Revenge is one of the strongest and at the same time most disapproved of emotions. Almost everyone has at some point in their life been so deeply hurt by another that they desired some type of vengeance. However, most of us are able to keep these impulses for revenge in check, understanding that although our passions may run high, there are far more constructive Ways to handle the situation. But why is that? What’s meant by acting constructively? Why shouldn’t someone pay for the pain they have caused you? Why (in the condescending logic most often used against revenge) must you be the bigger? person? Hey, if they were mean or stupid enough to mess with you, isn’t it your right to give them what they’ve got coming?
William Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest deals with many of these questions through its main character, Prospero. Twelve years before the play begins, Prospero’s brother Antonio usurped Prosperos throne, and with the help of Alonso and Sebastian, the king of Naples and his brother, put Prospero and his young daughter on a boat to die. Now after all these years, Prospero’s betrayers are near the island, giving Prospero the perfect opportunity to mete out revenge. However, Prospero’s initial desire to wreak revenge upon his enemies through insanity brought on by guilt is eventually overridden by his realization that he really desires reconciliation, which he will only achieve through forgiveness.
Prospero obviously begins the play with thoughts of revenge, a revenge of mental anguish. After he creates the sea-storm Prospero explains to Miranda what Antonio, Alonso, and Sebastian had done to him. When, Miranda inquiries about his reason for causing them to become shipwrecked, he replies, “By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune/hath mine enemies/ Brought to this shore” (1.2.213-215). Here Prospero displays that he has decided that since his enemies are so close, he must take this opportunity to shipwreck them and enact his revenge. Propsero has had his revenge planned from the start, which explains why when Prosperos spirit, Ariel, reports about the shipwreck, he takes care to explain, “Not a hair perished/ On their sustaining garments not a blemish/ But fresher than before as thou bad as me” (1.2.259-260). Prospero had obviously given his servant strict orders not to harm these people. This is because Prosperos revenge plan necessitates the survival of these men.
Prosperos plan for revenge is to make his three enemies go insane with guilt for their betrayal of him and the suffering they caused. This plan becomes exceptionally evident once Ariel, in the guise of a Harpy, begins to weave a spell around Antonio, Alonso, and Sebastian. She tells them that that they are being punished because, “you three/ From Milan did supplant good Prospero/ Exposed unto the sea? (3.3.87-89). “For this betrayal they will suffer, bring perdition, worse than any death/ . . . /Upon your head- is nothing but hearts sorrow” (3.3.95-100). Gonzolo, the rare moral man, watching the whole ordeal comments, “All three of them are desperate. Their great guilt, / Like poison given to work a great time after, / Now gins to bite the spirits??(3.3.127-129). It is thus the regret and guilt these men feel for the acts they committed against Prospero that cause them to go insane”. Watching this exchange, Prospero is pleased, and remarks “and these mine enemies are all knit up/ In their distractions. They are now in my power/ And in these fits ??(3.3.109-111)”. Here again, Prospero’s scheme for revenge is evident. From the beginning of the play, Prosepero has had a master plan for his vengeance- to make his enemies go mad with remorse and shame. However, right when Prospero’s plans come to full bloom, he finds himself of a different mind from when he began his revenge. Hearing how Gonzolo is moved by their sadness, Prospero states:
“Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the
quick
Yet with my nobler reason against my fury
Do I take part. The rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance. . .
My charms, I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore.” (5.1.32-36)
Here, it is evident that Prospero has changed his mind about his plan for vengeance. He realizes that his passion and fury were urging him towards revenge. He decides that it is not worth the loss of his noble traits and honor in order satisfy this desire. Prospero realizes that what he in fact seeks is not revenge, but reconciliation, which is only attainable through forgiveness. This is why Prospero says to the three men, “I do forgive thee? (5.1.98).” This path to reconciliation does not work with all of them, but it does works with Alonso, for he replies to Prospero, saying, “I do entreat/ thou pardon me my wrongs” (5.1.130-131).” Thus, in the end, Prospero gives up on his revenge because he decides it is not what he is really looking for, instead he is seeking some sort of reconciliation.
So what does all this verbiage on revenge and forgiveness boil down to? Prospero’s actions are ones everyone has at some point envisioned in one form or another. The thought of that vengeance often feels so much better than the thought of exchanging the both banal and empty I’m sorry and I forgive you that are often the conclusion of such situations
In this play, we see Prospero begin down one path- revenge- and then switch to the other- reconciliation. However, his final efforts towards forgiveness end up in two places. With Alonso, Prospero ends up reconciled. The words are on the page, but the why of the exchange is left ambiguous. But why does anyone choose reconciliation over revenge, forgiveness over grudges? Do they reconcile for their own closure? To maintain their dignity and honor? Or is it as simple as this: they are unwilling to give up on the parts of their friendship that used to be so important, that held them so close.
However, the flip side of this story is the final dynamic left between Prospero and Antonio. Antonio, in the end, refuses to say anything at all to Prospero. The play ends, and we are left wondering what is going on in Antonio’s head. Is he just such a hate-filled man that cannot bear the thought of apologizing? Does he feel Prospero’s revenge was so harsh as to be unforgivable? Does he not really care to put the effort into the relationship that mending it would entail? Whatever his reason’s, we deeply feel the void of Antonio’s silence. The void created when someone reaches out a hand, and you turn away.