Miranda In The Tempest

In the Middle Ages, women were not allowed to be defined outside of their husbands or their fathers. In the Renaissance, a queen is in charge of Britain and women are finally allowed to be self-defined. Many possibilities are opened up to women because life does not revolve around the brothership of man. Men, however, still think that they are superior and have power over women, and they do not like women thinking for themselves. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Prospero wants to have power over his daughter Miranda, but realizes that he can no longer dictate what Miranda thinks and feels by simply telling her to think and feel a certain way. By using magic, he feels like he can control her completely, but Miranda’s mind is never controlled by Prospero. Shakespeare uses the power
This mirrors how in Shakespeare’s time, women were starting to become people outside of the men in their lives. The battle for self-definition that women at that time were fighting is shown in the relationship between Miranda and Prospero. Prospero wants to keep control of Miranda, not only her actions but also her thoughts. This is exactly how men at that time felt about women. The women of that time, like Miranda, were breaking out of medieval standards and becoming self-defined. The men were not ready to accept it so they held on to false power for as long as they could, just as Prospero’s magic lets him feel like he has control over Miranda. Once his power fades, however, it is impossible to deny that Miranda has become her own person, defined by her thoughts and feelings rather than the thoughts placed in her head by Prospero. Shakespeare uses the power dynamic between Miranda and Prospero to demonstrates the way men felt superior to women in Elizabethan times and shows that men believed they had power over women even when the women were becoming self