Monstrous characters
Monstrous characters or existence of monstrosity is seen clearly in the stories covered in the paper; monsters are not inborn, but developed by the society and the community as a whole. A lot can be done to prevent growth of monsters in the society. Monsters are just victims of circumstances, in one way or another caught in the midst of a bad situation. Some react by direct revenge like Prospero, while others like Emily hide from the society in loneliness and fear. The victims could be better people if their experiences in life were reversed. The purpose of the paper is to look in details the causes of monstrous characters or existence of monstrosity in society, the effects of their actions, and the solution for their actions, to prevent an occurrence of the same in future. The paper tries to integrate different causes of monstrous behavior; a lot can be done by the society, to prevent such people from existing. If several people like Emily and Prospero were allowed, to exist, the society would be in danger and insecure, because of the danger posed by victims like Emily and Prospero. Both victims are in totally different situations and circumstances, but monsters developed in them nevertheless in accordance to situations they faced. Emily a monster out of isolation and loneliness, while Prospero a monster out of betrayal.
According to Towner & Carothers 63-69 “a rose for Emily” is a short story about a woman’s life in a small village. In the story existence, of monstrosity is seen to develop, as Emily was a good person before, Emily’s father isolated her from social life at a young age. For Emily interacting with the village men and village people was a crime. Her father’s desire for prosperity and richness, made him view all the village men not suitable for her daughter. As a result, Emily passed marriage age, single and lonely. According to Hudson & Shakespeare 122-125 stated that, in the play “the tempest” monstrosity is revealed through slavery. Prospero a magician attained his magical powers through books which he read. Prospero’s monstrous behavior justified as he uses his magic to avenge for his brother’s betrayal twelve years back. Emily’s story brings out monstrous character out of loneliness and isolation from everyone else, while Prospero’s story reveals monstrous behavior out of betrayal from brother and friends.
Emily’s father can be considered a monster for denying her daughter the right of social life. She keeps on isolating herself even after his death, as a way of grieving for his loss; she soon adapts to the isolation life. “In tempest” Prospero’s brother Antonio had a monstrous character as he betrayed his brother to become duke of the king. Twelve years later when they return to the island Prospero plans to hit back, he uses his magic for evil deeds, proving the growth of hatred and vengeance in him. The village elders develop a monster in Emily as they nag her to pay taxes after her father’s death; this enhances her isolation even more. The village people continuously nag her, interfering with her relationship with Homer, a new guy in the village. They force her to get married in the sense that, she was setting a bad example to the young people; Emily develops ignorance and continues to be seen with Homer in town as usual. Her monstrous character is revealed after her death, whereby the village people found the body of Homer in an upper isolated room, proving he had been dead for some time.
Prospero uses his powers to turn several people to become his slaves, which was not, a selfless act. Several characters prove their monstrous nature; for instance, Antonio and Sebastian (who were king’s brothers) conspired to kill the king Alonzo and Gonzalo so that Sebastian can take over the kingship. The play reveals the monstrous behavior of several characters some became monsters after attaining the desire for vengeance like Prospero. While others, it was as a result of greed for power as proved by Antonio and Sebastian. Emily can be featured as a hero, and a monster. Heroism is seen when she decides to live her life despite the constant invasion by the village people. She forces her way through and wishes to be married to Homer who was still reluctant with the idea of marriage. She ended up becoming a monster and poisoned him to death. Monstrous characters or existence of monstrosity develops out of the environment or the people interacting with the character. In the story of “a rose for Emily”, maybe Emily could have been a better person if she were allowed to marry young, May be if the village were not on her neck each passing day she could not isolate herself. Maybe if, Homer agreed to marry her, he could be saved from murder (Towner & Carothers, 70-75). The goal of the story “a rose for Emily” is to emphasize on how a virtuous person can develop into a monster unintentionally, while the goal of the play “the tempest” is to bring out several monstrous characters and the effects they caused the society.
Harold 165-170 stated that, the story of “a rose for Emily” Emily was a young girl who desired normal life, but was denied by her father, and the play “”the tempest” where Prospero becomes a rogue after betrayal, both characters are victims of circumstances and not monsters as the narrator portrays them. Emily’s father denied her a normal life by isolating her from the village men convincing her they were not suitable for her. The isolation makes her antisocial, and after her father’s death, she declines to accept the fact of her father’s demise, and hides him in the house for years until a strong smell emanates from the house. Only the interference of the village people made her accept and agreed to let her father’s body out for burial. Whereas Shakespeare 2-7, takes us back in the “The tempest” on arrival of king Alonzo his brothers and Antonio Prospero’s brother, Prospero desire for revenge was at its peak, and the time to avenge came in handy. By use of magic and his slave Ariel (a spirit) the tempest occurred, Prospero reveals his evil manners by controlling his daughter Miranda to do according to his wishes; he uses Ariel to perform various evil tasks with a promise of freeing someone dear to him, a promise Prospero does not keep.
On arrival on Prospero’s island, king Alonzo loses his powers on Prospero’s spell. This deprives him his control, proving Prospero to be using his magic for his own benefits, instead of using the powers for improvement of the society. Caliban was also enslaved by Prospero; Caliban had betrayed Prospero’s generosity by trying to take advantage of Miranda (Prospero’s daughter). Prospero and daughter Miranda taught him religion and their language, but his monstrous behavior makes him attempt to rape Miranda. Prospero overcome with rage turns him to a magic slave to work for him. He did various jobs for Prospero under the curse he treated harshly, and hatred in him for Prospero and his daughter grows immensely. Prospero after several betrayals from his friends he enslaves them all without their notice, and they work under his control. Prospero can also be viewed as a victim of circumstances, since he develops his vengeance feeling after several betrayals from his brother and friends. His evil manners also seen through his daughter Miranda and Ferdinand, he puts a spell on them so that they can fall in love, but immediately withdraws changing Ferdinand to a slave, denying his daughter happiness. He achieves his vengeance on everyone who betrayed him in the past, but he eventually changes for the better. King Alonzo and his brothers are monsters for planning a scheme against Prospero, reason for Prospero behavior of becoming a monster. Prospero becomes harsh to all that betrayed him, portraying him to be as an incompetent person (Hudson & Shakespeare 128-133).
Things could have been different for Emily if allowed to interact, instead of being isolated in the house alone with his father. Once again a victim after her father’s death when they forced her to pay taxes which she denied angrily. The town leader of the time protects her by dropping tax charges, new political leaders were also on her case, and constantly sends her mails on taxes which she denies angrily once more. A monster is created in her out of the nagging. She was used up to life of isolation before her father’s death, which she carries, on after his death. She is only seen on Sundays by the new person in the village Homer, where villagers believe they are dating (Harold 173, 176-180). Their naggings and interruptions in her relationship forces her to lie that, they are about to marry, but Homer is not ready. This forces her to murder him and hides him in her bedroom. She murdered him out of love. The strand, of grey hair found besides the man’s dead body is a sheer prove of love and that, Emily spent more of her lonely days besides the dead body. She then isolates herself to old age until her demise, seen only a few times visiting the painter, and while lecturing the village women. The villagers attended her burial some attended out of curiosity and others out of pity and care.
It can be said that, both Emily and Prospero were victims of circumstances. A lot could be done to change the outcome. Whereas Emily denied a normal life Prospero was forced to become a monster as a result of betrayal. In Emily’s story, the villagers could befriend her and support her after her father’s death, but instead they interfered with her life and forced her to pay taxes knowing well her father had left nothing for her. The naggings do not cease there, but resumes once she finds new love, they persistently nag her to marry him this gets to her nerves. Homer was not ready yet to marry forcing her to murder him. She lives to old age in isolation, by honoring her death, proves that the villagers could have done something, while she was alive to reverse the whole ordeal. Honoring her burial proved they cared, if they had cared while Emily was still alive maybe she could have perished a happy old woman. The monster in her is created by the people around her and she was just a victim of circumstances.
In “the tempest”, monstrous behavior developed through evil deeds done by the society, Class and fame play a large part in this play to bring out the evil characters. Prospero’s brother betrays his brother for fame and class, the king Alonzo and his brother support Antonio because they were in power. Caliban was on a spell for his evil desires towards Miranda; Ariel was another victim of circumstances used by Prospero for his own benefits. Prospero’s behavior is justified, because he was betrayed by his own brother and friends. Slavery is not accepted in any society setting; Prospero could have used his magic for other purposes other than vengeance. Class and fame in society should not make people hate each other to a point of betrayal. Miranda and Ferdinand were villains used by the powers of Prospero for Prospero’s own selfish gains. In conclusion it can be analyzed that, monsters are not born but developed by the society; may be if Prospero was not betrayed he could have used his newly acquired powers for the sake of society, he was just reacting to his own emotions. If Prospero’s brother was satisfied with his place in society and not desire for class and fame. He could not have betrayed his brother and all could have worked out. Betrayal is seen as the main reason for monstrous behavior; Prospero turned his victims to slaves for his own selfish gains, but eventually gives up his magic to be a better person (Shakespeare, 23-29).
In conclusion, the two stories show the development of monsters through circumstances. Monsters can be avoided in the society if everyone is treated as an equal and embraced by everyone. What happened to Emily could have seriously been avoided if his father had let her interact and make friends in the society. If the society supported her, instead of disturbing her after her father’s death may be she could have changed for the better. If Homer did not deny her hand in marriage, maybe his death could have never taken place. On the part of Prospero, a lot could have been saved, if Prospero was not betrayed and if Caliban (the evil spirit) could have respected Prospero’s daughter, Prospero could not have enslaved him. Prospero became the man he was due to desire for power, to avenge only to his betrayers. The society can become a better place if love, peace and harmony are embraced. Richness, fame, power, and class, are the main reasons for monstrous behavior. In both cases, monstrous characters and monstrous behavior developed and the evil deeds are not born but developed in the society through various circumstances. Both stories show monstrous behavior in different ways, for Emily, she went as far as committing murder; Prospero enslaved his victims. In both cases monstrous behavior can be traced. Monsters in society should not be blamed and discriminated. Situations make them the monsters they become, instead; causes should be examined and solutions found to help them out.
Work cited
Harold, Blake. Bloom’s Literary Themes: The Taboo. Newyork: Infobase Publishing. 2010.
Hudson, Henry & Shakespeare, William. The Comedy of Tempest. Pennislavia: Kessinger Publishing. 2009.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest Study Guide. California: Saddleback Educational Publication. 2007.
Towner, Theresa & Carothers, james Reading Faulkner: glossary and commentary. Collected stories. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. 2006.
