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father’s governance. Although Prospero reminds Miranda that he is “thy schoolmaster,” his
efforts in trying to maintain their father-daughter relationship requires less energy than Lear and
Leonato who had to constantly relate their daughters to nature to subjugate them (1.2.173). All
Prospero must do to maintain this father-daughter relationship is rely on his patriarchy as the
natural environment already brings Prospero and Miranda together.

Prospero’s response to Miranda after she asks about their arrival plays a huge role in
Prospero’s patriarchal efforts to maintain their relationship.When Miranda asks how they came
to the island, Prospero answers, “By Providence divine” (1.2.160). His response evokes a biblical
image in that he is in a sense playing God, so Miranda as nature is already subjected to her father.
Edgar C. Knowlton, as quoted in The Nature of Gender, further discusses this historical concept
of nature’s binary opposition. He writes, “God is good, and so is Nature, the divine agent, His
agent” (Kakkonen 20). Knowlton’s comment of Nature as ranked under God supports Prospero’s
ability to rule Miranda naturally because of the principle of the 16th and 17th century social
structure. Kakkonen and Penjak also describe this notion in that, “The absolutist argument of a
male dominance was based on theories of divine right royalism. God empowered Adam the first
born with domination over other beings on earth” (19). The authors’ argument supports how
Prospero, mirroring Adam as he is first man on the island, allows him to have a relationship with
his daughter without the necessary steps of connecting his daughter to nature so she could obey
him.

Another father who does not relate his daughter to nature is Shylock with his daughter
Jessica. The outcome of their relationship, however, is different than Prospero and Miranda’s.
When Shylock and Jessica’s relationship is first introduced, there is already an unspoken tension
in the relationship. Shylock tries to keep Jessica from nature as he leaves and entrusts his