Antonio (The Tempest)

Play

The Tempest

Summary

Prospero's younger brother who usurped the dukedom of Milan twelve years before the play begins and is still scheming on the island — trying to persuade the weak Sebastian to murder his sleeping father Alonso. He is one of Shakespeare's most unrepentantly villainous figures: even at the play's end, when all others are reconciled, Antonio remains silent, offering nothing — no apology, no acknowledgment — making Prospero's forgiveness of him an act of grace extended to someone who neither seeks nor values it.

Notable Quotations

"My strong imagination sees a crown / Dropping upon thy head." *(II.i)*

"They'll take suggestion as a cat laps milk." *(II.i)*

Cross-references

• The Tempest — the play
• Romances (Late Plays)
• character_prospero — his brother whom he betrayed
• character_gonzalo — whose goodness he mocks throughout
• character_alonso — the king he conspires to murder on the island