He is the usurped duke of Milan and the father of Miranda, as well as a powerful magician. Prospero is responsible for the tempest which casts Alonso and his courtiers upon the island where he and his daughter live. Faced with his daughter's distress at the storm and the foundering ship, Prospero concedes that he has caused the tempest but assures her that no harm has come to any of the passengers. Declaring that "I have done nothing but in care of thee" (I.ii.16), he doffs his magic robes and tells Miranda the story of their past. Twelve years ago, he explains, he was not merely the "master of a full poor cell" but the rightful duke of Milan and therefore a "prince of power" (I.ii.20,55). As duke, he was more interested in his books and "secret studies" than in ruling his city-state, so he unwisely entrusted the running of his government to his brother, Antonio (I.ii.74-77). Unfortunately, this newly received power "awake'd an evil nature" in Antonio, who conspired with King Alonso of Naples to unseat Prospero and take his title (I.ii.93). The duke, however, was so popular with his people that Antonio and Alonso didn't dare to assassinate him; instead they cast him adrift on the ocean with his infant daughter, eventually to land on the island.

Prospero concludes his narrative by observing that his luck has since changed for the better: his enemies Alonso and Antonio were aboard the ship caught in the tempest, and they are now on the island—at the mercy of the duke whom they usurped.

During the three to four hours following the storm, Prospero controls the action of the play and is thus the only character, apart from Ariel, who is aware of all that occurs. He involves himself directly in the courtship between Ferdinand and Miranda, first enslaving Ferdinand in order to test his constancy and afterward lecturing them both on the virtue of chastity, reinforcing his lesson with the betrothal masque (I.ii.451-53; IV.i.35-138). For the most part, however, Prospero remains aloof from those he is punishing. He relies on Ariel to awaken Gonzalo in time to prevent Antonio and Sebastian from murdering Alonso (II.i.297-305). Likewise, it is Ariel and not Prospero who appears directly before Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso to whisk away the false banquet, condemn the three of them as "men of sin," and punish them temporarily with insanity (III.iii.53-58). It is also Ariel, rather than Prospero, who participates most actively in the punishment of Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban, luring them with music into the "filthy-mantled pool," tempting them with "glistering apparel," and, at Prospero's command, sending goblins to plague them with cramps and pinches (IV.i.182,193,258-60).

At the close of the play, Prospero confronts all of his enemies directly and rebukes them for their ill-treatment of him and his daughter. At the same time, he introduces the theme of reconciliation, making peace with Alonso through the marriage of their children, Miranda and Ferdinand, and even forgiving his treacherous brother, Antonio (V.i.185-200,75-79).

Prospero has been described as godlike in his detachment, doling out punishment and regulating the other characters' perceptions of reality. He has also been compared to Christ for his redemption of the sinful Alonso and his followers.

Alternatively, Prospero has been called domineering and exploitative for the manner in which he manipulates his own daughter and Ferdinand. Further, he has been condemned as cruel with regard to his harsh rejection of Ariel's impatience for freedom ("If thou more murmur'st," he warns the airy spirit in I.ii.294-96, "I will rend an oak / And peg thee in his knotty entrails till / Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters"). It has also been argued that his takeover of the island and his enslavement of Caliban smack of colonialism. According to these viewpoints, Prospero is as much in need of self-knowledge and redemption as are his enemies; and while he starts out patriarchal, colonial, and vengeful in his attitude, by the close of the play he has recognized his limitations and has also learned forgiveness. What's more, it has been suggested that Prospero must learn to control his anger with reason and to temper his sometimes arcane studies with the practical art of government before he is ready to return to Milan as duke, and that once he accomplishes this, he resembles the ideal Renaissance Man.

Some critics have asserted that Prospero—who manipulates scenes and events in the play, stages masques, and directs the actions of other characters—represents Shakespeare's craft as playwright. Noting that The Tempest is likely to have been the last play which Shakespeare wrote completely on his own, these critics argue further that the play serves in part as Shakespeare's farewell to the theater, particularly when toward the end of the play Prospero reviews his career as magician and declares his intention to retire:

I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book.
(V.i.54-57)

These critics also refer to the elegiac tone of some of Prospero's lines—in particular, his famous observation to Miranda and Ferdinand that "We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep" (IV.i.156-58).

She is the daughter of Prospero, the usurped duke of Milan. Miranda, who is approximately fifteen years old, makes her first appearance in the play at I.ii.1-13, where she vividly reveals to us Prospero's powers as a magician while at the same time showing her compassion and empathy by begging her father to stop the tempest that he has created:

If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to th' welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out. O! I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her
Dash'd all to pieces! O! the cry did knock
Against my very heart.

After reassuring her that all on board the ship are safe, Prospero acquaints his daughter with the story of her past—information which he has concealed from her until now, when he deems that both she and circumstances are ready. Miranda's name is derived from the word "admire," or wonder; and, in fact, she listens with wonder and rapt attention to her father's description of his former life as duke of Milan and of their arrival on the island, calling it a tale which "would cure deafness" (I.ii.106).

Miranda's capacity for wonder is a result of her innocence. She has lived on the island for twelve years with no one else around her but Prospero, the spirit Ariel, and Caliban (who tried to rape her, and who is regarded by her as more of a beast than a man). All that she remembers of her former life are the women who tended her (I.ii.47); and in keeping with the fanciful atmosphere of the play, this memory comes to her "rather like a dream than an assurance" (I.ii.45).

Prospero has been his daughter's only teacher. Remarking that her education with him has been more thorough and profitable than that of other girls who "have more time / For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful" (I.ii.172-74), he prepares her for her introduction to the world, explaining to her that among the people who have washed ashore are his enemies, Alonso and Antonio.

Nothing, however, prepares Miranda for her first view of Alonso's son, Ferdinand. She shows her inexperience by mistaking him for a spirit; and in response to her father's reassurance that he is a man, she remarks: "I might call him / A thing divine; for nothing natural / I ever saw so noble" (I.ii.418-20). She promptly falls in love with Ferdinand, despite her father's pretended disapproval. When Prospero tests Ferdinand's affections by calling him a spy and sentencing him to servitude, Miranda rushes to the youth's defense, asserting that "There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple" (I.ii.458).

Miranda's next appearance is in III.i, where she expresses her compassion for Ferdinand as he wearily collects wood for her father, and where the two of them vow to marry each other.

Prospero drops his pretense of disapproval in IV.i, honoring the couple with a magical betrothal masque. In keeping with his role as Miranda's teacher, Prospero has the masquers remind the inexperienced Miranda about the importance of prenuptial chastity (IV.i.91-101).

Miranda appears once more in V.i. where she is presented for the first time to her future father-in-law, the newly repentant Alonso. Her reaction to Alonso and his courtiers again demonstrates her capacity for innocent wonder when she exclaims, in an often-quoted passage, "How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world / That has such people in't!" (V.i.182-84).

Critics have remarked that since Miranda and Ferdinand were not involved in their fathers' conflict, their engagement represents a better future for Prospero and Alonso by marking an end to the discord between them.

He is a spirit of the air. In I.ii.250-93, we learn that Ariel was once the servant of Sycorax, a wicked sorceress who had imprisoned the spirit in a "cloven pine" for refusing to fulfill her "earthy and abhorr'd commands" (I.ii.277,273). Ariel remained trapped inside the tree for twelve years, crying out in pain, until Prospero arrived on the island, released him, and bound the airy spirit to his service. Thus at Prospero's command, Ariel stirs up the tempest which strands Alonso and his followers on the island (I.i). Again acting on his master's instructions, he beguiles Alonso's son, Ferdinand, with music—convincing the prince that his father is dead ("Full fathom five thy father lies") and leading him to the admiring and "admir'd" Miranda (I.ii.375-412; III.i.37). Ariel also saves Alonso and Gonzalo from assassination by Sebastian and Antonio (II.i.300-5) and warns Prospero of plots being formed against him by the drunken Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban.

In III.iii, Ariel helps his master create an illusory banquet for Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio, only to torment these "three men of sin" by whisking their feast away and then chastising them for their crimes against Prospero. In IV.i.57-138, the airy spirit presides over a betrothal masque in honor of Ferdinand and Miranda's engagement. In IV.i.255-66, he helps Prospero punish Caliban and his coconspirators with cramps, pinches, and "dry convulsions."

As the play nears its conclusion, Ariel rounds up all the transgressors so that Prospero can judge and forgive them. The spirit's final task is to provide "calm seas [and] auspicious gales" for the journey back to Naples, after which Prospero regretfully sets him free (V.i.315-19).

Early in the play, Ariel expresses his impatience with servitude, receiving a threatening rebuke when he reminds Prospero in I.ii.242-50 of his promise to liberate the airy spirit. Nevertheless, Ariel fulfills Prospero's commands assiduously and with skill. In I.ii.195-205, he describes how he has accomplished "every article" of his master's instructions for the tempest:

I boarded the King's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement; sometime I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the topmast,
The yards and boresprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet and join: Jove's lightning, the precursors
O' th' dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning were not: the fire and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.

Ariel carries out most of his duties while invisible, but he is capable of transforming himself into a variety of shapes—from several flames burning in "many places" to a harpy sufficiently formidable to dispose of a banquet with the clap of its wings. He is also comfortable in a variety of environments, being able to "fly, / To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride / On the curl'd clouds" (I.ii.190-92). In V.i.88-94, Ariel suggests that he is small enough to rest inside a flower or to ride on the back of a bat. Prospero, who relies upon him throughout the play, fondly calls him "delicate" and "dainty," referring to him as "my bird" (IV.i.49,184; V.i.95).

Finally, Ariel has been called morally neutral, being neither a demon nor an angel. It has also been observed that he shows both a detachment from and a connection to humanity when, at the close of the play, he declares that were he human he would feel pity for the punishment endured by Alonso and his followers (V.i.17-21).

Described in the character list as "a savage and deformed slave," Caliban is the son of Sycorax, an evil witch who has since died but who once held sway over the island now ruled by Prospero. Regarding him as a "beast" and a "poisonous slave, got by the devil himself' upon Sycorax, Prospero has forced Caliban into servitude (IV.i.140; I.ii.319). By contrast, Caliban considers himself mistreated and overworked. He bitterly accuses Prospero of befriending him in order to take advantage of his gratitude and rob him of the island which he considers his birthright:

This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first,
Thou strok'st me and made much of me; wouldst give me
Water with berries in't, and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I lov'd thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities o' th' isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place, and fertile.
Curs'd be I that did so! …
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king;
(I.ii.331-39,341-42)

Calling him a liar, Prospero reminds Caliban that he was treated well until he tried to rape Miranda:

I have used thee
Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodg'd thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.
(I.ii.345-48)

Caliban readily admits the attempted rape, retorting, "Would it had been done! / Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else / This isle with Calibans" (I.ii.349-51).

This exchange sets the stage for Caliban's behavior during the rest of the play. On his own gathering wood in II.ii, Caliban continues to curse his master; then hearing a noise which he thinks must be Prospero's spirits coming to punish him, he throws himself onto the ground in an attempt to hide. The noise turns out to be the jester Trinculo, followed shortly afterward by the drunken butler Stephano. Stephano plies the frightened Caliban with liquor; and in drunken gratitude, Caliban swears his obedience to the butler, promising to serve him and to show him the best places on the island, and giddily celebrating his new-found "freedom" (II.ii.125-86). Later in III.ii, Caliban persuades Stephano and Trinculo to try to murder Prospero; but the plot is foiled by Ariel in IV.i, and the three conspirators are punished with cramps, pinches, and convulsions.

At the close of the play, Caliban repents his plot against Prospero and regrets his foolish admiration for Stephano: "I'll be wise hereafter," he declares, ''And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass / Was I, to take this drunkard for a god, / And worship this dull fool!" (V.i.295-98).

Critics are divided on what to make of Caliban. Those who view him negatively point out that he is a potential rapist who plots to commit murder. They observe that he foolishly trades one master (Prospero) for another (Stephano) and that his so-called wish for freedom turns out instead to be a desire for the self-indulgence he obtains through Stephano's wine. Those who regard Caliban with sympathy argue that Prospero and Miranda are intruders on the island and that by choosing to serve Stephano rather than accept Prospero's "civilizing" education and enslavement, Caliban practices a measure of self-determination.

It has been noted that while Caliban is brutal, he is also sensitively appreciative of beauty. In III.ii.135- 43, he offers a lyrical description of the music that can be heard all over the island, referring to "sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not." In this context, Caliban has been regarded as an example of the distorted Renaissance view of the New World inhabitants who, on the one hand, were believed to be vicious savages and, on the other, pure children of nature.

Alternatively, it has been argued that Caliban's blunt and savage "naturalness" acts as a foil to the concept of civilization, demonstrated by the graceful and cultured Miranda, as well as to the perniciousness of civilization, shown by the Machiavellian Antonio.

He is the son and heir of King Alonso of Naples. Ferdinand is the first to leap overboard during the tempest; and in keeping with Prospero's plan, he lands on the island alone, separated from his father's group. Ariel uses song to convince the youth that his father is dead and that the island is enchanted, as well as to lure him into the presence of Miranda:

Full fathom five thy father lies:
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
(I.ii.397-402)

When he first encounters Prospero's daughter, Ferdinand is struck by her beauty. In fact, his first reaction to Miranda resembles her initial reaction to him: she believes that he is a spirit rather than a man, and he wonders whether she is goddess of the island (I.ii.410-28). The two of them quickly fall in love with one another; but Prospero, who has foreseen the match and secretly approves of it, decides to test Ferdinand's love, "lest too light winning / Make the prize light," and forces the youth into servitude on the pretense that he is a spy (I.ii.452-53).

Ferdinand replies that the loss of his father and his own imprisonment and hard labor "are but light" to him as long as he is near Miranda (I.ii.486-94). Ferdinand appears again in III.i, bearing firewood for Prospero and remaining steady in his love for Miranda. Prospero frees him from servitude in IV.i, blessing his engagement to Miranda with a betrothal masque. At the close of the play, Ferdinand is reunited with his father, who also gives his blessing to the marriage.

Miranda's love for Ferdinand is influenced to some extent by her innocence and inexperience. Up to this point, she has seen only two other men: her father and Caliban. By contrast, Ferdinand bases his love for Miranda on all the women he has seen and known at his father's court and concludes that while they all possessed at least one defect of some sort, she on the other hand is "perfect'' and "peerless" (III.i.47).

The union of Ferdinand and Miranda has been said to symbolize the play's theme of reconciliation, bringing together as it does their parents, Alonso and Prospero, who were once bitter enemies.

He is the current duke of Milan and the treacherous brother of Prospero, the former duke of Milan. At the beginning of the play, Prospero tells Miranda how as duke he retreated to his studies after entrusting Antonio, "whom next thyself / Of all the world I lov'd," with the practical side of governing Milan (I.ii.66-78). Greedy for total power, Antonio usurped his brother with the help of King Alonso of Naples and set Prospero and the infant Miranda adrift in a rotten boat. As the play opens, Antonio is traveling nearby on the ship carrying King Alonso and his courtiers home from Tunis—thus providing Prospero with the opportunity to bring his enemies to justice.

Critics have noted that Antonio displays his villainous nature virtually from the moment he appears in the play. As the ship is being battered by the storm, Prospero's "perfidious" brother swears at the hard-working boatswain, calling him a "whoreson, insolent noisemaker"; shortly afterward, he accuses the crew members of being "drunkards" and blames them for any deaths that may occur as a result of the tempest (I.i.43-44,56). Later, when he lands on the island with Alonso and his followers, Antonio ridicules Gonzalo for his optimism, mocking the old counselor's effort to cheer up the king and laughing at his description of the ideal commonwealth (II.i.1-190). Once Alonso is charmed asleep by Ariel, Antonio persuades Sebastian (Alonso's brother) to try to murder the king and succeed him on the throne of Naples—even though, as critics have observed, there is little point in being king now that everyone is shipwrecked on an island far away from home (II.i.202-96).

Antonio is one of the "three men of sin" (Alonso and Sebastian being the other two) who in III.iii are driven to madness by Ariel as punishment for their crimes against Prospero. Prospero restores his "unnatural" brother to health in V.i and forgives him for his crimes, along with Alonso and Sebastian. Antonio says very little for the rest of the play, and it has been argued that he, alone, remains unrepentant.

He is an honest and trusted advisor to King Alonso of Naples. In I.ii.160-68, we learn that twelve years ago, when Prospero was usurped and he and his daughter, Miranda, were set adrift at sea, Gonzalo took pity on the two of them, supplying them not only with the food and water necessary to survive but also with those things that make life easier:

Some food we had and some fresh water that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Out of his charity,—who being then appointed
Master of this design,—did give us, with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries,
Which since have steaded much: so of his gentleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.

Among these books are Prospero's volumes of magic, which enable him to control the spirits of the island and, as it happens, to create the tempest that brings Alonso and his court ashore.

Gonzalo is unusual among Alonso's stranded courtiers for his integrity and optimism. After the tempest washes them ashore in II.i.1-9, he tries to comfort his king by remarking on the "miracle" of their survival. When Alonso refuses consolation, Gonzalo tries to distract him with his own definition of the ideal comonwealth (II.i.148-57,160-65). It is revealing that Prospero's treacherous brother, Antonio, and Alonso's equally untrustworthy brother, Sebastian, systematically react with sarcasm to Gonzalo's cheerful efforts.

In II.i.300-05, Ariel wakes Gonzalo from his enchanted sleep just in time to save Alonso from being murdered by Sebastian and Antonio. Prospero spares "'the good old lord, Gonzalo'" from the madness which he subsequently inflicts on the others (V.i.8-19). At the close of the play, Prospero embraces Gonzalo as a "noble friend, /… whose honor cannot / Be measur'd or confin'd" (V.i.120-22).

Noting that Prospero's illusions are seen differently by each of the castaways, critics have observed that, significantly, Gonzalo is the only one of the king's followers to notice that their clothes are clean and dry in spite of the tempest; furthermore, apart from Adrian's comment in II.i.47 that the air is sweet, Gonzalo is alone in his assessment of the island as green and filled with "everything advantageous to life" (II.i.50).

He is the king of Naples and the father of Ferdinand. King Alonso, his son, and his courtiers get caught in the tempest on their way home from the marriage of his daughter to the king of Tunis (II.i.69-72). In I.ii.121-32, we learn that as Prospero's "inveterate" enemy, Alonso contributed to his overthrow by sending troops to Milan "i' th' dead of darkness" to support Antonio's takeover and to banish Prospero and his daughter. In return for this support, Alonso was awarded an annual tribute from the usurping Duke Antonio's coffers, as well as the subjection of Milan to Naples. Thus, twelve years later, when Prospero discovers that Alonso and his followers are nearby aboard a ship, he creates the tempest to wash them ashore and exact a long overdue revenge.

Alonso's first appearance in the play occurs in I.i, while he is on board the ship during the storm, trying to exert his authority over the toiling crew. Faced with the fury of the tempest, the master of the ship, his boatswain, and his crew ignore the king's commands and order him below deck.

Alonso next appears in II.i, grieving over his missing son, Ferdinand, whom he believes to have been drowned and refusing to be consoled even by his faithful counselor, Gonzalo. At the close of II.i, Alonso is saved by Ariel and Gonzalo from being assassinated in his sleep by his own brother, Sebastian, and Antonio.

By the time he appears again, in III.iii, Alonso is exhausted from wandering around the island with his courtiers and announces his despair to Gonzalo: ''Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it / No longer for my flatterer" (III.iii.7-8). At this point, Prospero exacts his final revenge by driving Alonso mad with an illusory banquet and with Ariel's appearance as a harpy.

At the close of the play in V.i, Prospero takes pity on his old enemy Alonso, releases him and his courtiers from madness, and shows him that his son and heir is not only alive but also engaged to Prospero's daughter, Miranda.

Even before he learns that his son is still alive, the remorseful Alonso repents of his crimes against Prospero and restores his dukedom, at the same time asking for Prospero's pardon (V.i.118-19). The subsequent union between Alonso's son and Prospero's daughter is seen as the ultimate reconciliation between the two men as they look forward to the future through their children. Indeed, when Alonso calls himself Miranda's "second father" and begs her for forgiveness of prior wrongs, Prospero sounds once more the note of reconciliation by urging Alonso to forget the past: "Let us not burden our remembrances with / A heaviness that's gone" (V.i.199-200).

Sebastian, the brother of King Alonso, exhibits a similar treacherous disposition to Antonio. He gets swept into Antonio's schemes, plotting to murder his own brother and seize the throne of Naples. His character revolves around ambition and influence, serving as a foil to the more virtuous figures in the play. Ultimately, he too is forgiven, reflecting the overarching themes of reconciliation and mercy.

Trinculo, the jester, is Stephano’s companion in the comic subplot. As they plot with Caliban, Trinculo offers a satirical perspective on the New World and European exploration. His character underscores the play’s themes of greed and exploitation, often treating Caliban as a curiosity rather than a being. Through Trinculo, the play critiques the triviality and absurdity inherent in human pursuits of power and recognition.

Stephano, Alonso’s drunken butler, provides comic relief in the play. Along with Trinculo and Caliban, he concocts a scheme to overthrow Prospero and rule the island, a subplot that mirrors the central political machinations. His interactions with Caliban highlight themes of power and folly, as he becomes a figure of mock allegiance. Stephano's actions reflect the absurdity of the human condition and the folly of ambition.

The Boatswain is responsible for the safety and command of Alonso's ship amidst the storm conjured by Prospero. His pragmatic and authoritative demeanor in the face of chaos provides a glimpse into the natural order disrupted by the tempest. His bluntness serves as a reminder of the indiscriminate power of nature, which does not heed rank or title.

Adrian and Francisco—two lords who are in attendance with Alonso’s royal party but are given little characterization by Shakespeare.

The Master of the ship appears briefly during the tempest, giving orders to the Boatswain. While he has minimal dialogue, his presence is crucial in setting the scene for the storm and the shipwreck. His leadership is implied through the commands he issues in the opening scene.

The Mariners are the ship’s crew, tasked with navigating the tempest. Although their appearances are brief, they highlight the vulnerability of humanity against the forces of nature. Their survival, orchestrated by Ariel, signals hope and the possibility of redemption.

Iris, Ceres, Juno, Nymphs, and Reapers—spirits who perform the wedding masque for Ferdinand and Miranda.

Spirits in the play perform various magical tasks under Prospero’s command. They enhance the ethereal quality of the island, embodying the mystical and otherworldly elements that pervade the narrative. Their presence underscores Prospero’s mastery over the supernatural and his eventual choice to relinquish it.