Timmy's Essay 10

Timmy O’Brien
English 9
Mr. Salsich
12 January 2009

An Unwelcome Truth:

An Interpretation of a Passage from The Tempest by William Shakespeare

        During this passage, Prospero seems to keep to the theme of truth. So far, he has kept Miranda in the dark regarding her previous life. She has just thought that her father was an ordinary man, albeit a sorcerer, but now she learns the truth. She learns of the conflict that as kept her on that island. He decides it is time because she watches a boat fall prey to the storm he has conjured. She is distraught because of the deaths, but is eventually calmed down. Prospero tells her that the men and women on that ship – namely the King of Naples and Antonio, are alive and well but no longer living of their own free will. Prospero tells her that her uncle “call’d Antonio” was a “perfidious” man. She is told how he took over the dukedom from Prospero, and how Prospero “cast [the government] upon [his] brother”. She is finally able to see her father in his true colors – studious, naïve, and somewhat bent on revenge. Through this passage, Miranda is both enlightened and burdened by the new truths from her father.