In “The Tempest,” the goddess who appears in the masque as queen of the gods is Juno.
Prospero stages the masque in Act IV to celebrate the expected marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda. Iris introduces the spectacle, Ceres represents agricultural abundance, and Juno arrives as the highest-ranking goddess. Juno blesses the couple with honor, riches, marriage, lasting happiness, and prosperity in their future family.
Juno is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Hera and the wife of Jupiter. Her role makes her especially appropriate for a masque celebrating marriage: she represents queenship, lawful union, protection, and fertility. Ceres complements her by promising fruitful fields, full barns, vines, and freedom from scarcity.
Readers sometimes choose Venus because she is a major love goddess, but Venus and Cupid are deliberately excluded from the masque’s blessing. Their mythology is associated with sexual desire and the abduction of Proserpina, while Prospero’s ceremony emphasizes chaste love and a marriage not yet consummated.