form'd 'em" and "confederates wi'th King of Naples" to bend Milan "to most ignoble stooping". It is obvious that Prospero was not conscious of what Antonio was doing and so, we, the sympathetic listeners feel for him although we know that he is partly at fault for his downfall. Prospero's anger and feelings of vengeance is understandable but we know that "there's no harm done". At the same time, as we listen to the usurped fling charge after charge at the amoral usurper like the sea waves beating relentlessly at the "yellow sands", Shakespeare questions the Prospero's usurpation of the "creatures" of the island -- Caliban and Ariel. We find out later that the powerful mage subjects the "most delicate monster", Caliban to "most ignoble stooping" and even the "fine apparition", Ariel is not spared from the magic of Prospero who has him at his beck and call. They cry for liberty but do they receive it from the usurped "master"? This is another of the important ideas raised in the play. Miranda listens attentively to her father as he relives how he had placed his trust mistakenly on Antonio, "like a good parent" and how it "beget of him a falsehood in its contrary". "He needs will be absolute Milan." This convoluted image reminds us of how the unknowing Caliban had placed his trust and "loved thee and showed thee all the qualities o' th' isle." The situation of Prospero "twelve year since" mirrors that of the "abhorred slave", Caliban. Meanwhile, it also presents Antonio and Prospero as complex political creatures surviving in the "realism" of politics. The usurped did not refrain from usurping others in a different place and time. Here, we see the men as truly brothers because they are alike in their usurpation. The only difference lies in Prospero's benevolence in his decision towards reconciliation. We are given enough to be sure that Antonio will never consider the very idea because he "made a sinner of his own memory". The man created...
