Lost Illusions, Bitter Wisdom and Fragile Hope in The...

Lost Illusions, Bitter Wisdom and Fragile Hope in The Tempest Is Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, a drama of lost illusions, bitter wisdom and fragile hope? Before this question can be considered, one first has to interpret these terms. Perhaps bitter wisdom and fragile hope are fairly simple concepts to understand, lost illusions is somewhat less clear, particularly in the case of The Tempest. There are three main interpretations of lost illusions that could be made. The first is that of a revelation of the mind; the discarding of an illusion to reveal the truth of ones feelings. The second is similar but with a subtle difference; the lifting of an illusion to disclose the truth about something physical†¦show more content†¦Whether this be Or be not, Ill not swear. Pros. You do yet taste Some subtleties o the isle, that will not let you Believe things certain. So, lost illusions play a very important part in the play. However, to determine the validity of of the entire title, it is necessary to examine several of the main characters individually. As mentioned above, Prospero loses several illusions during the course of the play. Most obviously, he loses his Art of illusions. However, he also realises that his life requires change; this is his bitter wisdom, as he reluctantly accepts that he must leave everything behind and return to Milan. Prospero displays a particularly fragile hope - he himself acknowledges that his future may not be a particularly happy one, when he states (Act V Scene I, lines 310-311): And thence retire me to my Milan, where Every third thought shall be my grave. Miranda also fits the title; more so than Prospero, in fact. Almost all her life she has lived upon the island and has little or no knowledge of the rest of the world - she has never met anybody other than Prospero, Caliban and the various spirits conjured up by Prosperos Art. Therefore, the sudden arrival of the shipwrecked passengers comes as a great surprise, causing her to shed many of the illusions built up by her imagination over the years as to what other people may be like.Show MoreRelatedMarketing Mistakes and Successes175322 Words   |  702 Pages 3 2 1 PREFACE Welcome to the 30th anniversary of Marketing Mistakes and Successes with this 11th edition. Who would have thought that interest in mistakes would be so enduring? Many of you are past users, a few even for decades. I hope you will find this new edition a worthy successor to earlier editions. I think this may even be my best book. The new Google and Starbucks cases should arouse keen student interest, and may even inspire another generation of entrepreneurs. A fair