Scribner 1 Macklen Scribner December 7, 2012 A Tempestuous Power Struggle The craving for power has been portrayed

throughout history as a dangerous attraction, just as likely to bring ruin to the one who gains power as it is to lay low their enemies. Literature especially is full of warnings against the destructive quest for power, with examples ranging from ancient Senecas Medea to its modern parallel of The Picture of Dorian Grey. Continuing this tradition is Shakespeares The Tempest, in which numerous characters are cast onto an island in the Mediterranean Sea, resulting in a sudden power void which they scramble to fill. In The Tempest, power is pursued with all tools and means available to the characters, often at the expense of morality or common good. The most common power source desired in the play is political power or the ability to govern. Antonio, Prosperos younger brother to whom he put/the manage of [Prosperos] state (1.2.87-88), gains his first taste of power from the very person he would betray. Not content with what he, the younger brother, has been allotted, Antonio desires to gain the entire lordship of Milan, which of all the Signories was the first (1.2.89). This makes him guilty of a double crime against Prospero. Not only is Shakespeare portraying him as willing to turn against his trusting liege lord, but also as willing to entirely abandon all aspects of familial loyalty. Antonios desire for power has taken him not only away from morals of duty and honor towards his rightful ruler, but also from the more basic ethics of brotherly love and sacrifice on behalf of ones kin. Perhaps it would be understandable of Antonio if Prosperos neglect of Milan is such that the nation is falling apart and Antonio is acting the noble hero to save the people from Prospero. Yet no such indications are found in the play. Indeed, while to Prospero his state grew stranger, the fact that it was still considered the first of all the city-states of Italy would refute

Scribner 2 any claims of waste (1.2. 94). The people themselves possess so much love for Prospero that when the foul coup is carried out Antonio dares not kill Prospero and Miranda for fear of vengeance and rioting on behalf of the populace (1.2.168-179). Antonio is therefore not to be seen as a heroic figure nobly assuming the throne in order to better the populace, but simply as a treacherous and wily man willing to forsake all oaths of loyalty to attain power, guilty of attempted fratricide in addition to regicide. Shakespeare continues this theme of the dual crime of regicide alongside fratricide in Sebastian, the younger brother of the king of Naples. When Alonso begins to think that Ferdinand, his son and heir, has perished, Sebastian tellingly does not attempt to offer any consolation. Indeed, Sebastian should himself be distraught over the loss of a cherished nephew, but seems rather nonchalant about his lack of hope/ that [Ferdinand] is drowned (2.1.270-271). Once the initial scheme to slay Alonso is foiled by the reawakening of the kings party, Antonio and Sebastian continue in plot together. Unlike Antonio, Sebastian is a man who refuses to see his actions as immoral or evil, befitting of punishment. At the end of the play when Antonio is forgiven by Prospero, he shows some remorse and is silent. Sebastian, on the other hand, repeatedly is shown as ignoring any guilt. When tormented by the harpy, Sebastians response to impending torment by the legions of Hell is that he will fight their legion oer alongside Antonio instead of accepting the punishment that is his due (3.3.125). Likewise, when confronted by Prospero, Sebastian assumes that he must be some sort of demon servant to the Devil instead of Prospero himself. To Sebastian, the idea that Prospero is now righteously getting vengeance for past misdeeds is not applicable. Sebastian has not only lost his morality in his willingness to commit violence for the sake of power, but he has also lost his conscience and his ability to see any difference between right and wrong.

Scribner 3 In addition to portraying how characters who begin with little power will pursue true power, Shakespeare also presents a picture of how people who already possess great power will act in order to gain yet more power in Alonso, the king of Naples. Alonso aids Antonio in the usurping of Prosperos dukedom in order to gain a vassal, as Antonio has sworn to pay Alonso homage should the plot succeed. This shows just how greedy Alonso is, because he is willing to trust a known oath-breaker and would be kin-slayer. Common sense would dictate that trusting Antonio, who has already betrayed one master, would be foolish and that Alonsos best option would be to dispose of him once Prospero is overthrown. This trust is inevitably betrayed by Antonio, thus pitting one immoral character against the other partner in crime. Even a motive for over throwing Prospero is lacking in Alonso besides simple greed. Prospero says that Alonso has treated Milan most cruelly, and it is clear that the only thing Alonso had to gain was the removal of Milan as the best city state (5.1.80). The two states are some 700 kilometers apart and were not at war; Alonso does not make any great gains for his people by the move. Shakespeare also uses Alonsos character to give an example of someone who is used to the struggle of power. Once Ferdinand is assumed dead, Alonso (who is familiar with the cruel struggle for power and aware of the risks involved) reaches the conclusion that therefor [Ferdinand] I th ooze is bedded and that he was a casualty of the game of thrones (3.3.121). Alonso, it is clear, serves as an example of how power is never enough, and more will always be sought after by those who desire it. Contrasting the great lords and nobles who comprise the first three examples of power hungry individuals, Shakespeare also uses the lowly character of Stephano the butler to expand the trait of avarice to all of humanity, not just the elite of society. Having been born with almost no initial power and having to gain whatever power he would like through entirely his own ends,

Scribner 4 Stephanos methods for gaining power are much more brutal and simplistic. Upon meeting Caliban, one of Stephanos initial ideas is to enslave him that he might sell him at home to an emperor. In order to obtain this servitude he plans to ensnare him with alcohol, proclaiming that Caliban shall have taste of [Stephanos] bottle (2.2.76). Then, in order to keep Trinculo in servitude, Caliban resorts to the even simpler method of beating him upon the head until he is subdued. At which point he takes the route many aggressors take, feigning sorrow over his mistreatment and promising to act more civil, provided Trinculo only keep a good tongue in [his] head (3.2.122). In this way Stephano is acting very much like any abusive person would, going through a cycle of violence and then reconciliation that makes the victim feel as if they are at fault. At the end of the novel, Stephano also suffers far more than any of the other characters, as he loses both of his vassals at once and is rendered once more a simple butler in service to the king. Whats more, not only has he lost what little power he gained, but he also loses even more standing, becoming only to the king a drunken butler and a knave who steals clothing from the rich (5.1.333). Stephanos violent and simplistic quest for power portrays the even fouler side of humanity, the side that will not only wrong others one time, but is willing to press them into perpetual misery and suffering in order to maintain rule. Even the supposed hero of the play and previously wronged individual, Prospero, displays some signs of desperation for power that are alarming and result in disaster for those around him. He yields his authority to govern the region of Milan to Antonio in order that he might study the arcane arts, despite Antonio not having proved himself to be a capable ruler. Disregarding the possibility of treachery, this is a risky decision on Prosperos part because he is putting the wellbeing of his people into the hands of another, likely less capable person. The pursuit of power is here resulting in neglect of other duties, as opposed to outright wrong to

Scribner 5 another person. This issue continues in the eventual result of Prosperos banishment at the hands of Antonio, in which his beloved daughter Miranda is lowered from there not being a princess no worse issued in the entire world to a girl trapped on an island in the sea (1.2.73). Again Prospero is here endangering the common good of his younger, regal daughter in order to pursue power himself. Yet Prosperos wrongdoing in the name of power is not limited to this passive neglect, he himself oppresses some individuals in order to supplement his arcane abilities. After freeing the spirit Ariel from service to a foul witch, Prospero enslaves him for a period of service to himself. While this could be seen as a due reward for the good done if freeing Ariel of Sycorax, Prospero continues to oppress him, even going as far as to threaten torture if Ariel does not cease asking for freedom (1.2.349-351). In the end of the novel Prospero realizes that his quest for magical power has had disastrous consequences, and so he decides to break [his] staff and deeper than did ever plummet sound/... drown [his] book in order to resume the power of political government (5.1.63-66). This is because he feels that the lesser power of politics will prove safer than the great power of magic. Shakespeare, in Prospero, has successfully cast even the noble of cause as willing to commit crimes in order to gain power. People, whether noble or common, of good heart and cause or of fickle disposition and ensnared by avarice, are prone to commit atrocities to gain what power they desire. In The Tempest, this exact tendency is enacted by characters stemming from all areas of life, and their immoral deeds and lack of compassion work to prove the assertion that power, in any form, will only be attained through acts of evil.