The Tempest, Act 1

This week, we started officially studying and reading the Tempest by William Shakespeare. After reading the first act, I noticed several things about the main theme of the tale. This story mainly revolves around getting and maintaing authority through any means neccesary and the role of power in human dynamics. The beginning events of the Tempest with the ship baring important characters being shipwrecked illustrates the importance many people place on government based authority and how that when faced with natural and supernatural powers, the authority the nobles thought they had proves to be an illusion. When faced with power based in actual abillity to control worldly events, their place in society crumbles, as shown by the Bo'Sun who disregards the nobles ranks. The opposite of this is the power that Prospero wields in the play. Through mortal means, Prospero manages to assert his authority over the spirit Ariel and keeps her in servitude. By doing this he gains access to a large amount of supernatural powers with the ability to effect real life events. He does this and illustrates the relationship between authority and tangible power and the fact that authority only extends as far a people are willing to acknowledge or accept it.