How would you characterize Prospero in The Tempest?

Prospero has been described as godlike in his detachment, doling out punishment and regulating the other characters' perceptions of reality. He has also been compared to Christ for his redemption of the sinful Alonso and his followers. Alternatively, Prospero Has been called domineering and exploitative for the manner in which he manipulates his own daughter and Ferdinand. Further, he has been condemned as cruel with regard to his harsh rejection of Ariel's impatience for free dom ("If thou more murmur'st," he warns the airy spirit in I.ii.294-96, "I will rend an oak / And peg thee in his knotty'entrails till / Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters"). It has also been argued that his takeover of the island and his enslavement of Caliban smack of colonialism. According to these viewpoints, Prospero is as much in need of selfknowledge and redemption as are his enemies, and while he starts out patriarchal, colonial, and vengeful in his attitude, by the close of the play he has recognized his limitations and has also learned forgiveness. What's more, it has been suggested that Prospero must learn to control his anger with reason, and to temper his sometimes arcane studies with the practical art of government before he is ready to return to Milan as duke, and that once he accomplishes this, he resembles the ideal Renaissance Man.