The Tempest Summary: A Magical Storm The Tempest begins on a boat, tossed about in a storm. Aboard is Alonso the King of Naples, Ferdinand (his son), Sebastian (his brother), Antonio the usurping Duke of Milan, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco, Trinculo and Stefano. Miranda, who has been watching the ship at sea, is distraught at the thought of lost lives. The storm was created by her father, the magical Prospero, who reassures Miranda that all will be well. Prospero explains how they came to live on this island: they were once part of Milan’s nobility – he was a Duke and Miranda lived a life of luxury. However, Prospero’s brother exiled them – they were placed on a boat, never to be seen again. Prospero summons Ariel, his servant spirit. Ariel explains that he has carried out Prospero’s orders: he destroyed the ship and dispersed its passengers across the island. Prospero instructs Ariel to be invisible and spy on them. Ariel asks when he will be freed and Prospero tells him off for being ungrateful, promising to free him soon. Caliban: Man or Monster? Prospero decides to visit his other servant, Caliban, but Miranda is reluctant, describing him as a monster. Prospero agrees that Caliban can be rude and unpleasant, but is invaluable to them because he collects their firewood. When Prospero and Miranda meet Caliban, we learn that he is native to the island, but Prospero turned him into a slave raising issues about morality and fairness in the play. Prospero reminds Caliban that he tried to violate his daughter! Love at First Sight Ferdinand stumbles across Miranda and, much to Prospero’s annoyance, they fall in love and decide to marry. Prospero warns Miranda off and decides to test Ferdinand’s loyalty. The rest of the shipwrecked crew are celebrating their survival and grieving for lost loved ones. Alonso believes that he has lost his beloved son, Ferdinand. Caliban’s New Master Stefano, Alonso’s drunken butler, discovers Caliban in a glade. Caliban decides to worship the drunken Stefano and make him his new master in order to escape Prospero’s power. Caliban describes Prospero’s cruelty and persuades Stefano to murder him by promising that Stefano can marry Miranda and rule the island. The other shipwreck survivors have been trekking across the island and stop to rest. Ariel casts a spell on Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio and derides them for their treatment of Prospero. Gonzalo and the others think that the spellbound men are suffering from the guilt of their past actions and promise to ensure their safety. Prospero finally concedes and agrees to the marriage of Miranda and Ferdinand and goes off to foil Caliban’s murderous plot. He orders Ariel to hang out beautiful clothes to distract the three fools. When Caliban and Stefano discover the clothes, they decide to steal them – Prospero arranges for goblins to “grind their joints”. Prospero’s Forgiveness Prospero assembles his enemies: Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian. After chastising them for their past treatment of him and his daughter, he forgives them. Alonso discovers that his son Ferdinand is still alive and in love with Miranda. Plans are made to return to Milan. Prospero also forgives Caliban and grants Ariel his freedom. THEMES In The Tempest, power and control are dominant themes. Many of the characters are locked into a power struggle for their freedom and for control of the island, forcing some characters (both good and evil) to abuse their power. For example: Prospero enslaves and treats Caliban badly Antonio and Sebastian plot to kill Alonso Antonio and Alonso aim to get rid of Prospero The Tempest: Power Relationships In order to demonstrate power relationships in The Tempest, Shakespeare plays with master/servant relationships. For example, in the story Prospero is master to Ariel and Caliban – although Prospero conducts each of these relationships differently, both Ariel and Caliban are acutely aware of their subservience. This leads to Caliban challenging Prospero’s control by taking on Stefano as his new master. However, in trying to escape one power relationship, Caliban quickly creates another when he persuades Stefano to murder Prospero by promising that he can marry Miranda and rule the island. Power relationships are inescapable in the play. Indeed, when Gonzalo envisages an equal world with no sovereignty, he is mocked. Sebastian reminds him that he would still be king and would therefore still have power – even if he did not exercise it. The Tempest: Colonization Many of the characters compete for colonial control of the island – a reflection of England’s colonial expansion in Shakespeare’s time. Sycorax, the original colonizer, came from Algiers with her son Caliban and reportedly performed evil deeds. When Prospero arrived on the island he enslaved its inhabitants and the power struggle for colonial control began - in turn raising issues of fairness in The Tempest Each character has a plan for the island if they were in charge: Caliban wants to “people the isle with Caliban’s,” Stefano plans to murder his way into power and Gonzalo imagines an idyllic mutually controlled society. Ironically, Gonzalo is one of the few characters in the play who is honest, loyal and kind throughout – in other words: a potential King. Shakespeare is calling into question the right to rule by debating which qualities a good ruler should posses – and each of the characters with colonial ambitions embody a particular aspect of the debate: Prospero: embodies the all-controlling, omnipresent ruler Gonzalo: embodies the utopian visionary Caliban: embodies the rightful native ruler Ultimately, Miranda and Ferdinand take control of the island, but what sort of rulers will they make? The audience is asked to question their suitability: Are they too weak to rule after we have seen them manipulated by Prospero and Alonso? The Tempest Analysis: Prospero Although Prospero has been treated badly at the hands of the Milan nobility, Shakespeare has made him a difficult character to sympathize with. For example: Prospero’s title in Milan was usurped, yet he did much the same thing to Caliban and Ariel by enslaving them and taking control of their island. Alonso and Antonio cruelly cast Prospero and Miranda out to sea, yet Prospero’s revenge is equally as cruel: he creates a horrific storm which destroys the boat and throws his noble counterparts into the sea. Prospero and Caliban In the story of The Tempest, Prospero’s enslavement and punishment of Caliban is difficult to reconcile with fairness and the extent of Prospero’s control is morally questionable. Caliban had once loved Prospero and showed him everything there was to know about the island, but Prospero’s considers his education of Caliban as more valuable. However, our sympathies firmly lay with Prospero when we learn that Caliban had tried to violate Miranda. Even when he forgives Caliban at the end of the play, he promises to “take responsibility” for him and continue to be his master. Prospero’s Forgiveness Prospero uses his magic as a form of power and control and gets his own way in every situation. Even though he does ultimately forgive his brother and the king, this could be considered to be a way to reinstate his Dukedom and ensure the marriage of his daughter to Ferdinand, soon to become King. Prospero has secured his safe passage back to Milan, the reinstatement of his title and a powerful connection to royalty through the marriage of his daughter – and managed to present it as an act of forgiveness! Although superficially encouraging us to sympathize with Prospero, Shakespeare questions the idea of fairness in The Tempest. The morality behind Prospero’s actions is highly subjective, despite the happy ending which is conventionally employed to “right the wrongs” of the play.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 09:20:50 +0000