The Presentation of Authority and Inferiority in The...

The Presentation of Authority and Inferiority in The Tempest Shakespeare has staged a play that explores the human hierarchy of the Elizabethan era. At the time dominance of one person over another was part of a system, which kept the society going. The social hierarchy consisted of the educated, kings, bishops, lords and noble men at the top of the hierarchy, with the working class peasants at the bottom. Everyone had a fixed status in society. However this is all physically displaced on the island, as there is no social structure and it is uninhabited and tropical. Shakespeare sets his plays mainly in Italy; however in ‘The Tempest’ he has placed a group of civilised people into an unshaped and†¦show more content†¦We know this from the way he addresses the noble men. The punctuation shows that the boatswain is shouting. He is able to move from inferiority to authority because he has something that the noblemen above him do not. The question asked by the boatswain is to make a point, as he knows that they cannot do a nything. He shows them as being ignorant and stupid; the question is quite insulting, sarcastic and sharp. It was very unlikely that noblemen would talk in that manner. Even if the noblemen do not agree or see themselves as being inferior to the boatswain, they need him to save them all from dying even though this may all change after the storm. Antonio gained authority from his brother who once had ultimate authority, and now does not but rules over an uninhabited island. Caliban as a native authority but gave it away, he also transfers his master from Prospero to Trinculo. Shakespeare’s choice of language helps shape who he feels to be superior and inferior. Throughout the play we see how Prospero swears and shouts at Caliban he orders and ‘threats and curses’, Caliban does swear and curse but is usually stopped by Prospero, as we know he only uses this language in front of Caliban. Prospero speech is in verse and Caliban in prose the image of inferiority and superiority is portrayedShow MoreRelatedIgbo Dictionary129408 Words   |  518 Pagesvery difficult period this dictionary could not have appeared when it did. No one is better aware than myself of the many shortcomings of this work; it is offered to the world as a beginning rather than an achievement, a stimulus rather than an authority 3. Onitsha Igbo The dialect of both Mr Pearman’s MS and of the present form of the dictionary may be described as a generalized form of Onitsha. My own decision to work on Onitsha Igbo was prompted by the fact that while there are some good studies