The Tempest | Themes
Witnessing a banquet complete with sprites and the shapes of unicorns, Gonzalo says: "If in Naples, I should report this now, would they believe me?" (III.iii.27-28). His sentiments are echoed by reformed King Alonso in his final word on Prospero's island and magical art:
In The Tempest illusion competes with reality and wins despite what our minds, and those of its characters, might say....This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod;
And there is in this business more than nature
Was ever conduct of: some oracle
Must rectify our knowledge.
(V.i.241-244)
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