PROSPERO'S ALCHEMY: THE METAPHOR OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGE IN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S 'THE TEMPEST' (JUNGIAN, REBIRTH, TRANSFORMATION)

The metaphor of spiritual alchemy informs the theme of psychological change in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Prospero, by subjecting his enemies to ordeals that cause emotional stress and motivate examination of self, implements a project that corresponds with alchemical process. Many critics continue to view Prospero's influence upon the human characters largely in terms of magic. The power of the magus in fact expresses a wider range of arts; holy magic is only one branch of natural philosophy; spiritual alchemy, another branch, also attempts to perfect man. In his lifelong researches into the history of alchemy, Carl Jung connected the formation of alchemical symbols with his hypothesis of the collective unconscious, and the alchemical process itself with the process of individuation. Alchemical symbols correspond with archetypal symbols appearing in dreams of individuals unacquainted with the opus alchymicum; the parallel symbols point to stages in an acitivity in the human psyche making for the spiritual development of the individual human being. The narrative of The Tempest is rich in the imagery of alchemical change; the plot displays steps of a metaphorical process of spiritual alchemy in which the moral condition of some characters shows marked development. Prospero's project in The Tempest corresponds in method and in result with the opus and its psychological implications; aided by Ariel, Prospero brings about redemptive change as he reveals to the human characters a clearer sense of self.