Miss

“The true savages of the play are these who would see themselves as the most civilised.”
By exploring Shakespeare’s presentation of the relationship between nature and nurture in The Tempest so far, evaluate this view.

The characterisation in The Tempest is used to present a relationship between innate benevolence and artificial nurturing. This can be directly linked to his agreements and critiques of Montaignei and his thinking. Shakespeare presents several characters who enact a savage-like role and several who enact civilisation in a variety of ways. However, it is far more complex than a single character being civilised or savagery: Shakespeare uses different situations to bring out different degrees of savagery and civilisation within each character of the play. Shakespeare uses the characters of Miranda and Ferdinand – ‘civilised’ gentries, and presents them nobly and compassionately: both through the nurture of their loving fathers. Shakespeare presents Miranda as a compassionate “creature” from the moment she is on scene. In Act I, Scene ii, she demands her father “allay” the storm he is creating: suggesting she doesn’t want anyone to be hurt. At the same time these raw emotions can be seen as a symbol of her young immature emotions and naivety as she “suffered with those I saw suffer” and worries about the “poor souls”. This makes her seem to over-exaggerate as she hasn’t met the people in the tempest; on the other hand, this can show her sensitivity and empathy which is highly valued in gentry: this suggests she is reacting in the exact way necessary of a young loving caring princess. By reacting in a way that nobility should, she is showing her civility as a young lady as she can be empathetic and “suffers” with those whom she doesn’t know despite whom they are and the characteristics they behold. This directly contradicts the view that the ‘true savage’ is in the ‘most civilised’ as she is clearly acting highly and civilised – despite not