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Literature Essay on The Tempest
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The Tempest EssayTopic: Whether the characters in The Tempest, achieve forgiveness and reconciliation
through their actions and attitudes.
In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the humanization of the characters is portrayed through their
ability to forgive, and move toward reconciliation. This is evident through Alonso’s genuine
despair at his wrongdoings, Ariel prompting Prospero to recognize the effects of his Art, and
Caliban’s intrinsic reflections which lead to self-reconciliation and hope for the progress to
forgiveness in the future.
Alonso, already grief stricken by the loss of his son, is confronted with the evil he had done
through being complicit when Antonio usurps Prospero, thus moving him to contrition. The
exposure of the evil doings of the “three men of sin” by Ariel in an anti-masque, forces
Alonso to recognize his faults, driving him to almost suicidal despair as he assumes his
responsibility in the conspiracy against the “wronged Duke of Milan”. This “lingering
perdition” weighs on his mind, and he cannot escape this guilty conscience, with even the
“billows” seeming to “pronounce the name of Prospero”. This leads him to ask for
forgiveness on meeting Prospero, to “pardon [him his] wrongs”. This forgiveness and
reconciliation is manifested in the “contract of true love” between Ferdinand and Miranda.
Therefore the authenticity of forgiveness and reconciliation between Prospero and Alonso is
indeed proof of human nature allowing progress between two powerful leaders into the
future.
In addition, the influence of the embodiment of the imagination, Ariel, on Prospero, allows
him to feel empathy and understand his power in order to use it correctly to forgive rather
than eternally punish. Ariel suggests that Prospero’s “affections would become tender” if he
were to see the state of his enemies, and describes that if he were “human” he would move
toward forgiveness. Through being an embodiment of the imagination, and recognizing “Art”
and the responsibility of one using it, as they are “such stuff as dreams are made on”, he
moves Prospero toward empathy and embracing humanity. This allows Prospero’s
progression to believing that “the rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance”, prompting him
to forgive the “perfidious” Antonio, and realize the strength he has in his humanity. It also
moves Prospero to grant freedom to Ariel, and realize “this thing of darkness” that he has
within himself causing him to inflict harm upon Caliban. Therefore, Ariel convinces Prospero
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