even Gonzalo thinks about what would happen if he were king fo the island:

    GONZALO
    Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,--

    ANTONIO
    He'ld sow't with nettle-seed.

    SEBASTIAN
    Or docks, or mallows.

    GONZALO
    And were the king on't, what would I do?

    SEBASTIAN
    'Scape being drunk for want of wine.

    GONZALO
    I' the commonwealth I would by contraries
    Execute all things; for no kind of traffic
    Would I admit...

    So, in short, it's absolutely central. You might even describe it as the pattern of the whole play.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/tempest-text
    http://www.enotes.com/tempest/themes

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Monday April 6, 2009 at 8:05 AM