In 7th grade we read The Tempest and maintained a blog/chat similar to this Tumblr. Strangely, I remember what I posted as a thirteen year old and now four years later I have a greater understanding. Parentheses by The Blow is about the trust two people have and how their individual personalities contribute to creating this trust. Four years ago, I interpreted the lines, “There’s plenty space to encase/ whatever weird way my mind goes,/ I know I’ll be safe in these arms” to sum up with relationship between Prospero and Miranda. All throughout her childhood Miranda has grown up without an understanding of where she comes from until Act 1, Scene 2 in the Tempest when she asks what she is. Miranda has trusted her father all these years in his “arms” to protect her because she is vulnerable to the unknown in the world. What does Miranda’s unwavering trust reveal about her character? Values she was brought us with? And her expectations of her father? Now, I would like the interpret the opening lines, “Some philosophies fuel a belief in the self,/ constructed to keep one’s goods on one’s own shelf.” This part of the song underlines the human condition to withhold parts of ones self or ones true actions. Not disclosing the whole truth is just as bad as lying to someone. In The Tempest, Prospero puts obstacles in the way of Miranda and Ferdinand’s love to force Ferdinand into enslavement. Prospero repeatedly uses magic to get others to do what he wants and he never reveals the truth behind his malicious actions. By withholding the truth behind his actions what does Prospero reveal about his true motives? Are his untruthful actions deemed acceptable if they don’t hurt anyone?
-Rachel F.
