The Tempest

The story that Shakespeare's Tempest narrates is supposed to have begun several years before the actual events that take place in the dramatic plot of the play:

Prospero, the lawful duke of Milan had dedicated his life to the study of mysticism and had neglected his administrational duties. His younger brother Antonio, assisted by the king of Naples, Alonso, usurped the rule of the dukedom and seized his property. Prospero and his young daughter Miranda were exiled, abandoned to their fate on a deserted island.

The events presented in the play begin 12 years later.

At the island, Prospero has been studying the occult arts and has become a great magician. He rules over the elements and over a legion of invisible forces that include Ariel, a benign spirit of great skills. Prospero has also made a slave of Caliban, a native of the island who, in his own vulgar way, resists his master's efforts to totally subdue him and "civilize" him.

But life has its turns. Fate will drag Prospero's enemies to his feet. Those who stole his dukedom, Antonio and Alonzo, happen to be navigating close to the island. Prospero with the assistance of his spirits brings about a terrible Tempest that will sink their ship and have its passengers, helpless, find refuge on his island. Lost and isolated in small groups, believing that their relatives and friends have drowned, they are easy prey to the hallucinations unleashed unto them by Prospero and they practically go insane; until they realize that their troubles are due to their evil doings against Prospero in the past. Full of remorse, they will restore Prospero to his position, giving him back the dukedom and asking for his pardon.

Prospero will not seek revenge. It is enough for him that his daughter finds happiness by her engagement to Ferdinand, son of Alonso, and that he will return to Milan as a duke. He forgives all who treated him unjustly. Before he leaves the island he rejects his "high art" of magic and he frees the spirits that he rules over.

The Tempest is Shakespeare's last play. Prospero's declaration that he is leaving his "high art" is in essence the announcement of the writer that he is leaving theatre forever.

The unambiguous way by which Shakespeare farewells his art strongly suggests that the work is autobiographical, that it is an allegory of the poets experience in life. In fact the first actor to play Prospero on stage was Shakespeare himself. It is impossible for the thought not to cross one's mind that the poet, who showed in all his works he understood and respected the classics, who was knowledgeable in the literature of the old and was a conscious communicator of its deeper currents, would not try to instil in his work something of his experience. So one is not surprised to discover that the Tempest follows the structure of the basic myth encountered in all sacred texts and scriptures, that man, through his efforts, can return to the "kingdom", to return to the high state of being he once possessed but from which, because of his neglect, has been exiled.

Prospero is man the magician, conqueror of the highest intellectual knowledge. It is interesting to notice the series of apparent contradictions regarding his "magic" that are presented during the play. He loses his kingdom because of his preoccupation with "magic". But he will get his kingdom back with the help of this knowledge. Nevertheless, at the final turn of events, he rejects this "magic" for ever.

"Magic" appears to be the way intellectual knowledge like the sciences would be regarded in Shakespeare's time; it plays the same role in the life of Prospero that it played in the life of Faust. In his quest to possess it, the magician looses the most valuable thing he has, his kingdom. Shakespeare, however, reveals something important about this knowledge: it can be of help to find the way back. Logic and science will expose their own limitations, and one can use them within these limitations, provided that he abandons them before his return.

Prospero, the "magician" having fallen from his ancestral kingdom of "Milan" has found himself in a new, lower "kingdom", on a deserted island. Using his knowledge he has organized his life there, has made it bearable. He is served by spirits, by "magical" local powers, and by Caliban, the mindless sexual drive that seems to be the lawful owner of the island. This "savage" appears to be of a criminal nature, always creating problems for Prospero and his "lawful result", his daughter Miranda. Prospero cusses him constantly, often in a vulgar manner. This surprises the audience, as does the almost barbaric manner by which Prospero keeps the spirits under his control.

Prospero's presence on the island does not always fulfil the image of an "all knowing" sage. He frequently appears to be nothing but a brutal, treacherous tyrant. Indeed the key to the interpretation of the Tempest can be looked for in the changes of personality Prospero goes through. The Tempest can be seen as describing the development of Prospero, the maturing that a man has to undergo before he can be re-accepted as lawful inheritor of his own "kingdom".
Prospero plays with the spirits. There comes a moment however, during the ceremony at his daughter's marriage, when he suddenly realizes the true nature of his play. "The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself, all shall dissolve and leave not a rack behind" and "we are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep". Stunned he is, as he sees the truth uncovered for him in the magic ceremony. From that moment on, the moment of the "sacred marriage" where Miranda, the purest and most positive of his products is united with Ferdinand, the "negative" force that has caused his dethronement, the path of return has opened up for him.
There is a lot that Prospero has to settle before he returns to Milan. One of the main things is to accept his responsibility toward Caliban, who represents nothing other than Prospero's lower self. That is the reason why, in an act of acceptance that appears to be contradictory and inconsistent in the light of any other interpretation, Prospero eventually accepts Caliban; instead of punishing him for his rebellions acts, he declares "I accept this creature of darkness, it is mine".

Prospero-Shakespeare is now ready to plea his case to the audience. He asks to be forgiven for playing with the lie of theatrical experience, where it was he who defined what is good, what is evil and what the context is of these two powers' conflict.

"As you from crimes would pardon me, let your indulgence set me free".

Those were the last words that Shakespeare the bard ever wrote for the theatre and the last words that Shakespeare the actor ever uttered on the stage.