The Tempest

Ariel reports that King Alonso and his court are confined by a magical charm to a nearby grove. All bemoan their crimes, and Gonzalo’s tears stain his beard. Ariel’s heart goes out to them, and Prospero admits that he too feels for them; now that they’ve become penitent, he has no further desire to punish them. He orders Ariel to release them, and he promises shortly to bury his magic staff and book of spells.

King Alonso and his court arrive and stand in a circle charmed by Prospero, their minds in a trance. The magician thanks Gonzalo for provisioning him at the start of his exile. He scolds Alonso and Antonio but tells his brother, “I do forgive thee, / Unnatural though thou art” (5.1.78-79). Prospero sends Ariel to fetch the sailors from the ship.

The trance fades, and Gonzalo wishes aloud that heaven save them from the island. Dressed in his regal attire, Prospero appears and welcomes Gonzalo. Alonso, regaining his senses, sees Prospero. Feeling as if he has somehow escaped madness, Alonso promptly renounces his military control of Prospero’s throne and begs forgiveness for his past behavior. Prospero turns to Antonio and Sebastian and reminds them that they must now restore to him his dukedom, offering in return to say nothing of their plot against Alonso.

The king mourns his missing son. Prospero sympathizes, saying that he too has lost someone: his daughter. Dramatically, he reveals the king’s son playing chess with Miranda. Son and father are reunited; Miranda, in turn, is amazed at all the people gathered in one place, saying that for her this is a “brave new world” (5.1.183). Ferdinand introduces Miranda as his fiancée, and he says that Prospero has become a “second father” to him.

Gonzalo beseeches the gods to bless their union. He declares that the deities have arranged things so that in one voyage, Alonso’s Claribel becomes a queen, his son Ferdinand finds a wife, and Prospero is returned to his rightful place in Milan. Alonso cries, “Amen, Gonzalo!”

Ariel brings the sailors to the assembled group. Gonzalo, recognizing the boatswain, says happily, “I prophesied, if a gallows were on land, / This fellow could not drown” (5.1.216-17). The boatswain says that the crew were somehow asleep on the ship and then awoken by loud noises to find that the vessel, which they thought lost, is mysteriously in excellent shape. Prospero privately compliments Ariel on his masterful work and says that he will be rewarded with his freedom.

Alonso wonders at how all this could have happened; Prospero tells him not to worry over it and that he’ll explain everything to him before long. He tells Ariel to free Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano. They appear, shame-faced but still wearing the fine clothes they stole. Sebastian and Antonio briefly wonder if they could sell Caliban as a fish. Prospero announces that Caliban is his servant and that the three plotted to kill him. He sends them away, telling Caliban to begin his repentance by preparing a room for the guests. Caliban calls himself a “thrice-double ass” for thinking a drunkard like Stephano could be a god.

Prospero invites his guests to stay the night, and he will entertain them with the story of his life on the island. In the morning, all will set sail for Milan and the nuptials of Miranda and Ferdinand. Turning aside, he charges Ariel with making sure of good weather and winds for the ship’s passage, adding that Ariel thereafter is free.