| “ | Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own, Which is most faint. Now 'tis true I must be here confined by you Or sent to Naples. Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got, And pardoned the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands. Gentle breath of yours my sails Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant; And my ending is despair Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so, that it assaults Mercy itself, and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardoned be, Let your indulgence set me free. |
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| ~ Prospero's final soliloquy |
Prospero is the main protagonist of the Shakespearean play The Tempest. He is the rightful Duke of Milan, but he had been exiled to an island by his brother Antonio.
Biography[]
Prior to the events of the play, Prospero was once the Duke of Milan, however, his jealous brother Antonio wished to gain more power, and thus ousted his brother and exiled him and his 15-year old daughter Miranda to an island off the coast of Italy.
Following his exile, he begins searching the island for all the necessities he needs to survive. He eventually comes across and rescues a spirit named Ariel from the witch Sycorax, who also inhabits the island, before defeating her. Ariel, who is glad that he has been saved by Propero, becomes his loyal servant as a form of graditude, to which Prospero humbly agrees to the status of the spirit's master.
Overtime, Prospero starts to adapt to the island and familiarizes himself with its landscape. During that time, he also learns to use magic to further held defend himself and his daughter.
Eventually, when Antonio learns about Prospero's whereabouts, and travels by boat to find his exiled brother and finish off the score by assassinating him. Prospero, well-aware of this, prepares ahead of time and summons a massive tempest to sink his ship (but also spare his brother and his crew). One of Antonio's crew members, Caliban, is captured by Prospero early on, and becomes his slave.
Antonio eventually reaches the island, but Prospero uses his magic to cause hallucinations to scare him and his crew, leading to the belief that Prospero is farmer powerful than Antonio had thought. Caliban later betrays Prospero and also attempts to assassinate him, but ultimately fails.
Ultimately it is Prospero who wins his conflict with his brother, who shows mercy in front of him during the final act. Prospero, while still angry forces brother usurping him, decides to forgive his brother rather than kill him for his treasonous actions, but only if Antonio agrees to give him back his rightful title as Duke of Milan. Antonio agrees, and the two agree to leave as soon as they can. Prospero also forgives his former slave Caliban of betraying him, and gives him his blessing to court with his daughter, whomCaliban had fallen in love with over the course of the play. Ariel, who realizes that now her master has regained his rightful title as Duke of Milan, asks if that means he will be free of his apprenticeship to his master, to which Prospero agrees to, but only once they all return to the mainland, to which Ariel becomes overjoyed.
Afterwards, Prospero faces the audience and admits that the play has ended, but before leaving he reveals that his magic has since fizzled out and that he in fact is a prisoner... to the audience himself, he asks them that the only way to release him from the "prison" is to use their hands and applause. With those final words, the audience applauses, and Prospero humbly leaves.
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 Shakespeare Heroes
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