The Tempest as a microcosm of society The Tempest is one of Shakespeare's most universal works and, not surprisingly, deals heavily with human behavior and emotions. As John Wilders observes in The Lost Garden, “Prospero's island is what sociologists call a 'model' of human society. His cast of characters allows Shakespeare to portray in a microcosm almost all basic and fundamental social relationships: those of a ruler with his territory, of a governor with his subjects, of a father with his son, of masters with servants , of male to female, and of the rational to the irrational within the human microcosm itself" ([London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1978], 127). Prospero himself is an observer and experimenter of human behavior: he saw human nature at his worst when his brother usurped his dukedom and sent Prospero and Miranda to almost certain death; he tried to nurture the human half of Caliban and teach the monster acceptable human conduct; in relation to his enemies, relatives and friends. Prospero and the play ask two questions: is Antonio's behavior the fundamental nature of human beings and, if so, can cultivation improve nature? In modern terms, the work wrestles with the ever-present debate about the impact of heredity and environment. His first remarks - about Antonio and Alonso's betrayal - were involuntary and even unexpected; however, they pushed Prospero to shift the focus of his studies from the “liberal arts” to human behavior. Prospero has devoted himself to the acquisition of knowledge and, as he admits to Miranda, has neglected h... half of the paper... "the Ariel and Caliban in which his and our nature consists" ( Wilders, New Prefaces to Shakespeare, 273); has found the answer to the nature vs. dilemma. education in his own psyche, and with this awareness he returns to the human society of Milan a more balanced and more complete human being than when he left it. Works Cited and Consulted Hirst, David L. The Tempest: Text and Performance London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1984. Rowman and Littlefield: Manchester University Press, 1980. Shakespeare, William Measure for Measure 3.1.148 The Riverside Shakespeare, ed. G. Blakemore Evans Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974.Callaghan, Dympna William Shakespeare Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986.Wilders, John The Lost Garden London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1978.Wilders, New Prefaces to Shakespeare Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988.