Ariel

Ariel is a book, dawn from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”.

The book itself represents an extended monologue delivered by a teacher, names Prospero, to his students. He is a person who doesn’t admire any of the cultures of the world as much as he admires the culture of the classical Greece. The ideals of the Greek culture are represented through the character of Ariel. She represents all that is noble: sentiment, reason, grace and intelligence. Through Ariel he wants to show to the students that they should not wish for material things, but for love and the permanent things.

Caliban is the other character, who is the opposite of Ariel. He represents all that is negative in human nature.

In this book, or essay, the author surveys the situation in Latin America at the end of the nineteenth century. At that time, he saw the achievements of the western culture as threats to his country, because the industrialized materialism was spreading among the people.

In order to try to show the youth that the real treasure lies in the spiritual ideals and not in the ideals of materialism, the author had written this essay.