Tempest Essay, Research Paper

How was Prospero a Renaissance ruler?

Based on Prospero’s leadership traits, Shakespeare presents him as the ideal Renaissance ruler. He values learning as do most Renaissance rulers, stating that his library was dukedom enough. Also, like many Renaissance rulers Prospero was very smart and clever while he was in his dukedom in Milan. As with all Renaissance rulers, Prospero uses violence and the threat of violence to control his subjects, his subjects being Ariel and Caliban.

Prospero valued his learning and books very much. For a while he believed that just having his books were all that he needed. He loved the knowledge he got out of his books. While he was supposed to be duke all he did was stay in his library and study. So he turned the dukedom over to his brother for a little while. Only so he could gain more knowledge for the city. He never left his library all he did was stay there and study and read. His servant Gonzalo got everything that prospero needed. Like his food and books,things like that. Prosperos need to learn as much as he could made him a very wise man.

Another thing that made Prospero a renaissance ruler was his magic. Not only was he smart but he studied magic and could do amazing things that not average people could not do. Prospero was a very powerful magician. He studied from many magic books, learned and gained great powers. His powers were very impressive. Not only could he cause storms but he could make the dead come back to life which is a very impressive thing. Basically he could do almost everything he wanted to with magic. Prosperos magic meant a lot to him. He studied and put a lot of effort into it.

For Prospero to keep control of his subjects he would use the threat of violence or sometimes violence to keep them loyal and in line. He used that with Ariel and Caliban except he used to different things for both of them. With Ariel he only had to use the threat of violence but with Caliban he used violence. Prospero did not do it because he was a cruel person he did it because he had to keep control of them some how. They had to know that he was in charge of them. By showing them that he had power they would also stay loyal to him. A good strong ruler would do this so his subjects knew he wasn’t afraid of them or be afraid of the people hating him.

Not only did Prospero do all these things he also was a loving father to his daughter Miranda. Even though he was busy with all the things he was doing Prospero never neglected his daughter. The whole time he remained a loving caring parent to her. With his magic he also tried to make things best for her. He made sure she was happy all the time.He balanced everything very well with her and he never let anything come in place of her.

While Prospero was duke of Milan he did a good job. He was’t just a careless ruler who only cared about himself. Most likely he paid a lot of attention to the people and most of them must have liked having him as a ruler. Prospero cared a lot about the city of Milan. He tried to make the right decisions with everything he did for the city and people. So when he handed the dukedom over to Antonio he thought it was the best thing he could do for his people and city while he was gaining more knowledge and power. Little did he know that Antonio would just try to over rule him and not give him his dukedom back. That was probably the biggest mistake that prospero made. He did fix it though in the end. There was no way he would let his people down like that and he didn’t. Also he sacrificed something that meant a lot to him for his people and city which showed he was not a selfish person.

A true Renaissance man/ruler was a person who was very talented and could do many different things. Prospero was very much so a Renaissance ruler. He was not just a ruler,he was much more then that. He cared for his people and city and did more things then just rule his city. Prospero was a ruler, a magician, a father, and a very enthused learner. Even while he was ruling he tried to balance everything as well as he could and for the most part he did do it. Prospero seemed to be a successful renaissance ruler.

In a way it seemed that Prospero strived on being a Renaissance ruler by all the things he did. He did many things that most good Renaissance rulers did. He strived on learning and was smart and clever. Not only that but he was a magician and practiced magic. Also he was very successful with his magic too. With his subjects he showed great power by using violence. But he did not seem cruel to them or his people it was just how he kept them in line. Prospero all in all was a ideal Renaissance ruler of his time.