Characters
From which country is Alonso’s ship returning when it is caught in the tempest?
Tunis
What does the tempest that begins the play symbolize?
Suffering and magical powers
What do we see Miranda and Ferdinand doing in the play’s final scene?
Playing chess
O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world
That has such people in ’t! (V.i.)
Miranda: She delivers the lines in the play’s final act, upon first seeing Alonso and his company of men. Miranda’s words of wonder express optimism about the possibility of new beginnings.
What was the location of the real-world tempest that Shakespeare drew upon when writing the play?
Bermuda: The Tempest” was based on an actual wreck of a ship off Bermuda that was headed to Virginia.
What shape does Ariel assume at the magical banquet in Act III, scene iii?
When Alonso and his party take up the shapes' invitation to eat and drink, Ariel appears as a Harpy and makes the food and drink vanish.
What kind of relationship does nearly every scene in the play depict? What is a major theme in each scene?
A power dynamic/Power and control
What does Caliban say must be done before Prospero can be killed?
His books must be seized
My high charms work,
And these, mine enemies, are all knit up
In their distractions. They now are in my power. (III.iii.)
Prospero: By Act III, he has already created distractions, confusions, and illusions to his enemy. At this point, he feels fully in control. Prospero fully reveals himself as a master manipulator, not unlike a puppeteer controlling his puppets’ every move.
How have many critics and readers interpreted Prospero’s role in the play?
Shakespeare's surrogate
Who or what is Sycorax?
Is Caliban a monster or a man?
The matter is left ambiguous
Who helped Prospero and Miranda to flee Italy?
Gonzalo
Beseech you, sir, be merry. You have cause,
So have we all, of joy, for our escape
Is much beyond our loss. (II.i.)
Gonzalo: Gonzalo offers these words of consolation to Alonso and his company. He attempts to convince the king that despite his son’s apparent death, it is worth celebrating the survival of the others.
What genre is The Tempest?
A comedy
What did Prospero do for Ariel?
Release him fromImprisonment
What is Prospero’s idea of justice? And why is it hypocritical?
Although he is furious with his brother for taking his power, he enslaves Ariel and Caliban in order to achieve his ends.
Who plots to murder the shipwrecked lords as they sleep?
Stephano and Antonio
Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
Which is not yet performed me. (I.ii.)
Ariel: reminds Prospero that he only does the sorcerer’s bidding in order to gain his freedom, and not out of any real sense of loyalty or enjoyment.
The play opens with Prospero explaining to Miranda the events that brought them to the island, and contriving to bring all the significant characters together again, we get the sense that Prospero and Miranda’s situation will soon be altered. What literary device is this an example of?
Foreshadowing
Who helped Prospero to escape to the island where the action of the play takes place?
Gonzalo
What does the parallel between Alonso’s desire to drown himself and Prospero’s promise to drown his book symbolize?
Their need for sacrifice
What does Miranda do when Ferdinand says that he does love her?
Proposes marriage
As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushed
With raven’s feature from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both! A southwest blow on ye
And blister you all o’er! (I.ii.)
Caliban: Hisfirst words in the play express his deep hatred for Prospero and Miranda. He curses them in two ways here: (1) he references the witchcraft of his mother, Sycorax, calling for her “wicked dew” to drop on them; (2) Then he references the southwesterly winds, which were humid and thought to carry disease.
Which mythical figures appear in the wedding masque Prospero stages for Miranda and Ferdinand?
Ceres, Iris, Juno (Goddess of agriculture and harvest, goddess of rainbow, goddess of love and marriage, otherwise known as Hera, Zeus' wife in Greek mythology)