The Tempest Act I

Prospero creates his own version of the past to influence the thoughts of Miranda, Ariel, and Caliban. When he finally tells Miranda about her origins, he presents himself as the rightful Duke of Milan who was overthrown by his once trusted and loyal brother Antonio. He explains to her that Antonio and Alonso didn’t kill them because “they didn’t dare, because the people of Milan loved me too much“ (Shakespeare, 7).  It is when he includes the people’s love for him that Shakespeare hints at Prospero’s verbal manipulation. He also exalts himself by emphasizing his knowledge of magic and the arts to create an even more powerful figure in Miranda’s eyes.  Such manipulation is comparable to how the Party altered historical records to match its current goals.

He also molds his own image into one similar to Big Brother’s. Prospero manages to do this by forcibly reminding her that it was he who saved her from imprisonment in a hollow pine tree. It was his magic that made the “pine tree open and let [her] out” (13). He does the same thing as the Party by keeping him oppressed and preventing him from knowing a better life. Like the people of Oceania, Ariel feels indebted to Prospero and endures service to him.

Like the Party, Prospero controls Caliban with threats of physical torture. He keeps power over Caliban by threatening to “rack thee with old cramps, fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar that beasts shall tremble at thy din” (17).  Caliban only knows how to comply with threats of physical pain. Prospero once treated him kindly, but after attempting to rape Miranda, Caliban lost his opportunity for a normal life. He is like Winston in the fact that the worst thing, in his mind, is physical pain.