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Personification
Explanation and Analysis—Fortune and Destiny:
Shakespeare often personifies abstract concepts. One such example occurs in Act 1, Scene 2 when Prospero explains to Miranda how their enemies landed on the island:
By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune,
Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore; and by my prescience
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star [...]
Prospero quickly divests himself of responsibility by saying that "Fortune" brought his enemies ashore. He assures Miranda that their presence is meant to be and justifies his actions by claiming Fortune's approval. The opportunity to enact revenge and claim his rightful place in Milan has arisen, according to Prospero, by the graces of this "bountiful" entity.
Another example appears in Act 3, Scene 3 when Ariel chastises Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian for their misdeeds:
You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in't, the never-surfeited sea
Hath caused to belch up you
Ariel disguises himself as a harpy in order to address the three men. He tells them that Destiny, which controls the earth and everything in it, caused the sea to "belch" them onto the island because they were so unfit to live among other people. He personifies Destiny as a higher power with the moral authority to remove unfit people from society.
The capitalization of words like "Fortune" and "Destiny" suggests their humanlike quality by evoking names. It is interesting to note that the characters' fates do not depend on abstract forces but rather on people, which becomes evident in Alonso's betrayal and Prospero's appeal to the audience in his final soliloquy. Personification helps emphasize the fact that people—not intangible abstractions—control their own fates.
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