Revenge and Forgiveness in Shakespeare's The TempestThere are many elements in Shakespeare's play The Tempest that cannot be reconciled with the real world. The main theme of The Tempest is illusion, and the main focus is Prospero's experience. The Tempest, it is clear, presents an experience of Prospero. He did not bring the Europeans near the island, but when they approached it, he lured them, through the power of illusion, into his very special kingdom. The experience first breaks their social solidarity, because they disembark in different groups: Ferdinand alone, the court group, Stephano and Trinculo alone, and the sailors remain asleep. The magic leads them by separate paths until they all find themselves in the circle drawn by Prospero in front of his cave. There he removes the charm of illusions; the human family recognizes each other and together they decide to return to Italy, leaving behind the powers of magic associated with the island. Before we examine the purpose of Prospero's experiment, we must note how Ariel is at the heart of all his magic. And Ariel is not human but a magical spirit who was freed from natural slavery (being torn into a tree) through learning the book of Prospero. The island's original inhabitants, Sycorax and Caliban, did not know how to use Ariel and so simply imprisoned him in the world that rules them, raw nature. Prospero's power depends, in large part, on Ariel's release and voluntary service. In this sense, Ariel can be seen as an imaginative power that makes the effects of theater possible (like lightning in the masts of the ship). One of the great attractions of this vision of the play as celebrity...... middle of paper...... revenge. (5.1. 18-28) Here, imaginative sympathy for the sufferings of others leads to active intervention based on “virtue” rather than “revenge.” This is a key recognition in the play: the virtue expressed in forgiveness is a higher human attribute than vengeance. And in the conclusion of the play, Prospero does not even mention the list of crimes committed against him. He simply offers to forgive and accept what happened to him, in a spirit of reconciliation. Unlike other Shakespeare plays, the ending of The Tempest does not require the death or punishment of either party. Works cited and consulted: Gervinus, GG “The Tempest”. Shakespeare Criticism Volume 8. Gale Research Inc., Detroit. 1989: 304-307. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen. New York: WW Norton & Co. Inc..., 1997.