It seems that you are assuming that Prospero is acting in
service to revenge or vengeance at the opening of the play, which isn't necessarily
true. If vengeance is his motive, why doesn't he just sink the ship and drown the
passengers and be done with it? Instead, once Propsero confirms from Ariel that the
tempest has wrecked the ship as he intended, he asks:
Prospero
But
are they, Ariel,
safe?
Ariel
Not
a hair perished...
...Safely in
harbour
Is the King's
ship...
Prospero
Ariel,
thy charge
Exactly is
performed.
So, Shakespeare
goes to some trouble here to let the audience know, from the very beginning, that even
though he has cause to retaliate and revenge, he is concerned for the safety of those on
board the ship.
Prospero does not, as many of Shakespeare's
characters do, fill the audience in on his plans and schemes by way of soliloquies, but
he does seem to be acting all along by a premeditated scheme. He says, when Ferdinand
and Miranda fall in love at first sight in Act I, scene
ii:
It goes on, I
see,As my soul prompts
it.
Which indicates his power
over the events of the play. There is no moment that Prospero does not have ultimate
control over, so, when he gives his forgiveness and requests to be re-instated to his
Dukedom at the end, we can only assume that this forgiveness and reconciliation was his
plan all along.
He does put Alonso, Antonio, Sebastian and
Gonzalo through some hardship before the final reconciliation at the end, but, since
Gonzalo has only ever been his friend, it is hard to see the motive for this as
vengeance. He stops the killing of Alonso, and once his major scheme, the uniting of
Ferdinand and Miranda, is complete, he quickly reunites all parties for the final
moments of the play.
As I read the play, this forgiveness
showered upon Prospero's brother and Alonso is not some change of heart that happens
through the course of the play, but has been Prospero's plan from the opening scene of
The Tempest.
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