THE TEMPEST:

Act I

1. Act One, Scene I shows the "tempest" of the play's title. How do the different characters react to crisis?

2. Who is Miranda? What is her reaction to the scene she has just witnessed?

3. Who is Prospero? How does he know that everyone has survived the storm?

4. How did Prospero and Miranda come to be on the island?

5. Who is Ariel? Why should he be grateful to Prospero, and just do what he's told?

6. Who was Sycorax? How does Prospero feel about her? Are there any parallels between Sycorax's story and
Prospero's?

7. Who is Caliban? What is his attitude towards Prospero's control of the island?

8. What event led Prospero to start treating Caliban as his slave?

9. Who taught Caliban to speak? How does he tend to use language? Why?

10. Why does Miranda think that Ferdinand might be a "spirit"?

11. What is happening as the play begins?

12. How would you compare the Boatswain's attitude to that of the members of the King's party?

13. How to the members of the King's men treat the Boatswain?

14. What is happening to the ship at the end of the scene (1.1.51 ff)?

15. List all the female characters, including those who appear or are merely discussed in this act.
A. What qualities do they demonstrate or are attributed to them?
B. Which of these qualities are expected, are considered typical or are presented as essential
qualities of women in this society?
C. Which of these qualities are valued or make women valuable in society?
D. What qualities are devalued or discouraged?

16. List the male characters who appear in this act.

A. Sort and rank them by social class.
B. What qualities do they demonstrate or are attributed to them?
C. Which of these qualities are expected, are considered typical or are presented as essential
qualities of men in this society?
D. Which of these qualities are valued or make men valuable in society?
E. What qualities are devalued or discouraged?

17. Would you cast Ariel as male or female and why?

18. Where do you see the symbolism of the tempest or storm in this act? Consider both the
literal/physical/natural and the metaphorical meanings.

19. What other images and themes emerge in Act 1, and from which characters and in what context
do they emerge? What arguments might the play be making through them?
 20. What motivates individual characters in Act 1? Consider Prospero, Miranda, Ariel, Caliban,
Ferdinand, the Boatswain, Alonso, etc.
A. Which characters seem connected and comparable based on common motivation?
Which characters seem at odds? How and why?
B. What arguments might the play be making given these commonalities and divergences?
Consider the interactions between the following characters:
Scene 1
Master – Boatswain
Boatswain – Alonso/Antonio/Gonzalo/Sebastian
Gonzalo – Sebastian – Antonio
Scene 2
Prospero – Miranda
Prospero – Ariel
Prospero – Miranda – Caliban
Miranda – Ferdinand
Ferdinand – Prospero
A. Based on how the characters speak to one another, identify who is in the
position of authority as well as what gives the authoritative person his/her
authority (class, gender, age, relationship, role, etc.)?
B. What in the authoritative characters’ speech (style, diction, & content) suggests
his or her authority? How do the subordinate characters respond to the perceived
authority? Do they acknowledge it? Do they accept it? Do they resist it or rebel
against it? How does their speech (style, diction, & content) reflect his or her
perception of and reaction to the person’s authority?

Note: In Elizabethan English, the pronouns “you” and “thou” were used. You/your/yours was
used to show respect (to one of higher status or authority) and formality (like “usted” in
Spanish or “vous” in French). Thou/thee/thy/thine (like “tu” in Spanish and French) was
used to show familiarity or affection/intimacy between people of equal status or was used
by one of higher status when speaking to one of lower status (whether due to class or age
differences, etc.).

21. Discuss the following characters as colonizers and/or colonized and support/justify your labels with
evidence from the text and clear definitions of terms. (Note: By definitions, I do not mean the dictionary
definition but an operating definition of what traits you see as essential and necessary to determine
colonizer and colonized.):
Prospero
Miranda
Ariel
Caliban
Ferdinand
22. What in the text suggests Shakespeare accepts Prospero as rightful authority? In contrast,
what in the text suggests Shakespeare sees Prospero as a usurper?

23. What in Ariel’s language suggests acceptance of or submission to Prospero’s authority? In

contrast, what in Ariel’s language suggests subversion of or resistance to Prosperpo’s authority?

24. This act is set on board a ship and then on a magical unnamed island about characters who
mostly originated in Milan or Naples, Italy. What (types) customs, beliefs, politics, events, etc., are
alluded to in the play? How would we go about discovering which society/culture (Italian,
Elizabethan, etc) Shakespeare is reflecting and commenting on?

25. Label the above questions based on the Literary Theory (or Theories) whose concerns they reflect