When Alonso thinks about his son Ferdinand, whom he still believes was drowned at sea, Prospero informs him that he himself has lost his daughter (lines 149-50). Prospero does this to test King Alonso, to make sure that Alonso truly is repentant. Alonso responds positively: “O heavens, that they were living both in Naples, the king and queen there” (151-52). Prospero is pleased that Alonso values the life of his son above his own and that he no longer values his own life and power over that of others.
Now that Prospero has regained his dukedom and is certain of Alonso’s repentance, he magically reveals the presence of Ferdinand and Miranda (at line 174). This action would be done simply on the bare stage of the Renaissance theater. A curtain or small partition would be blocking Ferdinand and Miranda, who would be sitting behind it playing chess. Prospero would then wave his hand, and the partition would then be removed.
Ferdinand is overcome with joy at seeing his father alive, and Alonso is equally delighted and amazed. Miranda, who has never seen so many people in her lifetime, is amazed for quite a different reason:
O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world That has such people in’t! (184-87)
Miranda, in all of her innocence, sees the world as a paradise. And, since justice and order will soon be restored in Milan and Naples, Miranda’s comment also serves as a hopeful prediction that the two kingdoms will live in peace and harmony from that time forward.
Ferdinand then explains to his father how he has chosen Miranda as his wife without his father’s permission because he had thought that his father was dead. Ferdinand describes his good fortune in finding Miranda as an act of “immortal providence” or fate (line 192). King Alonso, regretting the hardships that Miranda had to face on the island for so many years, realizes that he was partly responsible for Prospero and Miranda being stranded there. So, Alonso not only accepts Miranda as his daughter-in- law, he also asks her for forgiveness (line 201). Prospero, however, tells him that they should forget the sorrows of the past. Instead, they should look toward a joyous future.