The Tempest Discovery Essay

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Discovery is the act of finding or learning something for the first time and can also include rediscovering something that has been lost or forgotten. Shakespeare’s play of 1611, The Tempest and The Secret River by Kate Grenville written in 2006 presents several sudden and unexpected as well as planned discoveries in relation to the characters, the world and oneself. The social structure within the Tempest is destabilised by various discoveries due to the eponymous tempest in Act 1 which places everyone, including the audience, in Prospero’s power. This not only reveals the physical island but also the changes of the perspectives on such a social structure due to the reality of mortality viewed in Act 1 Scene 1 as Gonzalo forces the boatswain to ‘remember whom thou hast aboard,’ to whereby the boatswain replies ‘None that I love more than myself.’ Thus, the diction and careless connotation of the boatswains retort, allows the audience to discover the lack of authority as the royal court of Milan is rendered meaningless when they become shipwrecked on the island. Shakespeare, designs the island to be an allegory of the true hierarchal power which in context to the Elizabethan audience is nature as seen in Act 2 Scene 1 as Alonso, a king, relies upon nature to bring justice as he states ‘Nature should bring forth’. Such representations of power has enabled myself to discover that it is our relationships which provides meaning to life. The perspectives of power is further altered and discovered as the comedy within the play is largely based from the characters unwillingness to concede to the unimportance of their hierarchal positions on the island. Such can be viewed in Act 2 scene 1 as Ferdinand, through the use of third person, identifies himself with his kingdom ‘I am the best of them…/Myself and Naples’ when he first meets Miranda. However, the audience discovers
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