The story of The Tempest is at its core a journey to home. Prospera has been pushed out of her home in Milan by her brother Antonio who had her sent to death. But she was shows mercy and sent away on a small craft upon the ocean waters that lead her to an isolated island. It is here where she continued her study of witchcraft in order to make her spells stronger. The opening scene of Prospera conjuring a storm to destroy King Alonso’s ship makes it appear that her desire is to destroy, to break apart anything that has broken her. But the true nature of her intent is to reconnect to her home, her lifeblood, the place where she was born as it still lives inside of her.
Thus, Prospera's bringing the royals to her island was about reinstating her name and forming a place amongst her people through the marriage of her daughter Miranda and Prince Ferdinand. And while Caliban seeks to destroy her for her lording power over him, his character serves to show what Prospera has become in her isolation. The violence and the power that stirs in her appears to be out of control when seen through the lens of Caliban. But the ultimate fate of her intent is seen in the final scene where she holds her staff above her as the waves crash upon the rocks below, and she shatters it upon the black hard rock below. It symbolizes that she was never searching for destruction, but for home. A place to belong is all she desired, and now that she has it she no longer needs the magic that once separated her from her blood, from the land that once nourished her soul as she will finally return.
