Friday night, as I am apt each spring, I attended the Utah Shakespeare Festival's tour when it came to campus. This year, they performed something out of the normal rotation and curiously enough chose "The Tempest". I participated in the discussion after the fact, and two members of the troupe thanked me for the comments I made, and I decided to share them here because well it's relevant to this blog and its purpose. They asked us about the theme of the play, what we took from it, and I got something different than everyone else.
Prospero pontificates aloud as he decides what to do with the shipwrecked enemies cast ashore on the island where he has been living with his daughter for 12 years. He mentions that "The rarer action is / In virtue than in vengeance" (Act V Scene i). For me, that is the denouement of this play. First of all, it comes very near the end of the play after the things with which most people are familiar occur (the monster, the lovers, and the second plot to overthrow the Queen of Sicily) and complicate things at the climax. Some of these are already unraveling, but Prospero still holds the strings of fate. At this moment, it lies within his hand to decide whether to return justice for the privations he suffered or to do and be better than those whose fates depend on the decision he makes. Prospero realizes in this monologue that it could portend far better for all for him to do justice, and better still it ends better for EVERYONE in the play. Nobody dies. Families are restored. Ills are forgiven. Captives are released. The Tempest is one of Shakespeare's plays where everyone actually lives happily ever after. It becomes possible only when Prospero decides on the virtuous response instead of the vengeance which occasioned the tempest and subsequent shipwreck in the first place.
I doubt most people understand this when they see, read, or think about The Tempest. Certainly, the USF troupe members seemed to have not thought of this before I mentioned it. Sure, they think of forgiveness, but this is actually a happy ending. For everyone. Virtue usually is the only way everyone gets the very best ending. Sure, Prospero's brother, forgiven though he may be for taking the Dukedom of Milan, lives under threat that Prospero will reveal his subterfuge to overthrow Sicily, but even Prospero and his daughter advance, for this was the only virtuous way for Prospero's house to also rule Sicily and advance in gentry rank. Nobody was hurt. Everyone lives. How many of Shakespeare's plays end this way? How many people do what is virtuous? What do we do when virtuous actions don't lead to a better state? Do we really think about what's best for everyone or just for ourselves?
For my part, I'm glad the USF took a departure from the tried and true cadre of plays portrayed on tour. I'm not really a big fan of The Tempest, but that's because of the speed and ease with which the children of Milan and Sicily get together. Prospero's daughter reminds me of a woman I once loved dearly, who loved me for me, who wanted to marry me, and so it is always hard for me to see that particular way in which two people live happily ever after. I do my very best to be my very best, and sometimes when I am my very best, you can't tell because things don't necessarily go visibly better for me. I did not get the girl. I did not get restored to my Dukedom. I don't become wealthier or recover lost friends. However, Shakespeare's outcome depends on all the characters placing compassion and vulnerability on the table and letting go of our desire to control and be validated. At the end, Prospero relinquishes his power, announces that all the powers he retains are the poor ones of his animal frame. Sometimes it's important to see people let things go, to stop demanding and controlling others, to set them free. Sure, we all like that to work out for us, and sometimes it does, but more importantly, Prospero gains no net increase. Unlike Job, he isn't more powerful or wealthy or respected. The advances come to those he loves- his daughter and new son in law. It is a play about sacrifice for those you love that actually works out. It's essentially, "I hope you're happy even if you're not mine".
Over the years since 2012 when I started going to these plays, the price has gone up but the quality has not diminished. I was sad to see the small audience size. I was sad that there wasn't anyone I wanted to invite. I was sad when it ended, because The Tempest makes the case in the end, once you get past the costumes and the quotes and all the other pageantry to a man who decides on virtue, which is so very rare. Maybe if more people decided to do as Prospero we could enjoy more prosperity.
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