Feminism in William Shakespeare's The Tempest Essay Example

“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of men and women” (Gloria Steinem). Feminism is the idea that women deserve to be treated fairly and have their own respective rights. Different pieces of literature use feminism as a way to push this idea by including a female character within the book. These female characters go through situations where they are oppressed and treated unfairly by men as a result of their gender. Ideas that fall under the feminist lens are the male gaze, patriarchy, and how differently males and females are portrayed. The male characters are more powerful and have complete control over the women. The Tempest is an integrated product of feminism where the female character is taken advantage of by certain male counterpart characters and build relationships with other male characters, mixed in with comedy-based Shakespeare literature. William Shakespeare, the author of The Tempest, is able to utilize elements of the feminist lens through moments in the book where characters are building relationships like Miranda and Ferdinand, patriarchy is present with the protagonist, Prospero, and, the oppression female characters experience from powerful men. Through this amalgamation of the elements with the feminist lens and Shakespeare's literature, Shakespeare is able to create a narrative on the experiences certain characters have based on their gender to produce an award-winning novel that can be viewed through the feminist lens known as, The Tempest.

To dive deeper into this idea, Shakespeare uses elements of the feminist lens to build the story of the protagonist’s daughter, Miranda. Prospero is a powerful man who used to be the dukedom of Milan until Alonso took his throne.  Prospero has a teenage daughter by the name of Miranda who is known to be introverted. She hasn’t interacted with any male characters other than her father and is somewhat lonely except for Caliban. Her interaction with Caliban was extremely negative as he tried to violate her honor which led to Miranda separating herself from men. This all changed when she met Ferdinand for the first time. Miranda and Ferdinand ran into each other and immediately fell in love. This was a special moment as this was the first guy she met and fell in love with. Miranda describes the moment as, “Ferdinand [seeing Miranda] Most sure, the goddess May know if you remain upon this island, And that you will give some good instruction give How I may bear me here. My prime request, Which I do last pronounce, is--O you wonder!- if you be maid or so ”(1.2. 505-511). This interaction between Miranda and Ferdinand points to the idea of relationships between men and women that falls under the feminist lens. This relationship is key in the book as it unlocks a new part of Miranda’s life and helps build the contrast between the male characters themselves. It shows that some males treat women differently as Ferdinand treats Miranda fairly and is very sincere towards Prospero’s daughter. He respects Miranda and didn’t even care to ask about her social class or financial situation since he fell in love with her personality. On the other hand, characters like Caliban, view Miranda as a powerless person and try to take advantage of her. He had a goal of having more people like him on the island and he viewed Miranda as an opportunity to accomplish his goal. This increases the hatred for Caliban as someone who is evil and disrespectful to females based on their gender. With the use of feminism and the element of male and female relationships between Ferdinand and Miranda, Shakespeare is able to build Miranda’s character throughout the book and the perception of two male characters, Caliban and Ferdinand.  This relationship is also used to build patriarchy with the protagonist, Prospero. A Patriarchy is a system where the male is in control over the female and the female has no chance to gain control. Prospero uses this system to have a say in his daughter’s next step. Prospero, being her father, wasn’t in favor of the idea that Miranda was taking the next leap in her life. After a while, Prospero let Ferdinand into Miranda’s life but with control of the relationship. In Prospero’s mind, the most important thing about Miranda’s relationship was her virginity or as he knew it, her honor. Prospero viewed Miranda’s virginity as a symbol of self-respect and if she were to lose her virginity before marriage, she would have lost her honor and respect. After agreeing to get married to each other, Miranda and Ferdinand chose to hold a Masque to celebrate. However, Prospero used this to his advantage as a way to push his idea by having Iris say, “Some wanton charm upon this man and maid, Whose vows are that no bed-right shall be paid Till Hymen's torch be lighted--but in vain”(4.1.106-109). Building on this piece of evidence, it is clear that Prospero is using Miranda’s virginity as a way to hold something over her and be the authoritative figure in that relationship. Miranda is a teenager that should be able to make her own decision but due to the existence of the patriarchy, Prospero is making decisions that relate to Miranda’s personal life. Shakespeare clearly does not have any other male characters in the book experience someone making decisions for them because it was based on gender and it was the females that were being controlled. Miranda was the only female character throughout the book so she is the one that is seen going through oppression from males in her life and being controlled by others. This decreases Miranda’s social status as she is not a free woman and is unable to do things on her own. Prospero finds another way to take control of Miranda which is his spell book. Even though Prospero isn’t the ruler of the land anymore, he still possesses the most power out of anyone on the island with the power that comes with his spell book and his spirit, Ariel. Prospeor has a spirit by the name of Ariel, who is able to help Prospero with all of his missions and keep his secrets. Ariel has been along Prospero’s side as Prospero is trying to reclaim his throne. Ariel and Prospero’s spell book come into full effect when Prospero has a sit down conversation with Miranda about his past and the parts of his life that led up to him losing his dukedom. After explaining the backstory to Miranda, Prospero feels the need to get secret information off of his chest and decides to put his spell book into full effect on Miranda."