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Monsters In The Tempest And The Metamorphoses

Decent Essays

In ancient literature, hybrid beasts are always perceived as the antagonists of the story. These beasts are disliked solely because of the description the author uses to mold their physical appearance is unappealing to most. In reality the humans or gods in the story are the real monsters while the beasts are the victims. In both The Tempest, by William Shakespeare and The Metamorphoses, by Ovid the Human or godlike characters are the ones attacking the bestial characters and not the other way around, which is the common thought. The definition of monstrous is twofold. The first definition is having the ugly or frightening appearance of a monster while the second more meaningful definition is “inhumanly or our outrageously evil or wrong. In …show more content…

Prospero the protagonist of the play is seen as the mastermind behind all the events happening throughout the play and the reader is forced to sympathize with him through the plot. His servant monster, Caliban, is portrayed to be this monstrous character that tried to rape Miranda, Prospero’s daughter. In reality, Prospero is the real monster, while Caliban is just a victim. The reader of this play envisions Caliban to be a physical monster as he is the son of the witch Sycorax, who previously inhabited the island. Caliban is described as “got by the devil himself” by Prospero. (Shakespeare, I.ii.383) This may be in the case of his physical appearance but on the inside Prospero is more of a monster than Caliban. In the case of the rape aforementioned above, the reader is told of attempt from Prospero, “In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate the honor of my child.” (Shakespeare, I.ii.417-418) but it never actually happened within the play so this statement can be seen as another attack on Caliban from Prospero have no evidence to back it up. Trinculo a minor character in the play describes Caliban as “this is a very shallow monster. I afeard of him? A very weak monster. The man i’ th’ moon? A most poor, credulous monster!” (Shakespeare II.ii.150-152) This quote tells the reader that Caliban is not capable of monstrous …show more content…

Throughout the play many of his actions can be compared as to some monsters would do. Throughout the play the character Sycorax, the mother of Caliban and a witch, is mentioned. She died before the events in the play but it can be inferred that Prospero killed Sycorax to take over the Island. This can be inferred by the fact that Prospero took over the Island and was able to free Ariel from a tree, who is his other slave. This act of killing and taking over the Island from the true heir Caliban is more monstrous than just the relative appearance of Caliban. As mentioned before, Prospero also enslaved to creatures Ariel and Caliban, and commands them to do things against their will. For example, Prospero forces Ariel to scare the castaways to the point where one of them tries to commit suicide. (Shakespeare, III.iii.70-130) Additionally, Prospero arranges his daughter’s marriage for personal gain. He arranges for Ferdinand, the king’s son and heir, to be the only man his daughter is able to see. This causes her to fall in love with Ferdinand because she has no other man to compare him to. Prospero’s reason for arranging this marriage is to have a direct route to the kingship once his daughter is wed. All of these actions that Prospero performed throughout the play caused other people suffering, showing that all these actions are

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