Miranda's sexuality in The Tempest

In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Miranda is little more than an instrument. Caliban tries to rape her to populate the island and thereby take it over, and Prospero intends to marry her to Ferdinand to regain his power. Miranda even subjects herself to being an instrument for she says to Ferdinand “I am your wife, if you will marry me. / If not, I’ll die your maid” (3.1.83-84). Miranda is an interesting example of the servant in The Tempest’s prevalent power play between master and slave, server and served, because she willingly submits to her role in this form in her relationship to Ferdinand. Her willing submission seems to represent her sexuality. Upon meeting Ferdinand’s shipwrecked male companions at the end of the play, Miranda says “O wonder! / How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is!” (5.1.184-186). The men she sees are “beauteous” to her, “pleasing to the sight” (oed.com), denoting her attraction to them. And because these men represent society as well, Miranda espouses her attraction to her place in this society as Ferdinand’s wife. For Miranda to equate the men that she sees with “mankind,” denoting the “human species” (oed.com), leaves women out of the picture of society, yet to do so is not far from the truth in regards to who holds the power in The Tempest.

Whitney Starks