Prospero: Enlightened and Benign Magician or Tyrranical and Cruel Sorceror.

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PROSPERO: ENLIGHTENED AND BENIGN MAGICIAN OR TYRRANICAL AND CRUEL SORCEROR. Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, who with his young daughter, Miranda, was put to sea on "a rotten carcass of a butt" to die by his usurping brother, Antonio. He is the protagonist and key figure in the play. It is due to Prospero's role as a key figure in the play that has put him under so much scrutiny. Many different Shakespearean critics have their own view of Prospero and those that read or see the play also have their own opinion of the way in which Prospero may be seen. He is a very well read man. When he was the Duek of Milan, he had libraries filled with books in which he locked himself up. This is what enabled his brother Antonio to usurp his dukedom from him. He was powerful and well versed in this art and with the help of his trusted servant, Ariel, he brings the inhabitants of the ship onto the island. Some critics see Prospero as nothing but a bitter tyrant because of the way he treats his three servants, Ariel, Caliban and Miranda. Caliban is a figure who can be read as the main victim of Prospero's tyranny. When Caliban declares, "This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother", we're reminded that Prospero basically took over the island and made Caliban his slave. He lords his authority over Caliban because he knows he is more powerful and forces Caliban to do his bidding. It is possible that Caliban's name may be a play on the Romany word "Cauliban," which means "black" or something associated with blackness. Caliban can be said to be a symbolic representation of what happened to victims of European colonization in the centuries after Shakespeare wrote The Tempest and Prospero can be likened to the Colonial masters who took over the indigenous lands and imprisoned the natives. In the play, we are reminded that when they
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