The Tempest is a play that explores many themes, one of which is the theme of freedom versus control. We can explore this theme by examining the characters in the play. Throughout the play there are countless examples of power and authority through control, and the desire for freedom echoing strongly along with this is emphasised in many of the characters. All the characters in the play suffer some sort of incarceration before they are free.

For a start, the characters in The Tempest are all on an island of which they have no control over. Prospero and Miranda are exiled there after Antonio usurps his position of Duke of Milan; thus they both suffer a lack of control in their lives. Prospero, in fact, although yearning for control himself, reigns superior over many of the characters. One of these characters is his servant, Ariel, who he freed from Sycorax after she was imprisoned in a tree for twelve years. Ariel has to suffer harsh punishment when she so much as complains of her unfair treatment to Prospero (Act 1, Scene 2):

If thou more murmur'st, I will rent an oak

And peg thee in his knotty entrails till

Shalt have the air at freedom. For a little Follow, and do me service.

All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues

His spirits hear me ....sometime am I

I would with such perfection govern, sir T'Excel the Golden Age.

Other characters in The Tempest, too, are driven into close insanity. Caliban also proposes a murderous plot to kill Prospero. Stephano agrees and says that he will make Trincolo and Caliban his deputies. But Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban are haunted by Prospero's spirits. Caliban complains in Act 2 Scene 2 how he is tormented by Prospero's spirits:

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Approximate Word count = 1340
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)