Escuela Normal Superior en Lenguas Vivas

“Sofía E. B. de Spangenberg”

Lady Macbeth’s and Miranda’s analysis as

Shakespearean characters

Teacher: Marta Costa

Course: English Literature III
Students: Loconi, Maritza
Marin, Sabrina

Date: July, 2022

 Content

Introduction..................................................................................3
Women’s role in Shakespearean Time.........................................4
Lady Macbeth...............................................................................6
Historical Context of Macbeth...................................................6
The Real Macbeth......................................................................7
Macbeth summary.....................................................................7
Analysis of Lady Macbeth..........................................................7
Miranda...................................................................................... 11
Historical Context of The Tempest..........................................11
Sources of inspiration for Prospero, the main character........11
The Tempest summary............................................................12
Analysis of Miranda.................................................................12
Conclusion...................................................................................16
Resources....................................................................................17
 Introduction

The most famous of all English playwrights was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in

1564. William’s father John was a wealthy merchant and a respectable member
of the community within the small Warwickshire town. Little is known of
William’s early life, but it is thought that he may have attended the town’s free
grammar school, learning Latin and Greek amongst many other subjects.
Shakespeare certainly started to earn his fortune between 1594 and 1598 -
William’s considerable output included six comedies, five histories as well as
the tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Despite buying his house in Stratford, William
continued to spend most of his time in London. It was about this time that he
became a partner in the new Globe Theatre on Bankside just south of the
Thames. This proved to be a risky but extremely successful investment.

Shakespeare’s works have strong themes that run through each piece. And
again, these themes are still relevant today – love, death, ambition, power, fate,
free will, just to name a few. So Shakespeare’s works are timeless and
universal. His plays were written a long time ago, true, but they are based on
his view of life as a whole. They are not just reflections of his own life within the
confines of his own times.

Of course, social factors did have some influence. One integral element to
Shakespeare’s plays are the female characters. Often central to the plot, they
can be characterised by their refusal to accept or submit to the traditional roles
women played at the time they are set. The central female characters of some
Shakespeare’s most famous plays can definitely be described as strong-willed,
independent and influential.

Surely, Shakespeare wrote for an English stage on which only males acted
(potentially limiting the number of female characters he might cast), and he
wrote for the tastes of audiences keen for stories ranging across a male-
centered vision of human experience, rather than for experiences central to
most women’s lives. Nearly all the major female characters are presented in
terms of their connections to men. For instance, Lady Macbeth character exists
and develops around Macbeth, the main character of the play. The same
happens with Miranda, Prince Prospero’s daughter, whose existence and
progression in The Tempest only occurs thanks to either Prospero or the man
she falls in love, Ferdinand.

Nonetheless, we must also highlight that women’s roles were often central to
the plot. In fact, female characters often challenged the patriarchal ideal that
women were to be seen and not heard, were submissive and subservient. This
paper will be focused on women’s role in two of his plays: Macbeth and The
Tempest. We will analyse the main female characters in both plays, Lady
Macbeth and Miranda, respectively.

Shakespeare presents such a cunning femme fatale as Lady Macbeth as the

perfect combination of ambition, intelligence and political influence. Her
manipulating her husband results in him committing murder. Although this turns
out to be her downfall, it demonstrates that Shakespeare was keen to portray
the power and influence that a strong willed central female character can have
on a storyline.

Alternatively, we also see a young woman of noble birth as Miranda, who is

presented as a naïve character but with some glimpses of passion
demonstrations throughout The Tempest. Her father sees her potential
marriage as a sacred union to gain greater wealth and power. In that sense,
Miranda functions as an important support not only for the play plot evolution
but also for the main character’s role fulfilment.

Women’s role in Shakespearean Time

Elizabethan and Jacobean England was an extremely hierarchical society for
both men and women, and life for the majority of English people was harsh by
modern middle-class standards. The period between 1200 and 1600 offered
little change for free women under English common law, which had its roots in
earlier feudal society. Under English common law during this period, once
women reached the age of majority, they held either the legal status of femme
sole (“woman alone”) or that of femme covert (“covered woman”). As a femme
sole, a woman could hold land and property, and she could sue and be sued in
her own person. As a femme covert, a married woman’s legal identity was
subsumed (literally “covered”) under that of her husband’s. Restricted by
coverture, a woman’s land and property fell under the husband’s control
(including such things as a wife’s clothing, household items, and what we would
today consider to be personal items). Furthermore, regulations increasingly
discouraged female independence. For example, in 1492, Coventry issued a
law forbidding single women under the age of forty to set up their own
households, creating an additional pressure toward marriage and preventing
women from earning their own livings.

Regarding rape, women were vulnerable because of their weakness. In this

context, the laws on rape throw further light on male attitudes. Rape was seen
in the early Middle Ages as a crime against father or husband, a violation of the
protection they exercised over their households. As marriage was a political tool
organised for financial reproductive and security purposes without any
consideration to emotional attachments, it is only clear that a rape was
immediately translated into the devaluation of a potential marriage arrangement
that will secure a better future for all.

Key determiners in medieval women’s lives involved their social class, marital
status, and age at marriage. mission before marrying if they were able to marry
at all. Marrying at a younger age was more common among the wealthy, whose
parents sought to secure economic or political advantages by linking their
children in lucrative alliances with other families. In the case of families who
held money, property, or power, medieval marriage was a socio-political
alliance between families (and sometimes, in the case of the nobility, nations).
Among the elite, parents or guardians arranged the marriage, sometimes
determining the alliance at an early age with couples betrothed in their youth or
infancy and married as adolescents. Although marriage in post-reformation
England was no longer considered a sacrament as it was among Catholics, it
continued to be viewed as a sacred and indissolvable union lasting until the
death of one or both of the couple.

Throughout this period, as they had during the Middle Ages, women continued
to be defined primarily in terms of their social standing and in terms of their
gendered relationships to men as maids (daughters to be married), wives, and
widows. Actually, Elizabeth I herself, did not advance the cause of women’s
equality. She ruled England under the concept of “the king’s two bodies”: The
“body politic” (the enduring and eternal power kings had as God’s
representatives on earth which was transferred from monarch to successive
monarch) and the “individual body” (the physical body that housed the body
politic). “In her speech to rouse the troops before the battle at Tilbury, for
example, Elizabeth claimed the following: “I know I have the body of a weak and
feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.” Elsewhere, she
defended her right and authority to rule not on her personal merits or attributes
of her female body, but rather on the masculinity of her body politic. Her refusal
to marry (which would have subordinated her as a wife to her husband and
diminished the confidence of her people in her as the nation’s highest authority,
under God alone) and the image of herself as the Virgin Queen further
enhanced her ability to distance herself from the weakness attributed to her
sex.” (Kemp, 2010)

Noblewomen saw themselves as integrated into their families and were

conscious of their status in society. The question arises, however, as to how
much authority they could really exercise, in view of their subservience to their
husbands and their property being under their husbands' control during
marriage. Widows enjoyed greater independence but their actions usually
continued to be within the context of their family. The noble wife's primary
obligation was providing an heir, as the birth of at least one boy was regarded
as crucial for securing the continuity of the family. Yet her duties went further
and she was expected to contribute to the family's well-being and prestige. Just
as peasant and townswomen led active lives within marriage and exercised
authority, especially as widows, so noblewomen often succeeded in forging a
partnership with their husbands and were able to take their husband's place on
the estates and sometimes in war. Their activities as wives depended on
circumstances, on the extent of their husbands' absence and on their role in
national and local politics. Once widowed, they were expected as femmes soles
to administer their lands and provide for their children.

Like other women, noblewomen's responsibility for the household gave them an
important and prominent role. Anglo-Saxon riddles refer to the feasts which the
woman had to cater for and the clothing to be provided. She was expected to
hold the keys of the household. Comments made about queens apply equally to
noblewomen. Husband and wife were expected to be generous, the wife to be a
good counsellor, loved by her people, cheerful and trustworthy, and keeping her
husband's secrets. All these qualities were highly regarded throughout the
Middle Ages.
 Lady Macbeth

Historical Context of Macbeth

After Queen Elizabeth’s death, James VI of Scotland, ascent to the English
throne and marked the beginning of the Stuart dynasty. During his reign,
England continued to establish itself on the international stage, emerging as a
colonial and trading power in the New World (North America) and in
Asia. Literary expression also continued to flourish and the 1611 King James
Bible, the new English translation of the Bible, is considered to have had one of
the most profound influences on the subsequent history of English literature.

James was a prolific writer himself and much of his work centered around his
political ambitions: the consolidation of absolute power in the monarchy and the
union of the two kingdoms, England and Scotland, under the name of Great
Britain. He did not entirely succeed on both fronts and his extravagant
expenditure and continued squabbles with Parliament began a prolonged
conflict between the monarchy and Parliament that would come to a head in the
English Civil War (1642-1651) and the beheading of his son and successor
Charles I in 1642.

Shakespeare’s lifetime spanned the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, an era

of relative stability that was sandwiched between decades of uncertainty and
turmoil. However, even during this period issues of succession and political
allegiance, the threat of rebellion, the conflict between different sects of
Christianity, questions of faith and morality and the perils of a rapidly shifting
social landscape were all part of public discourse and were concerns that
impacted and influenced the literature of the period.

King James, who ruled England when Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, was
convinced that a group of witches were plotting to bring about his death and
played an active role in the North Berwick witch trials, which implicated dozens
of people on witchcraft charges and led to multiple executions. He also
methodically researched and wrote about witchcraft, publishing his
book Daemonologie in 1597. This work was a detailed account intended to
inform the population about the origins and practices of black magic, as well as
make a theological case justifying the persecution of witches under Christian
law.

Likely written in 1606, Macbeth is considered one of Shakespeare’s most

topical plays for a number of reasons. Macbeth is a play about an ancient
Scottish king who turns to evil in the pursuit of power. He accepts that he must
commit murder if he is to seize the throne. The real historical figure was not
nearly as bad but Shakespeare was trying to win favour for his theatre company
by pleasing the new king, James I. He succeeded in doing this by including the
following themes in the play: its Scottish setting; making Macbeth evil and
Banquo, whom James thought of as his ancestor, virtuous; and using witchcraft
in the play as the King had written a book on witchcraft and considered himself
something of an expert.
The Real Macbeth
Macbeth’s character refers to the 11 th King of Scotland, named Mac Bethad
mac Findláich. He rules Scotland from 1040 to 1057 after murdering King
Duncan. However, the real Duncan was a weak man about the same age as
Macbeth. He was not popular or widely respected like the king in the play.
Murdering for power was also not uncommon in Scotland in those times. Of the
fourteen kings who ruled over Scotland between 943 and 1097, ten were killed
in attempts to seize power. Shakespeare’s themes and characterizations within
this play can then be read as a reflection of this own time and political
instabilities.

The original source of the story of Macbeth comes from Holinshed’s Chronicles
(1577), which is a large work describing the collaborative histories of England,
Scotland and Ireland. Although this is a historical document, most now believe
that the narrative is now more legend than truth. Holinshed’s Chronicles was the
main source for many of the history plays of Shakespeare.

Macbeth summary
Macbeth tells the story of a brave Scottish general (Macbeth) who receives a
prophecy from a trio of sinister witches that one day he will become King of
Scotland. Consumed with ambitious thought and spurred to action by his wife,
Macbeth murders King Duncan and seizes the throne for himself. He begins his
reign wracked with guilt and fear and soon becomes a tyrannical ruler, as he is
forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and
suspicious. The bloodbath swiftly propels Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to
arrogance, madness and death.

Analysis of Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth is even more ambitious and cruel than her husband, Macbeth. As
soon as an opportunity to gain power presents itself, she has a plan in mind.
When we first see her, she is already plotting Duncan’s murder. She uses her
influence to persuade Macbeth that they are taking the right course of action
and even takes part in the crime herself.
Lady Macbeth is dangerous because she miscalculates the consequences of
her strategy. The witches work on Macbeth's image of himself as king; Lady
Macbeth works on his image of himself as man. To spur him to action she
embraces manhood herself. Right after learning her husband’s new about the
witches’ predictions and that King Duncan will be staying with them that very
night, Lady Macbeth calls upon the powers of evil to assist her. As she
understands her breast and milk as symbol of her womanhood, she wants to be
deprived of them in order to be able to commit the crime of murdering which
could only be performed by a man in Shakespeare’s time. Furthermore, she
asks to be unsex, in other words not to be a poor woman who would be unable
to do whatever is necessary to become the next Queen of Scotland.
“Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
 Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief.” (I.V.38-45)

Equally important, this speech exposes that Macbeth is the real strength behind
Macbeth and that her ambition will be strong enough to drive her husband
forward.
In addition, to the outside world, Lady Macbeth seems like the ideal supportive
wife but this is part of her ability to be deceptive. When Macbeth expresses
doubts, she uses every trick she can think of to make sure he carries out their
plan to murder Duncan. When he hesitates, she is there to urge Macbeth on.
The audience feels that Macbeth’s entire reputation is restricted to his bravery
and courage:

“What beast was’t then

That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man.
And to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man.” (I.VII.47-51)

In this quote Lady Macbeth is manipulating her husband Macbeth by speaking

of his manhood. She gains more and more control over Macbeth as the play
goes on. By doing this, she is contradicting the accepted social hierarchy of the
Elizabethan Age which stated that men were above women in the household.
Lady Macbeth does not show repentance or having doubts right after the crime
is committed. That is why she continues scolding Macbeth for being afraid and
childlike when he imagines he hears a voice. This quote depicts how Macbeth is
degrading into the state of a feeble man while Lady Macbeth rises in authority:
“Who was it, that thus cried? Why, worthy thane,
You do unbend your noble strength to think
So brain-sickly of things. Go get some water
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.” (II.II. 47-50)

Another powerful moment for Lady Macbeth is seen in Banquo’s scene, in act 3,
scene 4. As Macbeth falls apart in front of his guests, after having murdered
Duncan, it is Lady Macbeth who takes control. She directs the whole banquet
and it is the one in charge of this whole scene. Nonetheless, if Shakespeare
wanted to present such a powerful woman, then a couple of questions should
be posed:
 - Why does Lady Macbeth need the support of the forces of darkness in
order to carry out her plan? As it is shown in our very first quotation from
scene 1, act 5.
- Why does she need to reject her femineity in order to do what she plans
to do?
Maybe, we should not see Lady Macbeth as powerful by herself but as a
subservient wife to her husband, who was fulfilling her wifely roles of hostess
and helpmate. As we can see that Macbeth has already the desire of becoming
the next King, according to the witches’ prophecies, perhaps Lady Macbeth
knowing her husbands is too weak to do what is necessary, decides that she
must do anything she can to help him achieve his goal, because this is her role
as a wife, to act as a helpmate. Clearly, Lady Macbeth’s role in the killing of
King Duncan is significant, what does she instigate, persuade and manipulate
her reluctant husband to commit regicide? Or does she simply assist him in his
plans, as the good helpmate wife of the era? Anyhow, there is no doubt that
Lady Macbeth has a huge role of influence over Macbeth’s decisions and
throughout the whole play.
Certainly, we can see Lady Macbeth playing into the stereotypical view at the
time of women being unable to tolerate acts of violence in order to divert any
suspicious that people may have of her. Then, we witness how she is able to
display different personalities whenever it suits her but does not seem to ever
be truly herself in the presence of other people. Actually, the banquet scene
when Banquo’s ghost appears is the last time Lady Macbeth appears like
someone with no conscience at all. Afterwards, she will be shown as a soul
overwhelmed by feeling of guilt. In fact, she cannot bear to think of what she
has done and succumbs fatally to the madness inspired by her murderous
deed, unable to rid herself of the “damned spot” that stains both her hands and
her soul.
“Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One, two. Why
then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier,
and afeard? What need we fear? Who knows it, when none can
call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old
man to have had so much blood in him?” (V.I.30-34)

However, despite the evil impression we get of Lady Macbeth, we can also find
some hints of her suffering. For instance, when Lady Macbeth threatens to
murder her baby in Act 1, scene 7, we can infer that Lady Macbeth has had a
child and since we learn that the couple doesn’t have or mention any child in the
play, we can assume that it has died.
“I have given suck and know
How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me”
This must have had an immense emotional impact on her which, combined with
social pressures to have an heir, could explain why she has so violently
discarded her womanhood- a role in which she has failed. In addition, despite
her best efforts, is not able to completely escape the sense of guilt. She realizes
she cannot kill Duncan after she sees him sleeping and she claims he
resembles her father as he slept, in Act 2, scene 2.
As the guilt-stricken Lady Macbeth sleepwalks, she remembers all the evil
things she and her husband have done and tries to wash imaginary blood from
her hands. In particular, she recalls the night of Duncan's murder and the part
she played in persuading her husband to act. She is also aware that she will be
going to hell for her sins.

Now, we see her bouncing back and forth between talking to her husband (as in
the previous quotation) and talking to herself:

“To bed, to bed; there’s knocking at the gate.

Come, come, come, come, give me your hand; what’s done cannot
be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed.” (V.I.56-58)

It is then clear that Lady Macbeth has suffered throughout the whole play trying
to overcome guilty and fear and, by trying to doing so, she showed herself as a
hardened woman. That is why, even though she appeared as a cold and
calculating character, we can feel her vulnerability by the end of the play. Given
the attitude towards women when this play was written, it is likely that the
character of Lady Macbeth was conceived to show what could happen to
women who dare to behave outside their strict gender roles.
 Miranda

Historical Context of The Tempest

Its first recorded performance was on Hallowmas (1st of November) in 1611, at

Whitehall. It was probably also performed at the Globe Theatre and may be the
only one of Shakespeare’s works written specifically for the Blackfriars, an
indoor theatre used by Shakespeare’s company from 1608. A court
performance was also recorded in 1613, as part of the wedding celebrations of
King James’ daughter Elizabeth. The only authoritative version of the text is that
of the First Folio, published in 1623, in which it is famously the first play printed
in the book.

A number of accounts of shipwrecks and travels to exotic islands were

published around the time Shakespeare was writing The Tempest. In 1610, two
accounts of sea voyages were recorded that seem likely to have influenced his
work: Silvester Jourdain’s A Discovery of the Bermudas and William
Strachey’s A True Repertory of the Wrack, which described a group of sailors,
believed lost, who made their way back to civilisation.

Although such popular tales may have inspired Shakespeare, The Tempest is
one of very few plays for which the plot appears to have been his own invention,
rather than an adaptation of an existing story.

Sources of inspiration for Prospero, the main character

Prospero, who abandons the world of fantasy to re-join civilization, is one of

Shakespeare’s most intriguing characters, and critics are divided over whether
Prospero is based on a real person. Some critics have speculated that
Shakespeare modelled Prospero on John Dee, a famous Englishman who had
devoted himself to alchemy and occult philosophy, and who served as an
advisor to Queen Elizabeth. Like Prospero, Dee valued his library above almost
everything else, and hoped to use it to form a new national library. In the 1580s
many of Dee’s books were stolen, just as Caliban suggests stealing Prospero’s
books, in order to reduce his power.

Another possible model for Prospero is Rudolf II, a Holy Roman Emperor who
had a reputation for neglecting his duties to pursue his studies of the occult.
Also, similar to Prospero (and John Dee), Rudolf was devoted to his library,
which his family felt added to his inability to effectively govern. In The
Tempest, Prospero admits that he neglected his duties as duke in favour of his
books. At the of the 1610s, after a long and indecisive war with the Ottoman
Empire, Rudolf’s brother Matthias conspired against him, and by 1611 Matthias
had assumed all of Rudolf’s power. These events are echoed in Prospero’s
backstory of betrayal by his brother, Antonio, who attempts to assassinate him
and take over his rule of Milan.
The third model for Prospero may be much closer to home than Rudolf II or
John Dee: Shakespeare himself. The Tempest marks the last play that
Shakespeare wrote by himself, and as such, represents a sort of farewell to his
audience. Just as Prospero puts aside magic in the final scenes of the play and
prepares for a peaceful retirement, so Shakespeare may have used the play as
a way to say goodbye to the theatre.

The Tempest summary

The Tempest is a play about magic, betrayal, love and forgiveness. It is set on
an island somewhere near Italy where Prospero, the one-time Duke of Milan,
and his beautiful daughter, Miranda, had been stranded for the past twelve
years. Prospero was overthrown by his brother Antonio, in concert with Alonso,
King of Naples, and Alonso's brother, Sebastian. After arriving on the island,
Prospero enslaved Ariel, a magical spirit, and Caliban, a creature who already
lived on the island. Caliban is the son of the witch Sycorax. Prospero is a
powerful magician who creates a storm, or tempest, that sets the scene for the
play. In the events that follow we see a plot to murder the King of Naples, a
drunken scheme to kill Prospero and a romance between Miranda and the
King’s son, Ferdinand. In the end everyone is forgiven and they all set sail for
home.

Analysis of Miranda

They play starts with Prospero conjuring a storm and tormenting the survivors of
a shipwreck, including the King of Naples and Prospero’s brother, Antonio; both
guilty of Prospero’s having been overthrown as a Duke of Milan and banished to
a desertic magic island along with her three-year-old daughter, Miranda. She is
a central character in The Tempest, who has grown up by being tutored by his
father. After spending twelve years on the island, she is presented as an
educated young woman who really knows almost nothing about the outside
world.

Opposed to Lady Macbeth, Miranda's character comprehends all the elements

of perfectionism and goodness expected from a virtuous woman in
Shakespeare’s time. The Tempest is remarkable for the absence of women.
Miranda is the only human woman on the island and she seems to be a pure
and innocent character. Right from the beginning, Miranda is presented as a
gentle and compassionate young woman. As she is aware of her father’s
magical powers, she assumes that such a storm has everything to do with
Prospero and decides to intercede on behalf of the survivors. She asks
Prospero to stop the tempest so that the survivors’ suffering ends. Her words
show the clear empathetic and sensitive nature of Miranda’s character:

“If by your art, my dearest father, you have put the wild waters in
this roar, allay them… O, I have suffered with those that I saw
suffer!... Poor souls, they perished. Had I been any god of power, I
would have sunk the sea within the earth…” (I.II.1-11)
An Elizabethan audience would expect subservience from a young woman
given the patriarchal society at the time. Even though we witness as readers
some flashes of her passion, which surprise us given our impression of Miranda
as a naïve young girl, her character is a display of obedience, compassion and
genuine passivity.

Additionally, when Prospero describes Miranda as a “prize” when talking to

Ferdinand, he is actually objectivizing her as his property and assigns a certain
value to her. Apparently, Miranda is a weak representation of women, who
exists to serve first her father and then Ferdinand. Actually, Prospero’s
orchestration of her match to Ferdinand shows his willing to use her in order to
gain control over those who have mistreated him. As we mentioned before, in
Shakespeare’s time, the common law known as the femme covert denied a
woman independence by making her a moveable possession, to be passed
from father to husband. Prospero’s actions are a subtle evocation of this
exchange.

At Shakespeare’s time, maids were defined by their virginity, a quality they must
defend against their own desires, the deceitful desires of men, and the
destructive malice of slander. Fathers (and sometimes brothers, standing in for
fathers) were often crucial in this defence. Hence, the harsh words Prospero
told Caliban when he accused him of having once tried to rape Miranda. When
Caliban rudely agrees that he intended to violate her, Prospero responds with
impressive vehemence, clearly appalled at Caliban’s light attitude toward his
attempted rape:

“Thou most lying slave,

Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee,
Filth as thou art, with humane care, and lodged thee
In mine own cell, thill thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.” (I.II.345-350)

Moreover, one of the very few moments when Miranda shows glimpses of
strength is when she reproaches Canibal for this abominable act in such an
implacable way that some editors have decided to set the following words as
Prospero’s. We do have to remember that this kind of language was not proper
of coming out of the mouth of such a virtuous young lady like Miranda.

“Abhorrèd slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pited thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other. When thou dids not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst grabble like
A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes
With words that made them know. But thy vile race-
Though thou didst lean – had that in’s which good natures
Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou
Deservedly confined into this rock,
Who hadst deserved more than a prison.” (I.II.352-362)
Additionally, by making reference to Miranda as a prize, Prospero was also
highlighting her virginity. She is valuable to her father only as long as her
virginity is retained. Miranda will be considered as a virtuous woman also by
Ferdinand, according to the state of her virginity:

“O, if a virgin,
And your affection not gone forth, I’ll make you
The Queen of Naples.” (I.II.447-449)

This extremely value given to virginity is also evidenced when it is mentioned in

case of Miranda’s mother as well. Prospero could rely on his wife’s words only
because she was a “piece of virtue” as he calls her. More importantly, it is by
virtue of her chastity that he accepts that Miranda is indeed his daughter,
because a chaste woman like his wife said so:

“Thy mother was a piece or virtue, and

She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father
Was Duke of Milan; and his only heir,
And Princess, no worse issues.” (I.II.56-59)

Having spent twelve years on a remote island, Miranda has not met any other
human than her father. That is why when she sees Ferdinand for the first time,
she mistakes him for a spirit until Prospero tells her he is another human being
as they are.

Another surprising moment is given by Miranda’s proposal to Ferdinand. In her

innocence of the regulations of society and her native spontaneity, she
immediately falls in love with Ferdinand after meeting him and does feel any
restraints in letting him know that. She sees in Ferdinand all that is necessary to
fill out her life, and she frankly asks him if he loves her. To her, love and service
in love are the same things, and if he does not want her as his wife, she will
gladly become his servant. Miranda straight way of talking responds to her
unknowledge of society rules; for instance, being shy and passive and letting
the man take charge of the court love. As all she has experienced so far is a
total subordination to his Prospero, now she is willing to be subordinate to
Ferdinand:

“I am your wife, if you will marry me;

If not, I’ll die your maid. To be your fellow
You may deny me, but I’ll be your servant
Whether you will or no.” (III.I.85-88)

Ferdinand acceptance of her as a wife is gratefully acknowledged, but not much

more than that. She would be equally grateful merely to serve him or to die
unmarried, according to the meaning of the word maid back then. Miranda’s
direct style of speech reflects her innocent ignorance of the world of the court,
and it also reveals a somewhat bold character beneath her idealised surface.
Yet, we should remember that by courting Ferdinand secretly (as she believes),
and again disobeying her father by telling Ferdinand her name, Miranda shows
herself to be motivated by the positive force of love, rather than being deterred
by the threat of violence.

Miranda's relative autonomy is both admirable and unusual. However, nothing

is what it seems in The Tempest. In fact, it could be argued that Miranda's
apparent freedom is entirely illusory. Although she exhibits a degree of
insurrection in her courtship of Ferdinand, all her actions are secretly approved
of and manipulated by Prospero. He choreographs every aspect of her life,
going so far as to imprison Ferdinand as a form of love test designed to
determine the extent of his devotion to Miranda.
 Conclusion
El bien triunfa sobre el mal xq se vuelve loca porque su cerebro no pudo
procesar la maldad a la que llevó a su marido (idea)
 Resources

 Dusinberre, J. (1996). Shakespeare and the Nature of Women. Palgrave

Macmillan.
 Kemp, T. (2010). Women in the age of Shakespeare. Greenwood Press.
 Spencer, T. (2009). Shakespeare and the Nature of Man. Cambridge
University Press.
 Historic UK. The History and Heritage Accomodation Guide.
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/William-
Shakespeare/
 Columbia College. Columbia University in the City of New York.
https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/content/macbeth-historical-
context