Lost Illusions, Bitter Wisdom and Fragile Hope in The Tempest Essay

Lost Illusions, Bitter Wisdom and Fragile Hope in The Tempest Is Shakespeares play, The Tempest, a drama of lost illusions, tart wisdom and fragile hope? Before this question can be considered, one first has to interpret these terms. Perhaps bitter wisdom and fragile hope are fairly simple concepts to understand, lost illusions is somewhat less clear, particularly in the case of The Tempest. There are trine main interpretations of lost illusions that could be made. The first is that of a revelation of the mind the discarding of an illusion to reveal the truth of ones feelings. The second is similar but with a subtle loss the lifting of an illusion to disclose the truth about something physical (instead of emotional, as in the first case). The last interpretation could not be applied to every affair of the word illusion, but suits The Tempest extremely well this third analysis revolves around magic and the supernatural world. There are several clear examples from the textboo k to illustrate these various points of view. For the first case we give the character of Prospero who, by the end of the play, has realised that he requires more in his life than his Art of magic. He comes to acknowledge that he needs a change of environment, however much he will miss his old life on the island. For the second interpretation, we have the circumstances surrounding Antonios usurpation of Prosperos title (told only in flashbacks) the true events that occurred then only come to light at the end of the play, when Prospero reveals the entire horizontal surface to the assembled characters. The third interpretation, that of magic, is present throughout the play, as Prospero exerts his supernatural talents upon the... ...ased to be a problem, whereas Alonso has the future of his son to contemplate a future that is by no government agency certain. From all this, it is clear that, in a general sense, Shakespeares play, The Tempest, is a drama of lost illusions, bitter wi sdom and fragile hope, as many characters go through that cycle (lost illusions, leading to bitter wisdom and ending with fragile hope), or various parts of it. Also, this description can be used in a more precise manner, when dealing solely with individual characters, particularly Prospero, Miranda, Alonso and Ferdinand. Works Cited and Consulted Cesaire, Aime. A Tempest. Trans. Richard Miller. New York UBU, 1992. Kermode, Frank. Introduction, in The Tempest(Arden Edition), (London Methuen, 1962), xlvii-xlviii. West, Robert. Shakespeare and the Outer Mystery. Lexington UP of Kentucky, 1968.