The Tempest Act 1

Prospero is the protagonist in The Tempest, he is also the father of Miranda. He is able to manipulate the other characters in the play by constructing historical narratives. One of example if this is when he tells his daughter “here in this island we arrived, and here have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit than other princesses can that have more time for vainer hours and tutors not so careful.” In basic English this quote means that Prospero acted as his daughter’s teacher when he brought her to the island and gave her a better education than any other princess. He is able to control her because he makes himself seem like he truly cares about her. Although he does not really care about her at all he just wants to have power over her. Prospero also tell stories in such a way to make other people look bad, he tells his daughter “whereon, a treacherous army levied, one midnight fated to th’ purpose did Antonio open the gates of Milan, and, i’ th’ dead of darkness, the ministers for th’ purpose hurried thence me and thy crying self.”                This is yet another example of Prospero makes up a story to make himself look better so that he can have more power. He is successful in controlling his daughter through these lies because she is not able to remember what truly happened. By telling this story he is able to change Miranda’s opinion of Antonio. Most of the methods that Prospero uses to manipulate the people in the play are also seen on Orwell’s 1984. He changes the past in order to control the future just like the government does in the book. In both the play and the book the residents are given false information so that they are more easily controlled.