This is Act 1, Scene 2.This is an essay for A Level English Literature 'Drama and Poetry Pre-1900' where you are given an unseen Shakespeare passage from the play you studied. This is from The Tempest where I achieved top marks.
Discuss the following passage from Act 1 scene 2, exploring Shakespeare’s
use of language and its dramatic effects. (15 marks) – DARCY MCDERMOTT
This passage is a continuation of the first scene in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” where the
audience is introduced to Miranda and Prospero, where Miranda learns the reason for their
inhabitance of the island. There is a tense atmosphere as Prospero gets worked up talking
about his brother to his daughter.
There is a clear juxtaposition of character in the father daughter relationship, with one asserting
a role of power and dominance while the other is submissive. This is evident through the
difference in speech length where Prospero speaks in long sections of blank verse while
Miranda’s responses “O, good sir, I do” only contain a few words. Her responses display her
submissiveness not only through their short length but through the flattery they contain. This
could be interpreted as Miranda being fearful of her father’s power, therefore feels the need to
‘butter him up’, or it could be seen as Miranda being completely devoted to Prospero. Both
present her as being at the beck and call of Prospero, latched on to every words he says.
Prospero controls Miranda asking “Dost thou attend me?” and “Dost thou hear?”, assuring that
she listens and understands everything he tells her. This repetition displays how frequently
Prospero questions Miranda’s commitment to his words, showing how much he wants her to
listen and the power this then gives him over her. Throughout this passage Miranda does not
refer to Prospero as father, rather as “sir”. Shakespeare’s word choice here gives Prospero a
teacher figure, immediately assigning him a dominant role and control over Miranda.
Furthermore this shows Miranda to be dependent on Prospero for knowledge, which the
audience knows to be true, as everything she knows and understands is from what her father
tells her, rendering her submissive to the teachings of her father.
Prospero’s explanation to Miranda of how he lost his dukedom reveals a hostile relationship
with his brother, yet it is clear to the audience that it was not always this way. The audience
learn that Prospero “to him put the manage of my state”, meaning that Prospero willingly gave
his title to Antonio. Prospero’s referral to the state as “my” shows his care for it as it was like a
child to him. The giving of his ‘child’ to Antonio shows that he cared for and trusted Antonio with
the responsibility of it, as he would not give his dukedom away to just anyone, revealing a
strong bond between the brothers. Furthermore, Prospero explains “he whom next thyself of all
the world I loved,” which clearly prevails his strong affection for his brother as he compares it to
his love of Miranda, setting up the idea that his brother’s deception was therefore so
unexpected. Prospero’s hatred for his brother is evident through his long rambling speeches to
Miranda. Shakespeare’s lack of full stops shows how caught up he is in what he is saying and
how angry he becomes. This is also demonstrated at the beginning of the passage through
Shakespeare’s use of hyphen breaks, where Prospero’s anger of talking about his brother
almost renders him speechless. A very negative image is created for Miranda and the
audience, describing Antonio as “so perfidious!”. Shakespeare’s word choice allows the
audience to understand the level of Prospero’s hatred for his brother, as it is quite a harsh
sounding word. Furthermore, Shakespeare’s use of punctuation emphasises how much
emotion is behind what Prospero is saying. This image is exaggerated in describing Antonio as
“the ivy which…suck’d my verdure on’t”. This metaphor creates an effective piece of imagery
where the audience can envision Antonio wrapping himself around Prospero and spreading
over him until all that can be seen is Antonio. “Suck’d” relates to the image of a baby
breastfeeding and getting strength from its mother’s milk. Here the word “suck’d” has very
negative connotations, implying that Antonio extracted all of the power, wealth and reputation
from Prospero, like milk from a mother, to build himself up and eventually dry Prospero out,
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