The Power Of Prosper In The Tempest And A Dolls House

Pinning the oppressed against their oppressor is by no means a new concept. Countless pieces of literature have explored the relationship between these tyrants and their rebellious servants. Two prime examples would be Prospero from The Tempest and Helmer from A Doll House, given their domineering and self-righteous demeanor as they fancy themselves the reinforcers of social justice. Naturally, their counterparts would be Caliban and Nils Krogstad, respectively, who don’t much care for the authority forced upon them. Both of these characters use their beliefs to actively subvert their oppressors’ power. First, we’ll begin with Caliban. He becomes the unwilling slave to Prospero, and he detests his situation. As the son of the hag-witch†¦show more content†¦He also conspires with Stephano and Trinculo to kill Prospero so that he may finally win back his freedom. This poor judge of character juxtaposed with his signs of innocence depict Caliban’s animalistic tendencies; he is a product of nature, after all. Next, we move on to Krogstad. Similarly to Caliban, Krogstad takes some rather villainous actions in order to oppose Helmer’s oppression of him. Though it’s never explicitly stated why he did it, we know that Krogstad got involved in a forgery scheme in the past, and that one action ruined his entire reputation. Forgery is a relatively small crime to commit, but â€Å"the community turned its back on him, [which] forced [Krogstad] into the unsavory business of moneylending and blackmailing in order to support his family† (Schmoop Editorial Team). Krogstad does find a small ray of hope in building up his status again through his job at the bank. However, this job is put in jeopardy when Torvald Helmer is set to be the bank’s new boss. Helmer, whom is very conscious of people’s perceptions of him, narrow-mindedly intends to fire Krogstad simply because they are on a first-name basis and he cannot withstand the embarrassment of that. With his future fo r his family on the line, Krogstad turns to threatening and blackmailing Helmer’s wife, Nora, to have her convince her husband to let him keep his job. Krogstad continues his