Prospero is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Character

Twelve years before the play begins, Prospero is usurped from his position as the rightful Duke of Milan by his brother Antonio, who puts Prospero and his three-year-old daughter Miranda to sea on a "rotten carcass" of a boat to die. Prospero and Miranda survived and found exile on a small island inhabited mostly by spirits. Prospero learned sorcery from books, and uses it to protect Miranda. Before the play begins, Prospero freed the magical spirit Ariel from entrapment within "a cloven pine". Ariel is beholden to Prospero after he is freed from his imprisonment inside the pine tree. Prospero then takes Ariel as a slave. Prospero's sorcery is sufficiently powerful to control Ariel and other spirits, as well as to alter weather and even raise the dead: "Graves at my command have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth, by my so potent Art."

• Act V, scene 1. On the island, Prospero becomes master of the monster Caliban, the son of a malevolent witch named Sycorax, and forces Caliban into submission by punishing him with magic if he does not obey.

Prospero's speech

The Tempest is believed to be the last play Shakespeare wrote alone. In this play there are two candidate soliloquies by Prospero which critics have taken to be Shakespeare's own "retirement speech". One speech is the "Cloud-capp'd towers...". Our revels now are ended: These our actors—, As I foretold you—, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind: we are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. — The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1 The final soliloquy and epilogue is the other candidate. Now my charms are all o'erthrown, And what strength I have's mine own, Which is most faint: now, 'tis true, I must be here confined by you, Or sent to Naples. Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands: Gentle breath of yours my sails Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant, And my ending is despair, Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so that it assaults Mercy itself and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardon'd be, Let your indulgence set me free.

Portrayals

Stage

Portrayals of Prospero in Royal Shakespeare Company productions include: • Robert Harris (1948) • Sir Michael Redgrave (1951) • Sir Ralph Richardson (1952) • Sir John Gielgud (1956, 1957) • Tom Fleming (1963) • Ian Richardson (1970) • Michael Aldridge (1974) • Sir Michael Hordern (1978) • Derek Jacobi (1982) • John Wood (1988) • Alec McCowen (1993) • Paul Jesson (1995) • David Calder (1998) • Philip Voss (2000), a production that utilized vocal music rather than instrumental • Malcolm Storry (2002) • Sir Patrick Stewart (2006) in Rupert Goold's very loose 2006 interpretation • Antony Sher (2009) • Jonathan Slinger (2012) directed by David Farr. • Simon Russell Beale (2016), a production directed by Gregory Doran that used Digital technology to create many of the special effects. Portrayals of Prospero at the Old Vic include: Portrayals of Prospero for the New York Shakespeare Festival include: Portrayals of Prospero for the Globe Theatre include: Portrayals of Prospero for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival include: Other stage portrayals of Prospero include: • Graham Crowden (1970), at London's Mermaid Theatre, directed by Jonathan Miller. • Sir John Gielgud (1974), at the National Theatre. • Sam Waterston (1974), Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center. • Sir Anthony Hopkins (1979), opposite Stephanie Zimbalist as Miranda at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. • Frank Langella (1989), opposite B. D. Wong as Ariel with the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City. • Blair Brown as "Prospera" (2003), at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey. • Ralph Fiennes (2011), at the Theatre Royal Haymarket directed by Trevor Nunn. • Harriet Walter (2017), in Phyllida Lloyd's Donmar Warehouse production, which was set in an all-women's prison and performed by the inmates. • Kate Burton as "Prospera" (2018), at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.

Film and television

• Maurice Evans, 1960 (TV, Hallmark Hall of Fame) • Sir Michael Redgrave, 1968 (BBC-TV, Play of the Month) • Heathcote Williams, 1979 (film version directed by Derek Jarman) • Sir Michael Hordern, 1980 (BBC-TV, BBC Television Shakespeare) • Efrem Zimbalist Jr., 1983 (videotaped production for Bard Productions) • John Gielgud, 1991 (film adaptation Prospero's Books directed by Peter Greenaway) • Timothy West, 1992 (voice of Prospero in abridged animated production for Shakespeare: The Animated Tales) • Helen Mirren, 2010 (film adaptation directed by Julie Taymor, renamed "Prospera") • Patrick Robinson, 2018 (Filmed for CBeebies at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, in front of a live invited audience ) Prospero-esque characters have included:

Audio

Audio portrayals of Prospero include: • Sir John Gielgud in four BBC Radio productions: 1933 (on the BBC National Programme), 1948 (on the BBC Home Service), 1953 and 1989 (on the BBC World Service). • John Barrymore (1937) (an abridged version of The Tempest on the 12 July episode of the short-lived NBC radio series Streamlined Shakespeare; this episode was re-broadcast on 31 August 1950 with the series' name changed to John Barrymore and Shakespeare) • Sir Cedric Hardwicke (1940) (a one-hour adaptation of The Tempest on the 24 November episode of the NBC radio series Great Plays) • Norman Shelley (1951) (BBC Third Programme) • Sir Michael Hordern (1960) (Argo Records recording) • Sir Michael Redgrave (1964) (Caedmon Records recording [SRS-201]) • Alec Clunes (1964) (BBC Home Service). • Paul Scofield (1974) (BBC Radio 3) • Ronald Pickup (1996) (BBC Radio 3 Sunday Play) • Bob Peck (1999) (The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare series recording) • Philip Madoc (2001) (BBC Radio 3 Sunday Play, adapted for radio and directed by David Hunter) • Sir Ian McKellen (2004) (Naxos Records recording) • David Warner (2012) (BBC Radio 3 Drama on 3, broadcast as part of the Shakespeare Unlocked series, adapted for radio and directed by Jeremy Mortimer)

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