Prospero

Play

The Tempest

Summary

The deposed Duke of Milan who, through twelve years of study on his island, has mastered a powerful natural magic that gives him dominion over spirits and the island's inhabitants. He engineers the shipwreck that brings his enemies within his power, orchestrates every event toward reconciliation, and at the play's end renounces his magic before returning to Milan. He is simultaneously Shakespeare's most overt figure for the playwright as god-like controller and a character of genuine anger, anxiety, and ultimate self-doubt.

Notable Quotations

"Our revels now are ended. These our actors, / As I foretold you, were all spirits and / Are melted into air, into thin air." *(IV.i)*

"We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep." *(IV.i)*

"Now my charms are all o'erthrown, / And what strength I have's mine own." *(Epilogue)*

"The rarer action is / In virtue than in vengeance." *(V.i)*

Cross-references

• The Tempest — the play
• Romances (Late Plays)
• character_miranda — his beloved daughter
• character_ariel — the spirit who serves him
• character_caliban — the native of the island he enslaves
• character_antonio_tempest — his usurping brother
• character_alonso — the penitent king he forgives