In this essay I am going to be exploring power and control through language structure and characterization in the two books ‘The Tempest’ by Shakespeare and ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley. Power is the ability to influence others in a huge way to enable them to do something or act in a certain way. Control is when you have the ability to influence others in a huge way and enable them to do what you want them to do. The Tempest begins on a boat with Alonso (the king of Naples) and his entourage. The boat is being swung around in the storm. The storm is caused by one of the main characters, Prospero. Power and Control is mainly explored through a character called Prospero who was meant to be the Duke of Milan. Instead Prospero studies magic through his books and puts his work as Duke of Milan behind him. His younger brother Antonio steals the title of Duke of Milan from him and is now seeking revenge on him using his two slaves, Ariel and Caliban. Power and control is explored in very different ways through Prospero’s slaves, Ariel and Caliban. The book Frankenstein is about a doctor called Victor Frankenstein. He doesn’t agree with nature so he tries to manipulate nature by creating life. He does this by obtaining body parts from dead people and attaching the body parts together. He then uses his knowledge of science to bring the body to life. After he manages to do this, Frankenstein notices that he’s created a monster and wants nothing to do with it so he decides to abandon it. The monster then seeks revenge on Victor Frankenstein and does everything in its power to destroy Victor’s life. He does this by killing everyone Victor loves (family and friends). Power and control is explored through Victor and his monster. Both books are similar in both context and events but were written in different times and were influenced to write the book by different people. Many times in this book, you see that both the monster and Victor fights for Power and control by trying to take control of their situation. Mary Shelley was deeply influenced and inspired by Lord Byron. Lord Byron suggested that everyone write a ghost story. Frankenstein is based on Mary Shelley’s experience in Switzerland. A lot of the settings in the book ‘Frankenstein’ is based on her own life, things she saw in the news and interesting things. The creation of the book happened through a series of events. There was a thunderstorm the continued for days and lead Mary Shelley, his husband and all their friends to stay indoors. Lord Byron wanted everyone to tell a ghost story. At the time Mary Shelley wasn’t prepared but wanted to write about the mysterious fears of nature and arouse a stimulating horror. The tempest was based on an English fleet crashing into an island due to a tempest. At the time everybody knew about this and it was the root of conversation. Shakespeare was majorly influenced by this and wrote the play “the Tempest”.
In act 1 Scene 1 of the Tempest, there is a big disruption of hierarchy. The Boatswain has power and control over the rest of the crew mates. This is because he is the most experienced person on the ship and is in charge of the ship. He has authority and the ability to speak anyway he likes to the crew mates because of this. In different circumstances, Boatswain would not be able to speak to the shipmates like this because of their status. He would not be able to tell Alonso (King of Naples) or Antonio (Duke of Milan) what to do or how to act. They are at the top in terms of hierarchy than the Boatswain. The only reason he’s able to speak to the important shipmates however he likes is because he is the ships officer; in charge of the equipment and the crew mates. The boatswain’s position on the boat allows him to exploit power and control on the ship and also allows him to have a major influence over the crew mates. Boatswain demands for respect. He does this by speaking boldly and confidently towards the very high status’ people in the ship. He makes them aware of his position on the ship and lets them know that he isn’t afraid of speaking up and giving/instructions to people on the ship.
An example of inappropriate language towards the crew mate in act 1 scene 1 is when boatswain says “Do you not hear him? You mar our labour. Keep your cabins–you do assist the storm”. The language technique is very aggressive. This quotation shows violent language. Boatswain speaks to Antonio the Duke of Milan and the rest of the crew mates as though they are equals. Boatswain starts of by asking Antonio a rhetorical question. People usually ask others rhetorical question when they are frustrated and annoyed with something that the person has done or said. The Boatswain is annoyed at Antonio and the rest of the crew mates because they are not following his instructions. He is also slightly angry at them because of this. “You mar our labour” the boatswain tells the Antonio and his companions that he is in the way of the boatswain and mariners work. They are ruining the hard work being done by the mariners. The Boatswain then goes on to instruct the crew mates to “keep their cabins”. He does this because he believes that it is the best and most sensible thing to do in order to ensure their safety. In a different situation, the boatswain would have no power over anybody on the ship and would be unable to give orders. “You do assist the storm”. This is a case of pathetic fallacy because the storm is violent and strong in its nature as is the boatswain by telling his shipmates that they assist the storm in such a violent manner. He tells Antonio and companions by not following his instructions and ruining the hard work being done that they are assisting the storm. This language structure is very strong and effective as we can infer that the boatswain is saying that the crew mates are helping the storm out by not listening to given orders and getting in the way of the mariners. He uses his position on the ship to be able influence the crew mates to do whatever he wants using power and control.
In chapter 2 of Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is a spectator to the injurious power of nature itself. He witnesses the wrath of the lightening take down a tree during a dreadful storm. Victor Frankenstein was astonished by the power of lightening and wanted to acquire such power. “The thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various quarters of heavens. I remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight”, this experience activated Victors thirst for knowledge. He had friends who knew more of this power, became their disciple and learned that it was the power of electricity that took down the tree. He was then inspired to use the power of electricity to create life instead of destroying life. “To an eager to learn…possessed attraction for me”. Victor Frankenstein now set his goal on creating life and was “eager to learn”. He wants to be able to control nature and defy the laws of physics and play God by creating life. During this lightening scene, he was angry at nature but was also calm at the same time. The fact that he is angry and calm at the same time reflects on his character, then you’re able to see Victor’s conflicts. This shows that he struggles to gain power and control. “the mysterious soul of man that occupied me”. Victor believes that a “mysterious soul” had power over him because he did not know why Mary Shelley suggests that Victor wants power over nature. He wants to be able to control the link between life and death. At this time, Shelley may have been influenced to write about electricity creating life. The Aldini experiment is when a doctor called Giovanni Aldini managed to get hold of a dead body and uses electricity to make certain parts of the dead body move. To do this he used galvanism, he made muscles move with electric currents. Shelley heard about this and decided to use that idea to bring Frankenstein to life (using electric currents).
In Act 1 Scene 2 of The Tempest. Prospero is speaking to his daughter Miranda about the storm. Why he sent Ariel to m .”.”.”.” create the storm and about what his brother done to him to cause such anger towards his younger brother Antonio. Prospero then goes on to speak to Ariel. Ariel is Prospero’s slave, he has control over Ariel and Ariel does whatever Prospero tells him to do (e.g. cause the storm). Prospero says “approach, my Ariel come”. This is a short sentence that includes imperative language, this shows his power over Ariel. Prospero demands respect from Ariel, this shows the control he has over Ariel. Prospero ordered Ariel to come to him. The words “my Ariel” shows that he controls Ariel. It means that Ariel is Prospero’s possession; Ariel belongs to Prospero. This language shows Prospero’s Power over Ariel. It tells us that Prospero has total control over Ariel. Ariel then goes on to say “All hail, great master, grave sir, hail! I come to answer thy best pleasure” Ariel tries to please his master. He does this by using an effective flattering technique – hyperbole where he exaggerates Prospero’s power and worth, for example with the words “great master” he inflates his ego, Which then shows Ariel’s submission as he is under the control of Prospero.
In Act 1 Scene 2 Prospero starts speaking to his second slave-Caliban. He treats Caliban much more differently to how he speaks to Ariel.This is because Ariel respects Prospero and is forever seeking to please his master whilst Caliban doesn’t have respect for Prospero and isn’t afraid of the power she has over him. Prospero says “Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself. Upon thy wicked dam, come forth”. From this we can infer that Prospero has some sort of anger towards Caliban because he uses violent language for example “poisonous slave”, the word poisonous is an adjective and it suggests that Caliban has no right of freedom because he is a slave. Also that hes being used for forced labour. I can also infer that the word poisonous could mean hes a threat to Prospero. Rebellion. Its implying that his uncivilized nature is infectious. The phrase “come forth” is a command, again this is aggressive language and Prospero tries to intimidate Caliban by insulting him and showing no sign of fear towards him. Caliban begins to curse Prospero by saying “As wicked dew…brushed with ravens feather…blister you all o’e!” The fact that Caliban dares to insult his superior shows the absence of control because Caliban does not fear and respect Prospero. Morning dew was thought to be unhealthy and used in magic potions; Caliban wishes this upon his master Prospero. The raven bird is often associated with witchcraft. This shows that there is a lack of power and control because Prospero cannot control his slave Caliban and Caliban is able to disrespect his master, Caliban is not intimidated by Prospero at all.
In Chapter 5 of Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein gets caught up in his emotions and runs away from his creation. “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe”. This is emotive language for example the word “catastrophe”, the fact that his creation has come to life has inflicted a sudden pain and suffering to Victor himself. Victor feels like he has no power over the situation, he feels like hes lost control of his physical and mental state. He is unable to control his emotions. Victor feels that the birth of his creation was a disaster and is instantaneously regretting creating the monster. He wanted to create something beautiful and magnificent but he ended up creating a horrific monster who he ran away from at first sight. “Unable to endure the aspect of the being i had created” from this we can infer that Victor is going through a stage of suffering, he has to suffer patiently in pain. Victor cannot comprehend what is going on. He’s completely disgusted by the sight of the monster.
In Chapter 9/10 of Frankenstein, Victor attempts to regain power and control over the situation of the monster. “The valley is more wonderful and sublime”, sublime is when you see or experience something so beautiful that words cannot explain it. He tries to regain control over his emotional and mental state by going to the Swiss Alps. Victor goes to the valley of Chamounix to recover his sense. He feels at peace when he’s in the sublime and he feels like he’s able to escape reality. “Scenes afforded the greatest consolation”, the setting of the scene allowed Victor to be at ease and escape reality. Victor is able to receive comfort after a loss. He’s able to gain control of his mental state and emotions.
In Chapter 20 of Frankenstein, Victor starts making the female creature that Frankenstein’s monster had demanded and then stops during the creation of the monster.”Tore to pieces the thing on which i was engaged. The wretch saw me destroy the creature”. Victor does this to try and regain control of the situation. Previously Frankenstein’s monster had power of Victor because he was able to influence Victor into making a female Monster. This is because Frankenstein’s monster intimidates and threatens Frankenstein into doing this. Frankenstein’s monster decides to retaliate by killing his wife on his wedding day. By doing this he once again gains power and control over the situation. Frankenstein’s monster has successfully killed everybody Frankenstein is close to and loves.
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