The Value of Vengeance In William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy The Tempest, Prospero uses his magic to teach his brother, Antonio, a lesson. There is more value in vengeance because it gives a sense of closure. The reasoning is simple: victims will feel secure knowing that their wrongdoers received penalties. An example of this is when Prospero used Ariel to punish the royal entourage in The Tempest. After containing them, he displays the sense of security he feels in his statement, “And these mine enemies, are all but up in their distractions. They are now in my pow’r; and in these fits I leave them” (3.3: 89-91). By imprisoning them, Prospero had delivered his vengeance upon the entourage. After doing so, he felt that he can just leave them because he felt confident enough that the punishment of his wrongdoers will make them repent. Accordingly, vengeance allows individuals to feel content coupled with safe knowing that punishment was delivered. …show more content…
An instance in the play emphasizes this when Ariel suggested to Prospero that he should forgive them. Prospero demonstrates consideration to the idea, “They being penitent, the sole drift of my purpose doth extend not a frown further” (5.1: 28-30). Prospero was willing to forgive them after punishing them and seeing that they were acknowledging their crimes. Moreover, the victim was going to put aside their hatred and forgive them due to proper punishment. So, with that in consideration, victims tend to need a reason to forgive. By punishment being declared, the boost in compassion towards another stresses the value of vengeance to be worth more than forgiveness because it will allow them to be willing to forgive their