This essay covers the topic as magic as the Tempest's weakness. It was marked 15/15, A*.
It covers all the necessary points for the top band marking scheme and has been edited on various occasions to use the best available information.
This essay covers the character of Miranda as emotionally...
Within ‘The Tempest’, Miranda and her influence over the other characters within the play
is significant. She is an embodiment of the emotional heart and femininity, being the only
speaking woman in the play, her character is crucial in the plot’s development. Miranda is
also used by Shakespeare to widen themes apparent in his own society; highlighting the
treatment of women in Jacobean society as well as attitudes towards courtly love and
affection. Miranda as the emotional heart of ‘The Tempest’ is explored through her father’s
reconciliation, her love with Ferdinand, and the femininity within the play. Over time, due to
the change In ideas displayed through interpretations and ideologies, the notion of Miranda
as the emotional heart of ‘The Tempest’ has changed significantly. As well as Miranda, the
island is also important in the conceptual analysis of this question as the emotional heart of
the play; it is used by Shakespeare to both destroy and renew connections.
Miranda acts as the emotional heart of ‘The Tempest’ displayed by the influence over her
fathers reconciliation and her love for Ferdinand. A modern feminist critic would argue that,
without her maternal, caring influence over the play, her father would not have reconciled
with his familial relations. Miranda is the driving force in her father’s forgiveness and it is
possible to say that through this, Shakespeare is alluding to the ideology that without the
influence of women in society, forgiveness and reconciliation would not be possible and
society would remain uncivilised. Furthermore, Shakespeare uses the idea of Jacobean
courtly love to elucidate Miranda as the ‘emotional heart’ of the play itself. The purity of
their connection supports the idea that Miranda acts as the emotional heart. Ferdinand
labels her a ‘sweet mistress’, a ‘wonder’ and a ‘precious creature’, whereby these words
elucidate her character and the emotional side of humanity. Even though this match is
orchestrated by her patriarchal and dominant father, Prospero, the ideology surrounding
courtly love through the character Miranda is representative of her emotional influence
over the play itself. A Jacobean audience would not have been shocked by this element of
the play as courtly love and the process of courting was extremely common in Jacobean
society whereby the father would choose their daughter’s match. However, a modern
society would have found this more disturbing, as society is evolving more in relation to
patriarchy and women’s rights, the controlling nature of Prospero over Miranda and the
orchestrated match is less accepted showing the evolving mindsets and interpretations of
‘The Tempest’ over time. Literary critic Ann Thompson argues that a woman can gain no
pleasure out of this text ‘beyond the rather grim one of mapping its various forms of
exploitation’. It is possible to say that due to her emotional nature as the heart of the play,
she is subject to ‘exploitation’ on the basis of her emotionality being open to subjugation by
her father and Ferdinand. On assessment, Miranda is used to represent the emotionality of
the play through her influence over her father’s reconciliation and her courtly love
interaction with Ferdinand, showing her maternal nature, as crucial to the development and
result of the play itself.
The silence of women and the absence of femininity within the play is elucidated through
the character of Miranda and her significant influence as the emotional heart of the play.
Miranda is the only speaking and present woman within the play. The other two women,
Sycorax and Claribel, are alluded to but neither speaking nor present in the action of the
play itself. The presence of Miranda in the androcentric play makes her influence that bit
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