How Powerful Is Choice?

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How Powerful is Choice? Choice is a remarkable part of everyday life. It is used in every part of life in any situation, big or small. Two different choices can both have drastic effects on lives. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the power of choice is shown. The choices one makes can have a huge effect on the eventual quality of life for that person. This is proven through the characters Prospero, Caliban, and Antonio. Prospero is the ruler of the island where the play takes place. He demonstrates how different types of choices can lead to different types of feelings or situations. Prospero used to be the Duke of Milan but as the unknown writer of the essay The Tempest says, “Prospero, Duke of Milan, devoted himself to the study of magical arts… and so neglected the affairs of Milan” (http://elvis.rowan.edu). Prospero makes the very poor choice of abandoning his responsibilities as a duke and in doing so will eventually have his power usurped. The second choice that Prospero makes is one that leaves him on a deserted island with just his daughter. As Prospero explains the story of how they got to the island to his daughter he says, “My brother… and to him put the manage of my state” (1.2.66-70). Prospero laments how he made the poor choice of giving all of his power to his brother, thinking that he could trust him. The brother eventually got greedy because he had received too much power at one time and banished Prospero and his daughter off to some island. But not all of Prospero’s choices end in the desertion of a family member. When he tries to see if Ferdinand will be a good match for his daughter, Miranda, as a husband, Prospero makes the choice to test Ferdinand’s love. Prospero makes him do slave work to see if Ferdinand truly loves Miranda. Eventually, Ferdinand has gone through enough testing and Prospero makes his decision. Prospero says, “Fair

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