Prospero from The Tempest by William Shakespeare
In case there was any doubt as to why we’re still reading and watching him today, here’s something from a production I saw last week that, somehow within, a part of me is made to resonate. With incredible power at his fingertips, the mastery of the elements and the sprites themselves, this character gives up his power for the sake of a greater happiness for both he and his daughter. Earlier, Prospero says “We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep,” which makes me wonder if Shakespeare thought that this sort of sacrifice–the laying down of great power for the greater good of others and the greater joy of forgiveness–is only the stuff of dreams:
“Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’ quick,
Yet with my nobler reason ‘gainst my fury
Do I take part: The rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance.”
– William Shakespeare, The Tempest, 5.1