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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—Theater of Life:
Shakespeare uses the theater as a metaphor for life in many of his plays, and The Tempest is no exception. In Act 2, Scene 1, Antonio describes his harrowing experience of the tempest:
We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again,
And by that destiny to perform an act
Whereof what's past is prologue, what to come
In yours and my discharge
Despite the terror he faced in the storm, Antonio emphasizes the control he and Sebastian have over the future; he insists that it remains in his and Sebastian's "discharge." The metaphor presenting this situation as if it's an act in the theater shows that Antonio believes in his own success—the word "destiny" reinforces the idea that the play has already been written and that Antonio merely acts out his predestined (or pre-scripted) role. Of course, Antonio's character remains unaware that he exists solely within a play, which provides a delicious bit of humor for the (real) audience.
The tactic of referencing plays within plays is also known as metaperformativity and echoes conversations in As You Like It ("all the world's a stage") and Macbeth ("a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage"). Evidently, Shakespeare thought the theater served as a great metaphorical representation of life itself.
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