William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a play about revenge and forgiveness. Prospero and his daughter Miranda are forced to escape to an island because his brother Antonio had stolen his throne. On this island, Prospero awaits his chance to enact his revenge and is plagued with the need to reclaim his rule. The movie Tempest is about seeking escape as well as forgiveness. In Mazursky’s film, the main character, Philip, is an architect going through a mid-life crisis as his wife, Antonia, betrays him by being adulterous. Unlike Prospero, Philip chooses to seclude himself on the island. The parallel between Philip and Prospero is that they both have had something special taken from them. Both Philip and Prospero are extremely self-absorbed, refusing to recognize anybody else’s feeling but their own. Prospero, aiming to restore order, takes justice into his own hands and conjures up a storm as his brother and crew are coming back from a wedding. Prospero is full of resentment and bent on revenge. Philip has subconsciously been plotting retaliation; he has been deeply hurt, but only shows his profound resentment when he conjures a storm to bring Antonia, her boyfriend, and their crew to the island.
Ariel in Shakespeare’s play is a spirit who is indebted to Prospero for rescuing him from an entrapment laid upon him by the mother of the one and only island resident, Caliban. Ariel is a critical character in the play, helping Prospero as if he were playing a clever game of chess using his brother and his shipmates as pawns. Both Ariel and Aretha, the Ariel character, play a vital role in bringing Prospero and Philip to realize the impact of their actions. Aretha, who is an incredibly attractive woman, throws herself at Philip and he denies her at every move. The sexual tension between Philip and Aretha (his refusal to give in to her advances), coupled with the vision of his wife through Miranda, shows that no matter how bad Antonia may have hurt Philip, he still loves his wife. Prospero, after being told of his brother’s suffering by Ariel, immediately shows a reserved remorse for his actions and asks Ariel to release his brother and his men from the bondage he placed upon them.
Soon after the storms subside, both Philip and Prospero have a sudden change of heart. Philip wants to return home and to the normal life he had with his wife and daughter. Prospero wants things to return to the way they were before. Prospero wants to reclaim his status as the Duke of Milan, and even though his brother has betrayed him in such a horrible manner, Prospero decides to be the bigger man, saying “with nobler reason ‘gainst my fury do I take part. The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance” (5. 1. 30-32). Both Prospero and Philip rise above their need for revenge and exercise the rarest of actions, forgiveness after extreme betrayal.
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