9.1.6
Revenge
Revenge
Revenge
Prospero and Caliban seek revenge throughout the play. Each has varying levels of success.
The storm
The storm
- Revenge is arguably the most important theme in the play.
- The storm in Act 1, Scene 1 is the first act in Prospero’s plan to get revenge. He says to Miranda - 'I have done nothing but in care of thee, / Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter,'.
- He views the storm as a chance to reinstate his former position for both him and Miranda.
- At the climax of the play, it seems that Prospero is about to get his revenge. But he ultimately chooses forgiveness over vengeance.
Magic and revenge
Magic and revenge
- While Antonio and Sebastian are planning to kill the king, 'solemn and strange music' fills the stage alongside the illusion of a fine banquet.
- This is shortly followed by the entrance of Ariel in the form of a harpy. He calls himself an instrument of fate and destiny: 'I and my fellows are ministers of fate.'
- Prospero creates this scene to scare the men about to commit treason. It makes them think a higher power is disapproving of their actions.
Caliban returns
Caliban returns
- Caliban never succeeds in taking revenge against Prospero. But we get the sense that he regains control of his island when Prospero and the other Europeans plan to leave at the end of Act 5.
- Caliban talks of how he 'loved thee [Prospero]', but the torture he suffered was an act of betrayal and Caliban is angered by this. This leads him to seek revenge, even though he ultimately doesn't succeed in getting revenge.
Reconciliation
Reconciliation
Even though the play is full of attempts at revenge, The Tempest is defined by forgiveness and reconciliation.
Reconciliation with Alonso
Reconciliation with Alonso
- Even though Alonso is a key character that Prospero wants to get revenge on, he is the first to be forgiven.
- The audience is encouraged to sympathise with him because he is obviously heartbroken at apparently losing his son (soon after wedding his daughter to a Prince in Africa). He almost loses his life on stage to his brother and Antonio.
- For this reason, he is forgiven first and metaphorically freed of his sin after the wrong-doing he did to Prospero.
Happy Gonzalo
Happy Gonzalo
- At the denouement of the play (the final part, in which the final strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are resolved), Gonzalo lists all of the happy outcomes:
- 'O, rejoice / Beyond a common joy, and set it down / With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage / Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis, / And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife / Where he himself was lost, Prospero his dukedom / In a poor isle and all of us ourselves / When no man was his own.'
Miranda's joyful last words
Miranda's joyful last words
- Miranda’s final words ultimately sum up the play: 'How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! O, brave new world / That has such people in’t!'
- All has been reconciled and order has been restored. They are returning to Europe. Both Miranda and Gonzalo’s final lines highlight that The Tempest is far more a play about reconciliation than it is revenge.
1Key Words
2Context & Overview
2.1Context & Overview
3Act 1
3.1Act 1 Analysis
4Act 2
4.1Act 2 Analysis
5Act 3
5.1Act 3 Analysis
6Act 4
6.1Act 4 Analysis
7Act 5
7.1Act 5 Analysis
8Key Characters
8.1Major Characters
8.2Minor Characters
9Themes
10Authorial Method
10.1Authorial Method
Jump to other topics
1Key Words
2Context & Overview
2.1Context & Overview
3Act 1
3.1Act 1 Analysis
4Act 2
4.1Act 2 Analysis
5Act 3
5.1Act 3 Analysis
6Act 4
6.1Act 4 Analysis
7Act 5
7.1Act 5 Analysis
8Key Characters
8.1Major Characters
8.2Minor Characters
9Themes
10Authorial Method
10.1Authorial Method
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