`His Discourse with Cupid` by Ben Jonson

Prospero generates the plot of the play almost single-handedly , as his various schemes , spells , and manipulations all work as part of his grand design to achieve the play 's happy ending . Watching Prospero work through The Tempest is like watching a dramatist create a play , building a story from material at hand and developing his plot so that the resolution brings the world into line with his idea of goodness and justice . Many critics and readers of the play have interpreted Prospero as a surrogate for Shakespeare , enabling the audience to explore

firsthand the ambiguities and ultimate wonder of the creative endeavor Prospero 's final speech , in which he likens himself to a playwright by asking the audience for applause , strengthens this reading of the play and makes the play 's final scene function as a moving celebration of creativity , humanity , and art . Prospero emerges as a more likable and sympathetic figure in the final two acts of the play . In these acts , his love for Miranda , his forgiveness of his enemies , and the legitimately happy ending his scheme creates all work to mitigate some of the undesirable means he has used to achieve his happy ending . If Prospero sometimes seems autocratic , he ultimately manages to persuade the audience to share his understanding of the world - an achievement that is , after all , the final goal of every author and every play Just under fifteen years old , Miranda is a gentle and compassionate , but also relatively passive , heroine . From her very first lines she displays a meek and emotional nature . O , I have suffered / with those that I saw suffer ' she says of the shipwreck (I .ii .5-6 , and hearing Prospero 's tale of their narrow escape from Milan , she says I , not rememb 'ring how I cried out then / Will...