Shakespeare, leader essay

Shakespeare, leader essay

A leader must decide what is right for his people, while sustaining a presence that is admirable and respected. These actions and image that a leader presents can cause drama, and turmoil for within the private spaces of one’s kingdom, and specifically in one’s own mind, there are dangers and consequences that strike those who are in positions of power. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Othello, and Measure for Measure, there are three specific leaders who are consumed by their position of power in which they allow their personal judgements and desires to interfere, thus abusing their power and their public responsibility of being a leader. In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, abuses his skill and power in magic to manipulate others, alike the Duke, Vincento in Measure for Measure, who selfishly endangers others with his power in order to better his public image, while in Othello, Othello is consumed by his newfound responsibilities that it abuses his better judgement, causing him to act on false assumptions in order to keep the upper hand in the situation, and be in the position of power. Though Prospero in The Tempest, and Vincento in Measure for Measure, are able to learn from their wrongful actions while in the position as leaders, Othello, in Othello, is affected most by his power hungry hands when he commits murder in the sake of his own pride.
      Prospero, in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, creates a dictatorship on a nearly desolate island for no matter the circumstance a leader must claim his place and position, and Prospero does just that. This island represents Prospero’s dukedom which was wrongly taken from him, when his brother Antonio, and Alonso, the King of Naples, devised a plan to usurp Prospero’s position as leader . Though he has lost his title as Duke of Milan, Prospero still represents that statue of a leader, for he commands the actions of others, like Caliban and Ariel, for they are under his...