Prospera vs. Prospero

In the Disney movie adaptation of The Tempest, Prospero is replaced by a woman, Prospera. For my school of literary criticism, I studied the feminist approach and examined Prospero, the most powerful character in the play, and his relationship with the other characters in the play, specifically Ariel and Miranda. Prospero becoming Prospera changes my approach and lense of the movie through the feminist approach. First, the argument of a patriarchal society being reflected within the Prospero's manipulative and controlling position between Ariel, Caliban, and Miranda is not valid. A patriarchal society is when men are predominately in power positions, but in the movie a woman, for once, is finally put in the ultimate power position. However, Prospera's actions do not suddenly become ethical just because of her gender. For example, putting Miranda to sleep, manipulating her marriage to Ferdinand, and the enslavement of Caliban and Ariel. The actual story and plot do not change just because of this gender change: Prospera and Miranda have the same relationship. So far in the movie, no significant changes have occurred due to the gender swap. While the change of Prospero to Prospera seems like there should be major changes, there are not.

Comments

  1. s18cmcneilNovember 2, 2017 at 10:13 AM

    Camille, I like your approach to the change in Prospero to Prospera. I think that in looking at the play from a Shakespearian view, it makes sense that Prospero is a man as the hierarchy of Europe at the time of Shakespeare was primarily male dominated. When the movie changed the gender of Prospero to a woman, I think that it decreased the historical accuracy of the play since at the time, women were not considered to possess the same power and authority as men did.

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