The opening and closing scenes of Shakespeare's The Tempest The opening and closing scenes of William Shakespeare's The Tempest are crucial to the meaning of the play as a whole. Through the deconstruction of the justice system in the tumultuous opening scene and its eventual superior reconstruction in the closing scene, Shakespeare is able to better develop and display the inherent character traits in the lead roles. Shakespeare immediately catapults the audience into a court that is not. united and strictly divided by political conflicts, as were the courts of his time. In The Tempest, the court is in a sense of disarray from the beginning with the shipwreck and its tumultuous and frightening sounds and images. The courtly conventions of politics and class are in great conflict, and the entire court is forced to move away through reality or magic from the court order to the enchanted island, where the characters function under a different order where the idealism is a reality. For these characters, the island represents an escape from the political and material concerns of the mainland, allowing for a period of internal meditation beyond the roles prescribed to them in the royal household. This internal meditation through the rest of the play is brought to a conclusion in the final scene, where Prospero brings all the characters together in a magic circle. This is where all their epiphanies happen and where the characters are changed for the better by the island. This change in the last scene is easily noticed by the audience, allowing for further characterization through the differences between the opening and closing scenes. One of the most complex changes in the play occurs within Prospero himself. In considering his motivations for "destroying" the ship and bringing the characters to the island, we cannot escape the sense that Prospero harbors great resentment for his treatment in Milan and is never far from wanting to exact harsh punishment. vendetta; after all, he has the power to significantly hurt the parties who have treated him so badly. We learn more about Prospero's character when he has a sudden insight at the beginning of the final act, when he decides that revenge is not the most appropriate response..