Power has multiple definitions in the dictionary. The number of definitions for the word only grows in number if we were to question our own meanings of the word. For some power is related to liberation while for others power is related to intimidation. For some power is related to something much darker.
On Wednesday, October 16th, 2019, a lawsuit was filed against the New York School for the Deaf. Women have come forward to accuse a now deceased dormitory housemaster of the school, Joseph Casucci, of molestation of several young girls on a daily basis in the dorms between 1964 and 1975. The alleged twelve victims were as young as four years old.
However, this is not the first time Joseph Casucci was accused of this. Damita Jo Damiano signed that many of the alleged victims reported the abuse to school administration, though Casucci would not be fired until graduates from the school complained in 1979.
It was a nightly routine and we were just little girls. It was the routine we would come to expect: We would do homework, take showers and the abuse would begin. It was normalized.”
Damita Jo Damiano
Some people’s definition of power relates to consent and influence. Though the fictional character Prospero is nowhere near as cruel as Joseph Casucci allegedly was, he still robbed many of consent. Certain displays of this are more obvious than others. Two instances where power is clearly in play is with his relationships with Caliban and Ariel. Caliban is forced into slavery and because Prospero breaks a spell trapping Ariel, Ariel becomes an indentured servant.
Throughout the Tempest the reader becomes more and more aware of how important power is to Prospero especially power over others. Without his magic and knowledge Prospero wouldn’t have that much of a character at all and many of his relationships would shift especially in concern to power.
He feeds off of the feeling of being in power of so many beings similar to Joseph and his alleged abuse ruining the lives of so many women. This dark view of power is what propels them forward to find the next person to steal from; to steal consent, freedom, and knowledge.
A much more subtle display of Prospero’s power is the power he has over his daughter, someone he is supposed to love truly and healthily. Yet all he does is suppress Miranda in several ways. He purposefully keeps her naive and secluded when he has the power to expand her mind and make her as powerful as he was but instead he does the opposite. Miranda is unaware of what she could be and how Prospero is truly treating her, not dissimilar to, though not nearly on the same level of despair, to how Joseph Casucci treated his victims.
Though Miranda is confined to the limited words of the Tempest, the victims of Joseph Casucci are freeing themselves from the prison that the alleged abuse placed them in. Through demanding justice and recognition they are gaining back the power currently. To me, power is a feeling inside that only we can give ourselves. Power lies not in position in life but in growth as humans emotionally, physically, and mentally. Power is knowledge.
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Kaitlin Mondello
Great writing and argumentation, Leila. Good points about the relationship between power, knowledge and consent, and how often this is gendered.