Topic > The further theme in the character of Miranda from The Tempest

The forsaken damsel, the lonely daughter, the beautiful virgin... In The Tempest, Shakespeare depicts all these ideal constructions of femininity in his character Miranda. However, looking closely at the text reveals that Shakespeare had a subtle but clear message to send to the royal audiences of the early 17th century. By allowing Miranda to challenge the patriarchal traditions of her time in the way she speaks to her father, in her defiance of him, and in her impulsive decision to marry Ferdinand, Shakespeare develops his message of frustration with the absolutism of the monarchy. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Of all the main characters in The Tempest, Miranda stands out to say the least. While her limited amount of words may represent a weakness in her character, Miranda's sparse but skillful word choices appear to be a strategy on Shakespeare's part. By presenting her as a quiet and humble daughter, Shakespeare reveals to his audience a naive construction of femininity that would distance them from hearing Shakespeare's further themes. To discover the meaning and importance of Shakespeare's underlying message, one must look back to the period in which The Tempest was written. The respected reign of Elizabeth I had recently ended. His successor, James I, began to rule very differently from Elizabeth; Elizabeth recognized the power of her subjects, James' ideas of absolute power placed him in the upper class and allowed him to do as he pleased. This made his reign very controversial and led to him being disliked by many religious groups. When James ascended the throne, his family became financial supporters of London's theaters, including Shakespeare's company. Shakespeare's actors regularly performed for the royal family, and this is where the subtlety of Miranda's character becomes so vital. Obviously, Shakespeare disagreed with the way James ruled post-Elizabethan England. The fact that Miranda is a lone female character in a play where she challenges a level of patriarchy similar to the way the current king rules his country is no coincidence. William Shakespeare is sending a direct message to the King of England that he doesn't agree with the way he rules. Basically, Shakespeare wrote the character Miranda to parallel Elizabeth's reign and clash with James' reign. Most audiences would never hear this message, which would obviously be to Shakespeare's advantage because any playwright who offended the crown could be sent to prison. Shakespeare was, in his own way, deceiving the man who had the most power in England, second only to God. Shakespeare begins this thematic protest at the very beginning of the play. He describes Miranda's limited and sympathy-filled life at the beginning of the first scene, and quickly counters it with his response to the storm brewing on the sea: "If by your art, my dearest father, you have put the wild waters in this roar, calm them” (Shakespeare 6) Since The Tempest was written in 1610, the image of women it presents is very different from the average 21st century woman. essayist Richard Steele described women as “…Daughter[s], sister[s], wife[s], and mother[s], mere appendage[s] of the human race” (Davis 15 Of course, individuality was frowned upon, as is speaking against one's father or husband, even though Prospero has absolute power to control the island and the storm, Miranda, 1965.