PROSPERO                 [aside] The charm dissolves apace,

And as the morning steals upon the night,

Melting the darkness, so their rising senses

Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle

Their clearer reason.—O good Gonzalo,

My true preserver and a loyal sir

To him thou follow’st, I will pay thy graces

Home, both in word and deed.—Most cruelly

Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter.

Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.—

Thou art pinched for’t now, Sebastian!—Flesh and blood,

You, brother mine, that entertained ambition,

Expelled remorse and nature, whom with Sebastian

(Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong)

Would here have killed your king, I do forgive thee,

Unnatural though thou art. (5.1.64-79)

It’s a wonderfully evocative account of a slow emergence from enchantment and from madness. The charm dissolves as imperceptibly as night gives way to morning, as darkness melts into dawn, and their reason, their rising senses (rising like the sun) disperse the ignorant fumes, the clouds of fantasy and frenzy that have mantled their clearer reason, obscured and obstructed their wits, as if they’ve been in a fog, or wrapped in mist. Prospero has to keep switching focus here; the aside comments on the scene as a whole, before he addresses the men individually. First, good Gonzalo, my true preserver, to whom Prospero owes his life, and who has remained a loyal sir to him thou follow’st, that is, to Alonso the king (despite the king’s many shortcomings). For Gonzalo’s sake, therefore, Prospero will show clemency to the king, pay his graces home (we might say, he will pay it forward), both in word and deed, even though Alonso (now addressed directly) was so cruel to both Prospero and Miranda, in supporting and enabling Antonio’s usurpation. And Alonso’s brother, Sebastian, was a furtherer in the act; he too supported Antonio’s coup, and is suffering for it now, with Prospero’s ever-favoured pinches. And finally, Antonio (still not named to his face), brother mine, flesh and blood: you allowed yourself to be swayed by ambition (you entertained it, were receptive to it, cherished it), and you refused to show either proper remorse or any natural bonds of familial and fraternal affection and duty. And, with Sebastian, you would also have murdered the king (that’s why Sebastian is being more fiercely tormented with those pinches now). I do forgive thee, despite your unnaturalness, your unkindness and disloyalty as a brother—even though your betrayal nearly destroyed me, both physically and mentally. Prospero the magnanimous…