William Shakespeare, in his play The Tempest, tells the story of an imaginary duke of Milan in exile. In the original play, Shakespeare portrays the duke as a man, Prospero. In a modern film version of the play, writer and director Julie Taymor portrays the Duke as a woman, Prospera powerfully portrayed by Helen Mirren's convincing performance. The show, surprisingly, requires only a few very minor line changes to replace a female lead in the original male role. While the actual changes in the dialogue are minor, the impact on the play is substantial as it totally transforms the Duke and the audience's perspective of the character. With very few exceptions, having a woman as the Duke of Milan in Shakespeare's The Tempest makes the Duke more realistic and believable, as well as an overall more sympathetic character. In the play, Prospero, the real Duke of Milan is usurped by his brother. , Antonio, with the support of Alonso, king of Naples. After being overthrown, Prospero, along with his three-year-old daughter Miranda, are left on a small boat to die at sea. With supplies, supplies, and books provided by "a Neapolitan nobleman, Gonzalo" (Shakespeare 1.2.161) they manage to survive and land on an enchanted island inhabited only by an airy spirit, Ariel, and Caliban, "a freckled witch's cub ". -born - not honored with a human form” (Shakespeare 1.2.284-285). Twelve years later, “by chance, the strangest, most generous Fortune, . . . my [Prospero's] enemies have been brought to this shore” (Shakespeare 1.2.178-180), and thanks to Prospero's magic they are shipwrecked on the island. The rest of the play tells of Miranda's arranged coupling with the king's son, Ferdinand, Prospero regaining his title and position, and the intrigues and betrayal of... middle of paper... are very few examples of this type and have no significant impact on the work. Overall, the benefits of making a female duke a more realistic and likable character far outweigh any minor issues or inconsistencies. To use a variation of Shakespeare's words from another famous play, Prospera, your role is [a] woman! Works Cited Damrosch, David and David L. Pike. The Longman anthology of world literature. Compact ed. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2008. Print.Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Longman anthology of world literature. Compact ed. Ed. David Damrosch and David L. Pike. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2008. 1667-1720. Print.The Tempest. Directed by Julie Taymor. Perf. Helen Mirren, Felicity Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Ben Whishaw, Reeve Carney, David Strathairn, Tom Conti, Alfred Molina, Russell Brand, Alan Cumming and Chris Cooper. Touchstone Pictures, 2010. DVD.