Misjudged Characters

Prospero's Fallacy

The Illusion of Virtue in Shakespeare's "Tempest"

Why I hate Prospero with all my heart and why Gonzalo deserved better

I sympathise with Gonzalo's character more than anyone on the ship- he didn't deserve the hardships that Prospero put him through. I understand why Prospero is angry with his brother, Sebastian and the others; but it was extremely unfair of him to punish Gonzalo in the same way, especially considering he saved Prospero's life.

Prospero manipulated the separated troops into believing the others were dead as a form of revenge, which consequently led to them seeking retribution for their past wrongs. He envisioned his plan very clearly, and it went exactly as he intended. His elaborate planning makes it seem as though there was no other way the story could have gone so as to diminish Gonzalo's suffering. However, he could very easily have brought Gonzalo to the island like he did Ferdinand and explained the whole situation to him instead of putting him with Antonio and Sebastian who would have killed him if Ariel hadn't been quick enough to stop it; and also let him also think that everyone was dead when he was the only person trying to actually help everyone out and wanted everyone to be okay. He himself admits in the play that watching Alonso suffer and thinking that everyone was dead caused him a lot of pain. He's a complete featherhead, but for being not only the person who saved Prospero's and Miranda's life but also the only person who tried to remain optimistic throughout the dire situation and put his own feelings aside to console Alonso, Prospero really did him dirty.

Gonzalo may be stupid, but he was a good guy who owned every scene he was in. In my opinion, he carried the entire play.

Prospero is the worst character in my opinion because at least Antonio and all the other miscreants don't pretend to be a saint. Prospero has the gall to masquerade around as a righteous figure, when his actions are far from virtuous- I could call him morally grey, but it would be a very dark shade of grey. His treatment of Ariel is actually cruel and manipulative, it just doesn't seem that way because he gives him occasional praise and treats Ariel better than he treats Caliban (who very much deserved that treatment so I don't hate Prospero for that). Ariel thinks Prospero is a good guy for the same reason Miranda fell in love with Ferdinand at first sight. Miranda fell in love with Ferdinand because her idea of "good guy" is just "good looking and not a rapist"- because of her experience with Caliban. Ariel idolizes Prospero because his idea of "good guy" is just "has not physically abused him yet like Sycorax did". Prospero was completely selfish in every good thing he did for Ariel. He saved him from the tree not out of the goodness of his heart like he claims, but because he needed a servant who'd be eternally grateful to him and do his bidding without complaint. Sure, he had Caliban for that; but even though he treated Caliban well before he tried to hurt Miranda- it's heavily implied in the text that stealing the island from him (since he often says it was supposed to be his because it was his mother's before she died) was the main reason Caliban grew bitter, not the bad treatment which again he very much deserved. Even if Caliban had been a good guy who never made a move on Miranda, Prospero would still have planned to take over the island so Caliban would still have gotten bitter. Ariel never would've gotten bitter because whatever Prospero did, he'd still be better than Sycorax and Prospero knew that because he uses it to guilt trip Ariel severely the one time he tries to call Prospero out on his wrongdoings. I read a fan-fiction where Ariel and Caliban become friends and Caliban tells him "You're still trapped, the only difference is that now your cage is gilded."- and I think that perfectly sums up what Prospero was doing to Ariel. Ariel went above and beyond in doing Prospero's bidding and literally bent backwards for Prospero just because he was promised freedom. He didn't even know when he'd get that freedom but he did it because he was desperate to get it someday. Prospero took his own sweet time to do it and kept telling him he'd just have "one more task" before he got his freedom. Even in the 4 hours in which the play took place, that one more task stretched into so many- so imagine how many times this probably happened before. And yes, Prospero does finally give Ariel his freedom, but when does he do it? At the end of the play when he has his dukedom back and literally gave up on magic which meant he'd leave the island and wouldn't control spirits anymore. He didn't give Ariel freedom because he cared about the spirit and wanted him to be happy, he gave him freedom because he no longer had use for him- he'd have cast Ariel away by then even if he didn't want freedom! To sum it up, Prospero is a manipulative jerk with a sob story which makes his actions seem justified.

Even while telling his sob story, he seems a lot more betrayed that Antonio took over his position as duke than that Antonio tried to kill him- but honestly, if Antonio wasn't trying to kill him, he would have been completely justified in his actions. Prospero is the one who neglected his duties and let Antonio do them temporarily. Prospero had the right to be mad that Antonio let the king of Naples have control over Milan, but Prospero should have seen that coming because pretty much anyone in Antonio's place would try to keep a position of power once given a taste of it. If he didn't want his dukedom usurped, he shouldn't have neglected his duties to study some mystical mumbo jumbo that really did more harm than good.

If Prospero never learnt magic, he'd still be duke, he'd have a good relationship with his brother, Miranda would've had a good life and maybe not married the first good looking guy she saw. In conclusion, Prospero was a bawling blasphemous incharitable dog who deserved to die in that "rotten carcass" before the story even started.