Anger and Forgiveness in "The Tempest" and "Cymbeline"
Humanities
Shakespeare's Virtues
Anger, and its place in society, is a topic that has gained traction in the recent political climate. While the question about what place anger has in human relationships is an important one to discuss, the contemporary conversation has largely neglected the question of how human relationships can move past anger and toward reconciliation. In this paper I argue that Shakespeare, in "The Tempest" and "Cymbeline", presents anger as re-active and offers forgiveness as the means by which human relationships might move past anger and towards reconciliation. In order to do so, I address how some thinkers, like Jacques Derrida, may object to the 'language of forgiveness' as inherently religious and therefore not suitable for secular consideration by presenting Hannah Arendt's argument in "The Human Condition" which states that the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth are not inherently religious and merit philosophical investigation. I then proceed to analyze the different instances of anger in "The Tempest" and "Cymbeline" and juxtapose them to the different displays of forgiveness in each. I conclude with the realization that while neither play provides an ideal image of forgiveness, they do show a desire for a forgiveness that is neither impersonal nor unfelt.
