The Tempest- Act 1

Prospero manipulates his past history so that the wrongs that were done against him seem outrages. He exaggerates his story to his daughter to get her sympathy from her. He refers to his brother by saying, “that a brother should be so perfidious!” Acting disgusted by his brother’s antics. He then goes on to say that he gave his undying trust to his brother, “As my trust was, which had indeed no limit, a confidence sans bound.” He paints him self in the light that he didn’t possibly do anything wrong and that his good intentions were turned against him by his brother. By getting the sympathy from his daughter he can control her and how she views him. He uses this same type of technique with Ariel and Caliban. When Ariel tries to ask about her freedom, Prospero gets angry and uses the guilt from her past to persuade her that he is doing a honorable thing by “helping” her out. He emphasizes on how bad her treatment was by saying, “To lay upon the damned, which Sycorax could not again undo. It was mine art”. He explains how he was the only one that could free her. By reminding Ariel how terrible her torture was, and by showing how kind it was that he saved her, he is able to get Ariel to be submissive and to obey his orders. Prospero treats Caliban harshly. He constantly reminds Caliban who his mother is “Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself upon thy wicked dam, come forth!” By Prospero doing this it’s like he is reminding Caliban constantly how low of a “class” Caliban is in, and how honored he should be to be in front of Prospero. He also guilt’s Prospero in reminding how generous he was to the boy when he first arrived and how Caliban took advantage of that and tried to rape Miranda. Prospero manipulates the people around him by making them feel like they owe Prospero in some way. He often embellishes his stories to enhance his control over the people around him.