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Portrayal of Utopia in The Tempest by William Shakespeare Essay examples

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Utopia in The Tempest

In The Tempest, Shakespeare allows the audience to appreciate the possibilities of utopian society, the good, and bad, so that they can understand the problems that the pursuit of a utopian environment may cause. The Tempest is a window into the dimensions of utopian societies. Shakespeare's play portrays the good and the evil sides of the perfect life. While his characters take on the role of the leaders of the utopian societies, Shakespeare portrays the social questions and beliefs of society of how a utopian environment should be.

Essential to the discussion of this aspect of The Tempest is the definition of a "Utopia". For different characters this "utopia" means different things. First of …show more content…

His evil intentions and deceitful gain of power were what people of that time would have labeled a dystopia, the opposite of a utopia.

Miranda's utopia is a very naive one. All her life she has been isolated on the island seeing no-one but her father and Caliban, and therefore upon seeing other beings is amazed and overcome by her new discovery. Her role in the play, along with Ferdinand is to unite enemies (Prospero & Alonso), and this links in to Ferdinand's utopia which represents true love (as it has passed Prospero's tests). Ferdinand therefore finds a utopia on the island, because in marrying Miranda his life changes, for the better. In meeting Miranda he also therefore plays a major role in Miranda's "utopia".

Alonso's utopia is revealed at the end of the play as he wants freedom from guilt, freedom from his past sins. He also wishes to play a more involved role within his family. Therefore his utopia is one of goodness and again shows he has found a "utopia" on the island, as his personality has totally changed. This also contributes to Miranda finding a "utopia" as it shows her the power of repentance.

Prospero's utopia lies in his desire to be free from the stage as he requests at the end in his epilogue, "release me from my bands with the help of your good hands". However Prospero is unable to escape responsibility as he has control over the whole island, which is why it is he who requests the audience's applause at

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