Word: prospero
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With the decision to spare the three lords, Prospero seems to step quite abruptly from the world of magic to the world of men. He does make that step, but it should be prepared for. The relinquishment of supernatural powers is part of Prospero's own reconciliation. He drowns the book that lost him his kingdom (a cousin of the books that lost Faustus his soul) and reassumes his temporal power and role...
This return to normality is something Prospero longs for. The pardon of his enemies is part of it. Vengence is God's. Prospero's rejection of vengeance for virtue is a parallel to his rejection of supernatural power for temporal sway. Neither shift should be happenstance. In Mayer's interpretation both appear so (as Daniel Seltzer played it, Prospero's decision to greet the waking lords in his ducal, not his magician's robes, seemed an incidental thought...
...Mayer saw the chance decisions as the work of a supernatural providence. Ariel is present at both scenes; he inspires Prospero's mercy and, as Mayer staged it, he fixes the old crown of Milan on Prospero's head...
...list is long. But the crown of this particular meditation is the picture of Prospero working out his return to his normal station by supernatural means, the idea of art as a means of grace. Prospero's salvation comes though works as well as fortune--the fortune that thrusts him from his study as well as the fortune that brings his enemies to his shore. To characterize Prospero, like Leontes, as the servant of his random thoughts, is to seriously mistake...
Mayer's interpretation of Prospero's decisions to forgive his enemies and to change his magic for his ducal staff is particularly surprising in view of the care with which he has Prospero plan the marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda. Seltzer's hidden joy--"It works"--and pretended severity as the couple provide some of the nicest touches in his characterization of the wise old mage. It is hard to believe Prospero could be so happily engineering a dynastic marriage, while plotting the permanent destruction of the head of the opposite house...