Themes "The Tempest"

There are many different themes flowing through The Tempest starting with a overlying theme of power and control highlighted In the text through scenes such as Act 1 scene 2 where Prospero admits to sinking the ship highlighting that he has some much power and control to change people’s fates and manipulate the sea through the help of his magic and Ariel.  Also in Act 5 scene 1 where another character Ariel shows his control over people through putting the men to sleep without their consent, causing them to conform to his power.  This theme is still relevant today as there are still people with immense power who control many aspects of our everyday lives such as the government and the queen, just as in those days where they had royalty and dukes. In mine and Dans piece we don't show the theme of power as the scene is a back and fourth between the two characters, originally we had Prospero looking over us displaying his omnipresence and power over the two characters but this was cut as the character wasn't needed in the scene. Obviously we don’t have real magical powers, but this theme of magic is used in many plays and productions today and shows something much more than human capabilities highlighting maximum power and control that humans wish they had. Magic is a theme that will always be used as it is a theme with a wide variety of things you can do with it from fairies to dragons. We don't use magic in out scene as it doesn't call for it but it flows through the play and this in my opinion is why the play is so popular as everyone likes to see the impossible. 

The theme of betrayal is depicted right from the start of the play when Prospero feels betrayed by his own brother after he is banished along with his daughter Miranda. Also the character of Caliban highlights betrayal as is he not only betrayed by Prospero who entices him with kindness but then turn to betray Prospero’s trust through attempting to rape his daughter. Betrayal comes about for all of the characters such as the two drunken men plotting to kill Prospero and also the king’s men’s mutiny with their plot to kill the King in his sleep highlights betrayal. My character Miranda acts as a symbol for betrayal as Prospero attemps to get her with a prince so she can rise above his enemies and show how he will always rise back into power even if he does this through the medium of his daughter. 

Love is a universal theme which is intertwined throughout all Shakespeare plays for example Romeo and Juliet and twelfth night. Love appears in more than one form in The Tempest between Miranda and Ferdinand in my scene which is the obvious love story of the play but a different kind of love is portrayed between Prospero and Miranda as it is a farther and child love which is unconditional and this is shown through Prospero wanting what’s best for her and aiding her to fall in love with the Kings son. Revenge is a small theme in this play as it appears in such a subtle form, Prospero gets revenge on Caliban for trying to rape his daughter through condemning him to be a slave and taunting him with the concept of magical spirits which are always watching him. 

Revenge is in all of the characters provocative but not all are followed through so this theme falls to the waist side a bit as it’s more the idea of revenge rather than the actual act itself. Lastly Forgiveness is the theme which ends the play as all is forgiven between the characters and they basically all live happily ever after. The play basically comes full circle as Prospero had a strong motive to gain his dukedom back and to give his daughter the life she deserves, when all of this comes to fruition he has no motive to be sinister or evil therefore all he can do is forgive people of their actions and going to live the life he had taken away from him by his brother.   All of these themes still stand today and don’t need modernising as they are wide spread in everyday life and heightened in modern television such as the show “Revenge” where the whole plot is based on: love, revenge, forgiveness and betrayal all themes highlighted in “The Tempest.” I don’t think it will be a struggle presenting these themes to a modern audience as they are widely recognised today and would be easily accepted without a need of modernising.  If you watch any modern television program or play you will see many connotations within them connecting to the themes of this play as they are a good platform to create drama and keep a production interesting.