In fairy tales, the captive princess is usually rescued by the prince. In this case, Miranda and Ferdinand appear to rescue each other. He rescues her from isolation on the island and offers her both his love and a crown. She rescues him from her father, offering to help him carry logs and offering her love. However, the reality is that both young people are playing the role Prospero has mapped out for them. That Prospero loves his daughter is clear, but he also needs her to bring his plans to fruition. At the play's conclusion, Prospero's biggest success is in marrying Miranda to Ferdinand. Certainly, regaining his position as duke of Milan is important also, as is the redemption of Alonso. But both these events are tied to the marriage between Miranda and Ferdinand. These two young people represent the promise of the future, since this promised marriage ensures that Prospero's children will inherit from the king of Naples. Clearly, this union is a sizable victory for Prospero.
The 1613 presentation of The Tempest to celebrate Princess Elizabeth's coming wedding further reinforces the fairy tale elements, in which the princess is rescued by marriage, taken to a new land, and lives happily ever after. This was after all the plight of princesses everywhere, who were little more than political pawns in a game of diplomacy.
Political marriages — and the union of Miranda and Ferdinand is a political marriage — were normal parts of Elizabethan life. The audience learns in Act II that Alonso's daughter has been married to the king of Tunis. She was also married in opposition to her wishes, according to her uncle Sebastian, who reminds the king that Claribel (Alonso's daughter),
the fair herself
Weighed between loathness and obedience at
Which end o'th' beam should bow. (II.1, 129–131)
Claribel, although loath to marry her father's choice, had to weigh her obedience to her father against her own desires. Obviously, her obedience to her father weighed more heavily than her own desires about marriage. This supports the argument that a woman's primary value is as chattel, to be bartered on the marriage market for the husband her father most desires.
