Sebastian: The Almost-Villain Who Gets Away With It

Sebastian is Alonso's younger brother, second in line to Naples and apparently content to be bitter about it. Antonio spots this immediately in Act 2, Scene 1 and makes him the same offer that was once made to Antonio himself: the power is right there, the current holder is asleep, no one is watching. Sebastian needs less convincing than Brutus and has fewer principles.

He is stopped by Ariel, who wakes Gonzalo at the last moment. He and Antonio invent an explanation (they drew their swords because they heard imaginary lions) and everyone accepts it, or pretends to. The attempted murder of a king goes unpunished. By Act 5, Sebastian is still free, still unexplained, and still offering nothing.

Where Antonio is cold and precise, Sebastian has more wit than judgement. He mocks Gonzalo's optimism with acid comments throughout Act 2, Scene 1, then nearly murders a man in Act 2, Scene 1 while those same comments are still in the air. He is equally impressionable in both directions.