Prospero uses his magical powers, connected to the "brave new world" of the deserted island on which he finds himself stranded, to enact poetic justice more than to revenge himself on his enemies. He uses his power not to inflict on his enemies all that he has suffered (they get only a taste of suffering) but to teach them a lesson and restore the proper order of life. His justice is restorative rather than punitive.
Prospero's main agent of justice is Ariel, a spirit he has freed from an evil spell. Ariel, in gratitude, serves Prospero faithfully. The action which starts the play's plot in motion is the storm Ariel raises at Prospero's behest. This magical storm forces the ship carrying Alonso and Antonio, Prospero's chief enemies, to crash on the island. Alonso, king of Naples, and Antonio, Prospero's brother, had conspired to depose him from rule, setting him and his daughter Miranda on a leaky vessel out to sea. Prospero ended up stranded on this deserted island, so it is only right (poetic justice) that Alonso and Antonio do so too.
Ariel enchants the boat so that the crew can't leave. We know the crew has an experience of practical matters that Alonso, Antonio, and the other aristocrats lack, so the main players will be all the more helpless. As it was for Prospero, they have only their own wits to rely on as they cope with an unknown land.
Prospero has Ariel set out a large banquet for Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian, only to make it disappear as Ariel turns into a harpy and tells them to repent. The three are learning that everything is not as it seems. Used to being powerful, the men are helpless on the island, both from being in a strange place and due to Prospero's magic, which keeps them confused and disoriented. They learn greater humility through this experience and repent of their abuse of power. When they repent, Prospero gives up his magic as a prelude to returning to civilization. In another act of poetic justice, he fully frees Ariel, who helped free him from exile on the island.
Though Prospero has magical powers that he can use to punish those who have wronged him, his power to exact revenge has limits; specifically, his power is limited to the island on which he lives and the surrounding waters. After all, Prospero can only take revenge on people who come into his territory. For example, Prospero cannot touch his younger brother Antonio, who is most deserving of punishment, until Antonio comes to the island. Only at this point can Prospero whip up some magic to teach him a lesson.
What's also very interesting about Prospero's magical powers is that Prospero does not wreak total havoc on his enemies, even though it is within his power to do so. Prospero chooses to punish mainly by frightening his foes, like when the fantastical banquet appears and then disappears in front of Antonio, Sebastian, and...
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Alonso. This restraint suggests that Prospero's character is more complex and changeable than a typical revenge-drivenprotagonist.
Prospero begins his magical vengeance by making his servant Ariel create a storm which shipwrecks select passengers. Ariel splits up the passengers, making King Alonso believe his son Ferdinand is dead and vice versa. Perhaps a sidenote to his revenge, Prospero also uses magic to test Ferdinand and his daughter Miranda’s love.
Ariel also puts Gonzalo and Alonso to sleep and then sings to wake them when Sebastian and Antonio attempt to kill them. At Prospero’s command, Ariel sets out a beautiful banquet before transforming into a terrifying harpy and directing the “three men of sin” (Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio) to confront their evil deeds. Other phantoms appear and torment the men, but the good-hearted Gonzalo cannot see any of this.
Meanwhile, Prospero controls and enacts a kind of revenge on his ungrateful servant Caliban. When Caliban attempts to exact his own vengeance, Ariel chases him and his new masters, Trinculo and Stephano, with a vision of vicious dogs.
In the end, Prospero forgives the men who wronged him, restoring Alonso and Ferdinand and revealing the love between Ferdinand and Miranda. He breaks and buries his staff, drowns his book, and gives up both his magic (“But this rough magic / I here abjure”) and his desire for revenge.
Further Reading
After Prospero's brother, Antonio, usurps his dukedom with the help of Alonso, he is exiled with his daughter, Miranda, to a faraway island. This island is where he encounters Caliban and saves the spirit, Ariel, who becomes his loyal servant.
On the island, Prospero exacts his revenge on his brother and Alonso by employing Ariel to magically create a violent tempest, which throws the king's ship off its course and shipwrecks its passengers on his island. Once the helpless passengers land on the island, Prospero utilizes magic to confuse and manipulate Alonso and the members of his court. Prospero has Ariel purposely separate Ferdinand from his father and employs him as his slave, where he works for Miranda's affection. Prospero also uses magic to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies and make them repent for colluding against him.
Towards the end of the play, Prospero shows mercy on Alonso and his court after having his dukedom restored by magically sending the ship back to Italy. Overall, Prospero utilizes his magical powers to create a tempest, control the shipwrecked passengers on his island, manipulate Ferdinand into falling in love with Miranda, and safely send the ship back to Italy.
In The Tempest by William Shakespeare, we encounter Prospero living on an island with his daughter Miranda and two quasi-supernatural creatures, Caliban and Ariel. Prospero explains that he is actually the rightful Duke of Milan, but that his dukedom was usurped by his brother Antonio with the help of Alonso, King of Naples. Not only does Prospero have knowledge of magic, but he has compelled Ariel to be his servant.
Alonso and Antonio are voyaging together with Alonso's son Ferdinand and members of their court near the island where Prospero was shipwrecked. Prospero instructs Ariel to conjure up a giant storm to bring the ship to the island, preserving the ship and mariners intact, but casting the others into the sea and dispersing them around the island. When Prospero has his enemies in his power, he uses illusions to play upon their emotions, but eventually relents, agrees to the marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda, claims his dukedom, and renounces his magic.
How does Prospero use his magic in The Tempest, and how are his emotions tied to it?
Prospero studied magic before he shipwrecked on the island, and it was his preoccupation with such studies that diverted his attention from his duties so that his treacherous brother Antonio could usurp the throne. His councillor Gonzalo ensures that some books of magic come with Prospero on the leaky vessel in which Prospero and Miranda are set out to sea, which allows him to continue to study sorcery on the island.
On the island, Prospero is able to harness the powers of the sprite Ariel when he frees him from the cloven pine. Magic helps him control both Caliban and Ariel and enables him to make himself king of his tiny realm.
Prospero is able to divert the ship carrying his enemies, such as Antonio and Alonso (the king of Naples, who worked with Antonio to seize his throne), to the island. At this point, his use of magic becomes ever more laden with emotion. He sees an opportunity to use magic to orchestrate Miranda and Ferdinand falling in love, but even more so, he sees the chance, finally, to wreak vengeance on those who have wronged him. He uses his magical powers to terrify the shipwrecked men, but before he can enact his final revenge, his emotions again come into play.
When Ariel states how sad he is at the fear and grief Prospero's enemies are experiencing, Prospero feels ashamed. If a mere airy spirit can feel compassion, shouldn't he, as a human being, feel the same? Although he has the power to smash his enemies, better and nobler emotions lead him down the road to mercy and forgiveness. He decides both to forgive and to abandon sorcery and its powers.
How does Prospero use his magic in The Tempest, and how are his emotions tied to it?
Prospero uses his magic to control others: people, spirits and, at the beginning of the play, the weather. It is striking that, at this point, he seems to regard his magic powers as inadequate recompense for the temporal power of the Duke of Milan—his birthright, of which he has been cheated. He tells Miranda that she is ignorant:
Of whence I am, nor that I am more betterThan Prospero, master of a full poor cell,And thy no greater father.
And he proceeds to tell her how Antonio stole his dukedom, which he did not seem to value much when he had it. Prospero says that his library "was dukedom large enough," by which he means that he spent more time in study (presumably of magic, among other subjects) than in governing his dukedom. Now he is not a duke but a powerful sorcerer, and this does not seem to please him either. Prospero vents through his use of magic or by using threats of magic, but this does not seem to relieve his querulousness.
Having used his magic to colonize the island, enslave Ariel and Caliban, and generally replicate the power of a temporal ruler on the island, he then sees the chance to use Ferdinand's political power as son of the King of Naples to restore Milan to him. At the end of they play, he has renounced his powers as a sorcerer and has freed Ariel. Presumably Caliban will also be free when Prospero is no longer on the island to manipulate him.
He seems calmer and more content when he is no longer a magician and says that in Milan "Every third thought shall be my grave." Perhaps he has learned that neither magic nor temporal rule will bring him happiness while he is a slave to his own emotions.
How does Prospero use his magic in The Tempest, and how are his emotions tied to it?
Prospero is the ousted Duke of Milan whose brother Antonio usurped power with the help of Alonso, the King of Naples. After spending twelve years exiled on a remote island, Prospero finally has a chance to avenge his brother and the King of Naples while simultaneously winning back his position as Duke of Milan. Prospero's emotions regarding his dukedom and revenge motivate him to use his magic to shipwreck his enemies, set up his daughter with Ferdinand, and win back his former title.
Prospero uses his magic to conjure a menacing tempest at the beginning of the play, enslave Caliban and Ariel, put Miranda to sleep, and manipulate his enemies while they are wandering throughout his island. Using magic, Prospero has control over the entire island and can execute his plan flawlessly.
Prospero's magical powers allow him to bring Miranda and Ferdinand together as well as restore his title as Duke of Milan. At the end of the play, Prospero plans on burying his magical staff and casting his magic books into the ocean where they can no longer be used by anyone. Overall, Prospero's desire to be restored to his former position and set up his daughter with Ferdinand motivate him to use his magical powers to his advantage.
How does Prospero use his magic in The Tempest, and how are his emotions tied to it?
Prospero's magical abilities are all about one thing: controlling others. He lost power when he was banished from Milan, losing his social status and political power. Now he claims power through use of magic and plans to use these new powers to get himself back in Milan, with all his former status and position.
Think about what Prospero does with his magic. He enslaves Caliban and Ariel using his magic. He makes Miranda fall asleep when he does not want her to be privy to his plans. He creates a storm to wreck Ferdinand's ship and get his plan in motion.
At the end of the play, Prospero says he will burn his magic books and renounce magic itself once he is back in Milan. This reveals that he no longer needs the power magic gives him, since he is content to go back to the worldly power he once had.
How does Prospero use his magic in The Tempest, and how are his emotions tied to it?
Prospero uses his magic to control Ariel and Caliban. He does this to do several things. First, he uses it to establish a kind of hierarchy on the island, with him on top, and the enslaved spirit and creature below. Second, he makes the savage Caliban into a servant. Third, he uses his magic to generate the storm that destroys the ship in the first scene. Fourth, once the men are on the island, he uses magic to create illusions and otherwise manipulate them. He does all this to produce a situation in which those who were shipwrecked will realize the evil of their ways, and eventually, bring him back to his rightful place.
Greg
How does Prospero use power and manipulation in The Tempest?
In The Tempest, Prospero’s power is primarily based in the intertwined realms of magic and knowledge. He does not hesitate to use his magic to achieve his own ends and, in doing so, inflicts physical and emotional damage. While, Prospero often uses his magic directly, he also applies it to others, coercing them to act as intermediaries to influence things to proceed the way the magician wants them to go. His damage is not limited to people but also involves other people’s property.
William Shakespeare begins the play with a shipwreck, which we later learn was caused by Ariel, a sprite (a magical, part-human creature) whose powers are not as strong as Prospero’s are. Ariel creates the storm that causes the ship to run aground, thereby forcing its crew and passengers onto the island where Prospero and Miranda live. Although Prospero’s plan is only to manipulate three of the passengers, he has an entire ship and its cargo destroyed and risks the lives of everyone aboard.
Because his magic is stronger than that of Ariel of Caliban, another part-human creature who lives on the island, Prospero has been able to make them his serfs or slaves. He uses the hope of liberty as a weapon to manipulate them to do his bidding. He primarily cares about regaining control of his lost dukedom, which he plots to do through his unsuspecting, innocent adolescent daughter. In Shakespeare’s telling, Miranda and Ferdinand, the young man her father wanted her to marry, fall in love all by themselves—although Ferdinand’s presence on the island is due entirely to the magically caused wreck.