Stuff - Literature Essay Samples

The epilogue of Shakespeares The Tempest, while separate from the body of work preceding it due to the nature of an epilogue, it is an integral part of the work. It provides resolution to an otherwise unresolved piece, and the piece actually prepares for the epilogue by mirroring it throughout the play.Throughout the play, themes of power and magic develop, complementing each other so that ultimately, the nature of Prosperos power can be either revered, or reduced to smoke and mirrors. Prosperos power to administer pain gives him control over Ariel and Caliban. However, with many of the other characters, control is gained by illusions sometimes pleasant, and sometimes upsetting. Prospero makes Ferdinand follows Ariels musics sweet air, but he confounds Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo by adding a faceless voice, which disturbs them, and makes them quarrel. Prospero doesnt actually make anyone do anything; he appeals to their senses in either a positive or negative way, and their resp onse to these sensations brings about an action Prospero required. However, by the plays end, it is never resolved whether Prospero had any real power, or was simply manipulative enough to get what he wanted. This will be resolved in the epilogue.The epilogue is a monologue delivered by Prospero. The play is over in the sense that no more action is to be taken by the characters. However, the play is not really over at all. Prosperos still there rather than a closed curtain. He has stepped out of the completed play. His character is greatly changed though. Prospero was an omnipotent character who brought about everything in the play. Now that the play is over, and everyone is gone, there seems to be nothing left for Prospero to control, leaving him powerless. Yet he claims to still have some faint power of his own. If power requires someone to have power over, then someone besides the other characters is subordinate to Prospero. This can only be the audience. He continues by making a plea, asking that the audience applaud the play, sending him back to Naples, and he says that if we dont, he will remain trapped on his island.As mentioned above, the epilogue is mirrored in the play, and through comparing this mirroring in Act IV, Scene I, it is easier to determine the purpose of the epilogue, and to answer the question of Prosperos power.Prospero brings spirits to act in a sort of play for Ferdinand and Miranda. When Ferdinand begins to speak, Prospero tells him to be silent or [his] spell is marred (line 127.) What is most important in this comparison of the mini-play of Act IV Scene I to the large play of the pre-epilogue Tempest is found at the end of the mini-play. Prospero tells Ferdinand that these actors were spirits, which melted into thin air, (147-149) and he continues to compare these actors to the world (it is important to note that their world is their own literary world, as this is the only world they have access to), and finally to themselves: We a re such stuff as dreams are made on (155-156.)Prospero has also created a larger play, The Tempest. This is why Prospero, in his play, refers to the nature of their world, and themselves as stuff dreams are made on. The spirits in the mini-play are same stuff as the characters in The Tempest, including Prospero. This confines The Tempest to the same rules as the mini-play, and consequently our attention to the play sustains the characters existence. The audiences response to the play determines Prosperos very existence. What Prospero gives the audience to sense may be ignored or imagined (dreamed;) if we ignore it, it simply fails to exist.Returning to Prosperos plea, the island and Naples are simply icons. Having reached this point in the play, we have already allowed Prospero to exist on his island. He says that if we applaud his play, he will go to Naples. We can imagine him returning to Naples because the play was moving in this direction when it ended, but this requires the aud iences imagination, and if the play isnt given a second thought, then Prospero would never leave the island.So where is Prosperos faint power if everything down to his very existence relies on the audience? Like Ferdinand, the audience is witnessing mere illusions. All throughout the play, Prospero has wielded a great deal of power simply by appealing to other characters senses, and now, it is clear that he has been doing the same to the audience. While this gives him no direct power to make the audience do anything, if he has succeeded, then the audience will applaud, and Prospero will have made the audience applaud, the way he made all of the other characters act.The epilogue drastically changes the nature of The Tempest by making it all another of Prosperos illusions, and by showing the power of Prospero for the sort of stuff it is. Every exhibition of Prosperos power pointed to this epilogue. The first time we imagined that there was anything actually happening or existing that there was a man addressing a boatswain we were under Prosperos power in the same way that the characters of the pre-epilogue Tempest are. The epilogue also brings closure to the play by letting the audience answer the question of Prosperos power, allowing the audience to choose to be controlled or not. The entire play is thus redefined and resolved in the epilogue.