ABSTRACT
In a passage of 160 lines toward the end of The Tempest, Prospero experiences two quite different revelations, expressed in his “our revels now are ended” and “the rarer action is in virtue” speeches. This essay seeks to chart the processes by which he, and indeed the whole play, arrives at these moments and moves from the one to the other. By doing so I hope to make out the dramatic values latent in the passage, plus the distinctive features of style by which these values are rendered.
