Is Prospero too controlling a character to feature as a protagonist in a comedy?
Prospero is a puppet master, he controls the happenings on the island directly or indirectly, he either uses his capabilities or uses other characters capabilities to perform tasks that he wants Taking back to the time where we see Prospero had sent Ariel the spirit to wreck the ship “Hast thou, spirit, performed to the point the tempest that I bade thee?’’ This quotation emphasis that Prospero demands something from Ariel, Ariel obeys like a subject would obey his master, in spite of the fact that Ariel is performing the actions and has the powers to cause the ship wreck; she consistently obeys Prospero like any loyal subject would. The reader can interpret from this that Prospero is an exploiter, because he knows that Ariel would heed to what he command, it also shows Prospero as a shady character because at this point, Prospero knows that the ship is already wrecked but yet he still asks Ariel whether he has ‘’performed to the point the tempest I bade thee’’ it also shows how Prospero is taking a boss figure that takes the advantage of reminding Ariel that she is her master and he the servant in other words exercising his authority over Ariel, this also emphasis that Prospero is an exploiter.

Although, Ariel is not the only person he treats as his subject but also his daughter. Prospero uses imperative language to talk to Miranda as if she is his subject. Prospero continually asks Miranda “Dost thou attend me”? “Thou attend’st not”? And she solemnly replies “O good sir, I do. This is usually seen between a master and his subject or slave but because of his dominant behavior he has he has made his daughter as his subject and made his daughter to acknowledge the fact that Prospero is her master. This also shows that Prospero is too controlling over Miranda which poses him as a control freak. The fact that Miranda acknowledges him as her master emphasis that he is a puppet master and his daughter is his puppet this suggests that Prospero is an oppressor. Although it is argued that Prospero is not too controlling over Miranda but just exercising his right on his under aged daughter like any reasonable father would do. Every parent has the right to make decisions for their children but doesn’t mean that Prospero should take it too far, like a tyrannical figure in a comic play, For example, Prospero causes Miranda to sleep when she doesn’t want to because she was asking him questions that he doesn’t want to disclose to her, every parent has his or her right to privacy and to choose what to disclose to their children like Prospero did but instead of sending her to sleep her could just have said “that’s personal”.

Prospero exercises his authority over Caliban as a colonial master; Caliban proves this by saying “This Island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, which thou takest from me… When thou camest first, Thou strok’st me and made much of me”. In this quotation, we see that Caliban claims ownership over the isle that Prospero took from him, confines him only to a small piece of the land. Caliban claims to have loved Prospero, shown his fertile land and all the riches of the island to Prospero. This criticizes the colonial period of the western nation, in which they forcibly took over the lands and dominated over them, Shakespeare criticizes the colonialism by this quotation of Caliban, emphasizing on the mission of the western colonists which is to take up the responsibility of these ‘savages’’. The word savage is commonly used by Prospero to describe Caliban, which implies that he is primitive, uncivilized, and barbarian. Prospero plays the role of the master who is going to “civilize’’ him. This satirizes humanity that the savages are too quick to accept and love the foreigners in return of the riches the foreigners gave the savages to enable the inhabitants trust them and be willing to accept their rule. The critique of humanity by colonialism also challenges the status quo; this is because the colonizer which is Prospero came to and changed the rules and power over the isle but this change was transgressive but does not pose a threat to the status quo a all comedy does, this is because Prospero returns back to Milan it is well known that at the end of every comedy the status quo is put back into place and everything goes back to where it was, so as it is in this case because Caliban gained control over the isle again after Prospero left.
In order to show the strong effect of Prospero’s power he Shakespeare demonstrates the Master/Servant relationship. For example, both Caliban and Ariel are Prospero’s servants or slaves but treats them very differently, he treats Caliban harsher than he treats Ariel but there is a difference in the way Ariel and Caliban treats him, Caliban challenges Prospero’s character which then results him into taking another master but Ariel is oblivious to the fact that Prospero doesn’t see them any different as long as they are useful to him. A comic protagonist is a character “that is down to earth, average and parody authority” this qualities of a comic protagonist does not apply to Prospero, Prospero is neither of these characteristics of a hero. Prospero’s dominant and tyrannical character is transgresssive against the nature of comedy and a comic hero. Although people have say that the reason for Prospero being to controlling, oppressive and a dominating despite being a comic protagonist is because it is more accurate to term the tempest as a cringe comedy. A Cringe comedy is a specific genre of comedy that derives humor from social awkwardness. Often a cringe comedy will have an air of mockumentary and revolve around a serious setting, such as a workplace, to lend the comedy a sense of reality.
The protagonists are typically egoists who overstep the boundaries of political correctness and break social norms. Then the comedy will attack the protagonist by not letting them become aware of their self-centered view, or by making them oblivious to the ego-deflation that the comedy deals them. Sometimes however an unlikable protagonist may not suffer any consequences, which violates our moral expectations, and also make the audience cringe.