Tara Mellor
Molly Fenn
HP English ¾
December 25, 2012
                                                                              Prospero’s Enlightenment
        In The Tempest by William Shakespeare, the main character, Prospero, realized when he was carrying out his plot for revenge against his brother that a better use of his magical powers ould be to not use them at all, instead of using them to manipulate everyone he loved and to control the world around him.  He came to know that his vengeance would only be a sick triumph, while he would lose himself and his happiness in the process. Shakespeare begins the tale with Prospero contemplating his desire for vengeance upon his brother, Antonio, who had cunningly stolen the dukedom of Milan from him. While he was duke, Prospero had devoted himself to the study of magic and enchantment and thus didn’t properly rule Milan. Because of his obsession with alchemy and the resulting diversion from his duties, he became vulnerable to the machinations of his younger brother. Late one night, Antonio put Prospero and his infant daughter on an old wooden boat and sent them off to sea, expecting them to die. They were marooned upon an island whose only sentient inhabitants were primitive Caliban, the abrasive, half human son of an evil witch named Sycorax, and Ariel, a spirit whom Prospero freed from a tree under the promise that he would do Prospero’s bidding. Caliban had ruled over the island before Prospero’s arrival, but he soon became Prospero’s unwilling slave, unable to withstand the torment of Prospero’s magical powers. In bringing about this state of affairs, Prospero created a simulacrum of his lost dukedom by usurping Caliban and reigning over the island.  Prospero was able to exploit Ariel to carry out his plot for revenge after he found him to be very gifted in casting spells and creating illusions. The first thing he ordered Ariel to do was to create a tempest over a ship that just happened to carry all of Prospero’s enemies, including his brother Antonio. The tempest was so horrifying that everyone onboard the ship was sure they were going to die and yet, everyone was spared. He arranged for the crew and passengers to be scattered about the island, not knowing if anyone else survived. Prospero’s use of Ariel’s talents has set the stage for carrying out his plan for revenge. He has all the major players in place for his grand show of vengeance.
       Prospero used his magic to manipulate Caliban into doing menial tasks for him such as carrying wood and making fires for him and Miranda. When he first met Caliban, Prospero tried to teach him morals and language and Caliban taught him the ways of the island. Prospero realizes that Caliban is too savage and can’t change his wild nature. He takes what Caliban taught him of the island and rules over Caliban through domination and fear of punishment through magic. All Caliban seems to think when he is alone is about despising Prospero, the pain that Prospero causes him, and how to get revenge on him. “All the infections that the sun sucks up / from bogs, fens, flats, on Prospero fall and make him / by inchmeal a disease! His spirits hear me… Then like hedgehogs which / lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount / their pricks at my footfall. Sometime am I / all wound with adders who with cloven tongues / do hiss at me into madness.” (2.2.10) Caliban curses his master and wishes for his spirits to hear him. He wants all the infections in the universe to fall on Prospero because he is tired of being tormented by his power. Prospero uses his magic to make snakes and porcupines hiss and stab him to scare him into doing tedious tasks.  He meets two low-class courtiers who have stolen some alcohol from the ship’s cellar and are quite drunk. When Caliban first sees them, he thinks they are evil spirits sent by Prospero to torment him for cursing at his master. He realizes that they are regular humans and thinks about how much better it would be to have a powerless master instead of the powerful Prospero. Caliban realizes that he can control the two drunkards through flattery and persuades them to kill Prospero. Prospero reacts with merciless rage when he has Ariel lead them through swamps, thorns, thistles, and has hounds chase after them. Prospero has too much power; that he is beginning to hurt people with it.  The only things on Prospero’s clouded, power-hungry mind were avenging the people who had wronged him, setting up his daughter’s marriage, and punishing Caliban his primitive slave.
          Ariel, who seems to possess more wisdom and compassion than Prospero, convinced him that the power of forgiveness is better than revenge. When he asked Ariel how the king and his followers were doing, Ariel said “Confined together / in the same fashion as you gave in charge… / The king / his brother, and yours, abide all three distracted, / and the remainder mourning over them, / brimful of sorrow and dismay. But chiefly / him that you teemed sir ‘the good old lord Gonzalo.’ / His tears run down his beard like winter’s drops / from eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works’ em / that, if you now beheld them, your affections / would become tender.” (5.1.8) Ariel described the plight of the prisoners in vivid enough terms to move Prospero to feel compassion towards them. His words put shame on Prospero. He realized that forgiveness, compassion, and faith in the goodness of human nature are a better and more humane use of power than revenge. Prospero was in full control of everyone and everything on the island. He stood tall, wearing his magic cloak and held a wooden staff; he looked like a true wizard. Everyone was at his mercy, and he was in full power. All Ariel needed to do was gather everyone up and bring them to him. But, Prospero was perplexed by what Ariel had said, and asks Ariel “Dost thou think so spirit?” Ariel immediately replies “Mine would, sir, were I human.” Prospero then replies “And mine shall… / though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’ quick, / yet with my nobler reason ‘gainst my fury / do I take part. The rarer action is / in virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent. / the sole drift of my purpose doth extend / not a frown further. Go; release them, Ariel. / My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore, / and they shall be themselves.” (5.1.18) Ariel, a spirit, who didn’t have an emotional stake in punishing the prisoners, can see the larger picture of the situation and is able to feel empathy for the survivors.  This insight, which came to him from the wisdom of Ariel shows Prospero how he had previously been blinded by his own anger, and moves him to forgive even thought they had so badly wronged him. He was so intent on getting revenge on Antonio and Alonso, who had in fact deeply wronged him, with a grand show of magic and revenge that he had lost sight of his humanity, relying on magic to control the fates of himself and everyone around him. It turned him into a power hungry avenger who was more godlike than human. He realized he wasn’t happy even though he was in control. His power made everyone, even those that he actually loved, unhappy too. He learned through this experience that the human traits of compassion, mercy, and fairness are a far more noble use of his powers than revenge.
              At the end of the play all the issues are resolved and Prospero’s goals are achieved. Miranda and Prince Ferdinand got engaged and Ariel was finally set free. He forgave his brother and Caliban for plotting to kill him and Caliban is left to rule the island once again. He gave up his magical powers and swore to just use his human powers so he could rule the people of Naples better than he did twelve years before. After doing all of his manipulating, he discovered his own humanity:
        “Now my charms are all o’erthrown, / and what strength I have’s mine own, / which is most faint. Now. ‘tis true, /

          I  must be here confined by you / or sent to Naples. Let me not, /since I have my dukedome got / and

          pardon the deceiver, dwell / in this bare island by your spell, / but release me from my bands, / with                                   the help of  your good hands. / gentle breath of yours my sails / must fill, or else my project fails,

          / which  was to   please … / unless I be relieved by prayer, / which pierces so that it assaults /

          mercy itself and frees all faults. / as you from crimes would pardoned be, / let your indulgence set me free.” (Epilogue, line 1)
          In Prospero’s monologue he swore never to use magic again and prayed that Ariel’s “good hands” would make sure that he would return home safely. He gave up his power because the magic banded him like handcuffs and he wished to be set free from the prison of his power. He pleads Ariel, “your indulgence”, to release him from the bondage of his power. All the power he has left is his own human abilities and his faith in prayer. He looked forward to being duke once again. He pardoned himself of his faults and crimes by showing mercy.
            Prospero achieved his goals of vengeance and control through the use of magic, both his own and through the coercion of Ariel. In the end though, after all that effort, he found that these achievements brought him no joy and actually caused sorrow to all. He discovered that true power, tempered by forgiveness and mercy, without magic, achieved his ends in a far more satisfactory way. In reading and understanding this work by Shakespeare we learn that power and manipulation can be a very destructive thing in relationships as well as in the drive for narrow personal success.