Why Church Teachings on Chastity 

are Undeniably True

Jan 12, 2018 by

by Anthony Esolen, Crisis Magazine:

Many years ago, in one of the standard editions of The Tempest that I had ordered for my students, I read an angry little essay whose proximate target was the mage Prospero, and whose ultimate target was anyone alive, particularly men, who would uphold a view of sexual morality one or two steps higher than, “I get to do what I want.” The author inveighed against Prospero’s supposed “control” over the sexuality of his daughter Miranda.

You may remember Miranda. She is the original Wonder Woman, that is, the woman worthy of wonder: that is what her name means, and if you are named Miranda, you are named after Shakespeare’s admirable young woman; I don’t know of any previous appearance of the name. “Oh wonder!” exclaims Ferdinand when he sees her for the first time. It is more than love at first sight. It is devotion, and admiration of excellence.

Prospero for a time pretends that Ferdinand is a spy come to take his island from him, and compels the young prince to perform heavy physical labor—moving and piling up some “thousands” of logs—that is worthy of a menial servant. Ferdinand’s noble spirit rises against the injustice, but when he thinks of Miranda, it is as if there were no labor at all:

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