Prospero: The Wizard Who Has to Learn When to Stop

Prospero spent twelve years preparing for the day he could bring his enemies to the island. The storm in Act 1 is his, conjured precisely to intercept the ship carrying his usurping brother Antonio and the court of Naples. He has planned everything, including Miranda's marriage to Ferdinand, before the play is three scenes old.

He is the most powerful figure in any of Shakespeare's late plays and also the most controlling. He lords over Ariel (a spirit) with constant reminders of the imprisonment he freed Ariel from. He rules over Caliban with threats and magic. His daughter knows only what he chooses to tell her, which for twelve years has been almost nothing.

What the play asks is whether he can let go. His 'The rarer action is / In virtue than in vengeance' speech in Act 5 is his answer: he forgives Antonio, who never asks for forgiveness. Whether that resolution feels genuinely earned or just imposed is the central question in every production. He drowns his books and breaks his staff at the end. It looks like freedom, but could equally be his final act of control.