Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies -William Shakespeare

The Plot / Background:

A storm (tempest) strikes a ship carrying Alonso(King of Naples) , Ferdinand (Prince of Naples), Sebastian,
Duke Antonio (younger brother of Prospero), Gonzalo, Stephano, and Trinculo, who are on their way to Italy
after coming from the wedding of Alonso’s daughter, Claribel, to the prince of Tunis in Africa. The royal party
and the other mariners begin to fear for their lives. Lightning cracks, and the mariners cry that the ship has
been hit. Everyone prepares to sink.

The next scene begins much more quietly. Miranda (daughter of Prospero) and Duke Prospero (elder brother
of Antonio) stand on the shore of their island, looking out to sea at the recent shipwreck. Miranda asks her
father to do anything he can to help the poor souls in the ship. Prospero assures her that everything is all
right and then informs her that it is time she learned more about herself and her past. He reveals to her that
he orchestrated the shipwreck and tells her the lengthy story of her past. The story goes that Prospero was
the Duke of Milan until his brother Antonio, conspiring with Alonso, the King of Naples, usurped his position.
Kidnapped and left to die on a raft at sea, Prospero and his daughter survive because Gonzalo leaves them
supplies and Prospero’s books, which are the source of his magic and power. Prospero and his daughter
arrived on the island where they remain now and have been for twelve years. Only now, Prospero says, he
has raised the tempest in order to make things right with them once and for all.

After telling this story, Prospero calls forth spirit Ariel, his chief magical agent. Prospero and Ariel’s discussion
reveals that Ariel brought the tempest upon the ship and set fire to the mast. He then made sure that
everyone got safely to the island, though they are now separated from each other into small groups. Ariel,
who is a captive servant to Prospero, reminds his master that he has promised Ariel freedom a year early if
he performs tasks such as these without complaint. Prospero rebukes Ariel for protesting and reminds him of
the horrible fate from which he was rescued. Before Prospero came to the island, a witch named Sycorax
imprisoned Ariel in a tree. Sycorax died, leaving Ariel trapped until Prospero arrived and freed him. After Ariel
assures Prospero that he knows his place, Prospero orders Ariel to take the shape of a sea nymph and make
himself invisible to all but Prospero.

Ariel is a spirit who appears in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest, Act I, scene II. Ariel is bound to serve
the magician Prospero, who rescued him from the tree in which he was imprisoned by Sycorax, the witch
who previously inhabited the island. Ariel is Prospero's eyes and ears throughout the play, using their magical
abilities to cause the tempest in Act One which gives the play its name, and to foil other characters' plots to
bring down their master.

Ariel’s name means ‘Lion of God’. Ariel may also be a simple play on the word "aerial". Scholars have
compared them to sprites (nymphs/fairies) depicted in other Elizabethan plays, and have managed to find
several similarities between them, but one thing which makes Ariel unique is the human edge and personality
given to them by Shakespeare.

The Poem: This song is sung by Spirit Ariel to Prince Ferdinand.

Full fathom five thy father lies; But doth suffer a sea-change
Of his bones are coral made; Into something rich and strange.
Those are pearls that were his eyes: Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: Ding-dong.
Nothing of him that doth fade, Hark! now I hear them,— ding-dong, bell.
Summary:

‘Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies’ is a song taken from Act 1, scene 2 of “The Tempest” by William
Shakespeare. The spirit Aerial sings this song to Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, who mistakenly thinks that
his father has drowned into the sea.

Spirit Aerial tells that the father of Ferdinand lies 30 feet below in the sea. However, his bones have been
changed like corals and his eyes are like pearls. Not a single part of his body has faded away and his body is
well-preserved. He says that the radical change that occurred in the sea (i.e., the tempest) was done for a
rich (better) and strange (unusual) result. Then he tells that the sea nymphs (fairies) are ringing the bell like in
a funeral. He can hear them and he asks Ferdinand to listen to the ding-dong sound of the bell.

Questions and Answers:

Q 1.  Is death meaningful in the poem “Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies”?

Answer. The death described in the poem “Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies” is a meaningful one. Usually,
when somebody dies drowning into the sea, the dead body is either eaten up by sea creatures or gets
decayed. But the dead body of Ferdinand’s father, Alonso, has neither decayed nor has been eaten up by the
sea creatures. Instead, it has been transformed into something rich and strange. For example, his bones have
been changed into corals and eyes into pearls. Moreover, the ritual of ringing of the death bell every hour by
the sea nymphs, that is usually absent in unnatural death, is present in the death of Ferdinand’s father. He is
accompanied by the sea nymphs. So the death described in the poem is a meaningful one.

Q 2. Find examples of onomatopoeia, alliteration, and assonance in the poem “Full Fathom Five Thy Father
Lies”. How do they contribute to the meaning of the poem?

Answer. Onomatopoeia is a word or combined words which sounds like the thing it refers to. An example of
onomatopoeia used in the poem is, “Ding-Dong”, which is the sound of the ringing of bells.
Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds especially in the stressed syllable of a
word. ‘Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies’ is an example of alliteration. In this, the consonant sound ‘f’ is
repeated.
Assonance is the repetition of the vowel sounds. An example of assonance is, “Of his bones are coral made”.
In this, the vowel sound ‘o’ is repeated.
These poetic devices add a musical and magical effect on the poem.