Of the great Shakespearean Play
Of the treachery, deception, facades all around
That the true seem to fade away.
That an Isle so grand of imperial might
should wash away all simplicity
For the traitors and the Plots in the Tempest Wrote
we see this horrid symphony.
Antonio, Sebastian, Trinculo, and Stephano,
above all, Prospero the Great
that amid these plotters as their plans unfoil
we miss the simplicity of good.
The loyal and the true,
also wise and just,
obedient to nation and the lord he serves
how could Gonzalo come to fade away?
'All things in common nature should produce,
without sweat or endeavor'
Thus the words of the man with the purest mind
should fade away under lies
Oh Gonzalo! To serve king and country,
true to his word and way.
But to fall away in the laughs and scorns
of those fiends that stand in his way.
What hath the office of the ruler of Naples need
but a man simple, but true?
A man who dare not lift the moon
that peace and order should remain.
That Gonzalo should fade by the end of the play
to be of no more than the servant of the king
But it is that simple common yet extraordinary fate
which he accepts with confidence and ease.
Analysis:
Although my poem serves to reflect what I see as the greatest traits of Gonzalo presented throughout the entire play, the passage I draw from most is the dialogue between Gonzalo, Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio. This passage helps to encapsulate the ideology behind Gonzalo and his honest and direct nature. Aside from the quote in the fifth stanza my lines, “A man who dare not lift the moon/ that peace and order should remain.” refer to the incident where Gonzalo accuses Antonio and Sebastian of desiring the impossible while he would settle for the possible and pragmatic. The simple nature of Gonzalo and the fact he is, in my opinion, on of the most virtuous characters in the play is what I am emphasizing in this poem. Oddly enough in creating a Gonzalo to be admired I go against the very thing I praise Gonzalo for – his humility in simplicity. In putting Gonzalo in such a high position I take away the fact that he is simple and functions in a servant role throughout the Tempest. In adapting Gonzalo I made sure to emphasize his simple virtues which place him above the other Tempest characters.