Written by Yeo Siew Lian, 2A01B, 1996. "The play is constructed
on a framework of ideas rather than on any dramatic principle.
Even the characters are symbolic." Discuss. It is certainly
undeniable that The Tempest is "constructed on a framework of
ideas". It is "ideas" that are presented throughout, and the
play is built around the presentation of these themes -- themes
such as the argument over whether nature is superior to nurture
or vice versa (as in the case of Caliban and Antonio, the first
being one on whom all efforts at nurture "can never stick" due
to the inherent baseness of his nature, the second being one
whom neither nature nor nurture has availed to deter him from
consciously choosing evil ), the moral duties of the sovereign
(in the case of Prospero and Alonso, both of whom have to go
through physical or emotional distress because of their
negligence, in one way or another, or these duties), the
transitoriness of all material things (as in Prospero's speech
following the masque), the rights of