The Tempest by William Shakespeare

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Happy endings help leave a reader feeling comforted and hopeful that things can right themselves in the world, no matter how it is established. It can be done by two lovers finally getting to be together after a struggle, the ending of some sort of devastating war, or just a balance restored, with good prevailing over evil. Especially when dealing with Shakespeare, any sort of happy ending can be very refreshing to those who watch or frequently read the famous playwright’s works.
In the Shakespeare play The Tempest, a lasting response is developed with the happy ending through a moral reconciliation. Knowing that evil is correcting itself, without the death of a higher person or interference of something great, leaves the reader with the feeling that good can conquer all, and that evil will be defeated. The literary thought of the great chain of being helps us realize that balance can be restored if a king is put back in place. This happy ending is even more comforting because it develops a sense of all is restored to what it should be, with a rightful ruler, instead of a ruler who comes to power with what was thought to be murder and corruption. The Tempest leaves the reader feeling comforted through a happy ending through the reestablishment of the balance in the great chain of being with the rightful and good king back in power, the union of two people who are truly in love, and the fall of the plans of all those with evil intentions in the play, and their spiritual reassessment when they return to good. All these fortunate events help Prospero come to the realization that he doesn’t need magic to live out the rest of his life happily, and can instead be assured that he can die at peace and all will be right with his world.
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... the play, saying that “Every third thought shall be (his) grave,” (Act 5, scene 1, line 313). Prospero is, as Fay Weldon says, “even with the self, even at death.” While Prospero does not die during the play, he flatly tells the reader or audience how content he is with how his life has played out, especially now that his daughter has found happiness and protection and his power has been restored, his brother seeing the evil in his ways. As in many cases, Prospero has to use spiritual help to help regain his power as the Duke of Milan and find the balance in the great chain of being. However, once he has found that balance, and good has conquered evil, he vows to release his spirit, and releases his control of magic and connections to that world so he can die in peace, so content with how his life is ending that he accepts death, and ends the play preparing for it.

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