1 Elizabeth Mrs. Weaver English 9 2/13/2017 The Tempest Research Project Have you ever heard of the play The Tempest? Or maybe you ve read it before. You might ve enjoyed the play as much as I did! But if you haven t read it, get ready for a lot of magic and drama. The Tempest is written by Shakespeare, so there s also a lot of Shakespearian talk. Here s a run-through of the play. Prospero is a magician and the rightful Duke of Milan. He and his daughter Miranda have been stranded for twelve years on an island after Antonio sent him away with Miranda. Gonzalo helped them get away. Prospero is served by Ariel, who was saved by Prospero after Sycorax, a witch, trapped him in. Sycorax s son, Caliban, was raised by Prospero. Miranda taught Caliban religion and their language. In slavery, Caliban has grown to hate Prospero and Miranda. Caliban tried to rape Miranda, so they look at him with disgust. Prospero made a tempest that causes passengers on a ship to believe they re shipwrecked. On the nearby ship are Antonio s friend and the King of Naples, Alonso s brother, and son (Sebastian and Ferdinand), and Gonzalo. Three plots alternate throughout the play. In one, Caliban finds Stephano and Trinculo, two drunkards, and believes Stephano is a god. They attempt to plot against Prospero, which fails. In another, Prospero encourages a romantic
2 relationship between Ferdinand and Miranda; the two fall immediately in love. In the last, Antonio and Sebastian plan to kill Alonso and Gonzalo so that Sebastian can become King. Ariel appears to the Three Men of Sin, reminding them of their betrayal of Prospero. Prospero has all enemies in his power, but decides to forgive them. All main characters are brought before Prospero, who forgives them all. Ferdinand and Miranda are to be married at Naples. After that, Prospero will free Ariel. Prospero breaks all his magic. My thesis statement is that Shakespeare provides adequate imagery in The Tempest by using excellent details and symbolism throughout the play. Prospero had this perfect plan of vengeance. He had everyone doing everything he wanted. He could ve easily have kept his plot going. But he decides to forgive all of them. Why? Prospero has Ariel doing most of his work, and in the middle of it, Prospero realizes, Ariel would pity the humans if he were one. Why would he realize that? Because he s completely torturing the humans! He s doing a great job at it. How? First, the tempest itself. He made everyone on the ship think that they re shipwrecked on an abandoned island, so that no one would think otherwise. He s also making them hallucinate like crazy! As in, making Ariel pop up randomly with the magical banquet and the wedding masque, and Ariel going invisible and whispering things to all of them. Ariel also plays random music that isn t supposed to sound random. Ariel also makes them see things, as in guard dogs. Prospero wants to do justice. How? By making everyone pay for their wrongs! But, Prospero doesn t get to pay for any of this. He acts like he hasn t done anything wrong. Prospero s sense of justice mostly involves what s good for him, and not anyone else (SparkNotes Editorial Team). He doesn t think of Ariel s justice,
3 who wants to be free from Prospero, but keeps him longer for his own justice! He doesn t think of Caliban s justice, who was put into slavery from Prospero after he tried to rape Miranda. Prospero also needs to make some sacrifices (SparkNotes Editorial Team). As in, he must be willing to give up his magic at the end of the play to be forgiven by them for the torturing he s done to them. To do that, he must break his magic staff and drown his magic book. Alonso also must make sacrifices to be forgiven by Prospero. He must give up his life and act like Prospero can take his life if he wanted, and he must give up his son (who he thinks drowned). Then, the great game of chess comes in to play. Chess has a symbolized role in the play. It s obvious that Prospero is a great chess player. How? Prospero put his game-plan out, and now he has everyone exactly where he wants them to be, everything is going according to plan. As in, Prospero married his own daughter to Alonso s son, Ferdinand, without the King knowing (SparkNotes Editorial Team). The King wouldn t know, because Prospero has moved him away from where they re at, and Ariel already told him that Ferdinand drowned! This is the final move of Prospero s plot, with the first being the tempest, and everything has gone the way he wants it (SparkNotes Editorial Team). Prospero also has the King in a position where he can t move. That s exactly how you re supposed to win the game of chess. Talk about checkmate! In the middle of the play, Miranda and Ferdinand play the game of chess. Prospero set this up so he can spy on Ferdinand. Miranda states, in the middle of the game, You play me false, to Ferdinand. Ferdinand states that he would never do that, indicating their relationship. But how did Alonso find out that Ferdinand is alive and getting
4 married? Prospero had them hiding behind a curtain, and when all the main characters came before Prospero, including Alonso, he pulled open the curtain. If that isn t an interesting way to find out your son is alive, I don t know what is. Why does everyone talk about Miranda s V-Card? She must feel uncomfortable when everyone cares about it! Prospero talks about it a lot. It s the topic of everyone else s conversation, which is weird. Like I said, Prospero talks about it. That s mostly because Caliban tried to rape Miranda, and didn t succeed. He did it because she s the most beautiful woman on the island, and probably the most beautiful woman ever! He also wants to make other Calibans. Prospero is very protective of her virginity. Why? Well because he knows she s the most beautiful woman ever, and someone has already tried to rape her. Also, because he wants the right man for his daughter, which is why he s so hard on Ferdinand and spies on him. Caliban talks about it also. He tells Stephano how beautiful Miranda is. Stephano states that he will be King, and she his Queen, and they will make babies and rule together. So, that becomes their plan; kill Prospero, and make Miranda become Queen and he will be King. Too bad that didn t work! It seems, though, that Miranda s virginity symbolizes goodness. How? It shows that she s pure, and isn t like any of the other women. It s also a special thing to her and her father, which is why she still has it. Another thing, it keeps the island s naturalness (Shmoop Editorial Team). That s probably why the island has almost no evil on it! All this talk about water is making me thirsty. Why does this story talk so much about drowning? Prospero says he could ve drowned the sea with his own tears. He just lost his dukedom to his jealous brother.
5 Other characters that talk about drowning are Alonso and Ferdinand. Both think that the other one has drowned, thanks to Ariel. Prospero set it up this way. Now, the symbolism of drowning. What does drowning have anything to do with the story? The finality of drowning represents loss and discouragement (Shmoop Editorial Team). It s also about the recovery of what seems to have been lost forever (Shmoop Editorial Team). For example, after Alonso and Ferdinand find each other not dead, we re reminded that new beginnings are possible. Everyone wants to rule the island it seems. First off, Gonzalo. He imagines a Utopian city that he would rule (SparkNotes Editorial Team). He also says, there d be no sovereignty. And yet, he d be King on an island with no Kingdom. Next, Stephano. Caliban tells him about the island. There s already a King on this island, and he has a beautiful daughter. Stephano says he would kill Prospero and marry his daughter (SparkNotes Editorial Team), and they would rule together. If only Prospero and Miranda would allow it! Finally, Sebastian. Antonio convinces him to help him kill Alonso and Gonzalo. What did Antonio say that convinced Sebastian to help? Sebastian would become King. The tempest is exactly why this story even exists. It s the main point of the story. Prospero created this tempest because it causes passengers on a ship to believe they re shipwrecked. Prospero wanted to teach a lesson. He wanted both Antonio and Alonso to learn to never betray him again after all the wrongs they have done. It seemed to have worked a little. At the end, Alonso feels sorry for what he has done, we re never sure about Antonio. Antonio never really shows that he s sorry, at all. Prospero didn t want to kill them, or cause any damage to their bodies. That s because Prospero isn t really an evil guy like we might
6 think (Shmoop Editorial Team). He forgives them all at the end, and he just wanted a little payback for losing his dukedom. Also, the tempest is made from magic, there s a lot of magic in the play! For example, the magical banquet that pops up in front of Alonso, Gonzalo, Antonio, and Sebastian. The wedding masque that pops up somewhere in the story. Ariel always pops up behind characters and plays random music that s not supposed to sound random. In conclusion, my thesis statement is that Shakespeare provides adequate imagery in The Tempest by using excellent details and symbolism throughout the play, and I can back it up with evidence. Prospero is torturing the humans by creating a tempest, making them hallucinate, and making them pay for their wrongs they have done to Prospero. Prospero is a great chess player because he has everyone around the island exactly where he wants them to be, and has the King in a position where he can t move. Prospero always talks about Miranda s virginity because Caliban tried to rape her, and her virginity symbolizes pureness. The other main topic is drowning, and how both Ferdinand and Alonso think each other has drowned. The symbol of drowning is loss is discouragement, and about the recovery of what seems to have been lost forever. Three people want to rule the island, Gonzalo, Stephano, and Sebastian, and each has their own way of doing so. Then, the whole main part of the play, the tempest itself. Prospero just wanted to teach both Antonio and Alonso a lesson about not ever betraying him again and all the wrongs they have done to him. That concludes my writing! 2002awesomegurl@gmail.com
Works Cited: 1. Shmoop Editorial Team. The Tempest in The Tempest. Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web, 25 Jan. 2017. 2. Shmoop Editorial Team. Chess in The Tempest. Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web, 25 Jan. 2017. 3. Shmoop Editorial Team. Miranda s Virginity in The Tempest. Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web, 25 Jan. 2017. 4. Shmoop Editorial Team. Water, Water, Everywhere! in The Tempest. Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web, 26 Jan. 2017. 5. SparkNotes Editorial Team. Themes, Motifs & Symbols. SparkNotes. 16 July. 2013. Web, 26 Jan. 2017.