The Tempest I

Question No.1 Who was Ariel and how did he come to be Prospero’s servant?

Answer:- Ariel was a spirit and a servant of Prospero. He had been captivated by a witch named
Sycorax in the heart of a pine tree and she had died before releasing him. When Prosperous
arrived on the island and saw him, he released Ariel by the power of his magic. In this way, Ariel
became his devoted servant.

Question No. 2 Who was Caliban? How did he look like?

Answer:- Caliban was the servant of Prospero. He was also the son of dead Sycorax. He had
more features of a fish than that of a man.

Question No.3 What did Miranda ask Prospero to do?

Answer:- Miranda asked Prospero to stop the storm that had put the ship in danger. She pleaded
with her father because the cries of the drowning sailors were knocking against her merciful
heart.

Question No.4 What did Prospero say he raised the tempest for?

Answer:- Prospero told Miranda not to be afraid and assured her not a single person should
perish in the sea. He said that he had raised the tempest for his beloved daughter’s sake.

Question No.5 Why did Prospero leave the management of the state to Antonio.

Answer:- Prospero was the Duke of Milan. Knowledge was his chief aim. Wealth and worldly
possession hardly mattered to him. He wanted to devote most of his time for secret studies.
Moreover, he thought his brother was loyal to him. So, he left the management of state affairs to
Antonio.

Question No.6 Who helped Antonio to seize the throne?

Answer:- Antonio’s soldiers, the king of Naples and other ministers who were bribed by the
Antonio helped him to overthrow Prospero and seize the throne of Milan.
Question No.7 What did Antonio’s soldiers do.

Answer:- His soldiers dragged Prospero with his daughter out of a palace. They did not dare to
kill them openly. So, they put them in an old and damaged ship to perish at sea.

Question No. 8 How did Gonzalo help Prospero?

Answer:- Gonzalo was very loyal to the dethroned duke. He helped Prospero by secretly storing
the boat with some necessary items like fresh water, food, clothes and Prospero’s precious books
which Prospero valued more than his Dukedom.

Question No.9 Who was in the ship that was caught in the tempest?
Answer:- The tempest had in a strange manner brought all the enemies of Prospero to the island.
The people who were caught in the ship were Antonio, Ferdinand, the king of Naples, Gonzalo
and the crew.

Question No.10 What did Ariel remind Prospero of, when Prospero mentioned more work?

Answer:- When Prospero mentioned more work, Ariel reminded him of his promise that he had
made with him which was to give Ariel his liberty.

Tempest II

Q.1 What did Miranda first think Ferdinand was and why? Were Ferdinand and
Miranda”s love at first sight true?
Ans. At first, Miranda thought that Ferdinand was a spirit. She thought so because she did not
expect a human being having the beautiful features Ferdinand was in possession of. Moreover,
she had never seen any handsome young man. She had only seen her father namely Prospero and
Caliban.
Ferdinand and Miranda’s love was definitely the love at first sight.

Q.2 Why did Prospero pretend to think that Ferdinand was a spy?
Ans. Prospero was very happy to see that Miranda and Ferdinand were in love with each other.
Ferdinand‘s love could be false. So, in order to test his love, he pretended to think that Ferdinand
was a spy. He wanted to be sure whether Ferdinand really loved Miranda.

Q.3 What was the task that Prospero gave Ferdinand?

Ans. Prospero assigned Ferdinand the job of piling up heavy logs of wood.
Q.4 What made Ferdinand”s labour seem light?
Ans. Miranda’s presence made Ferdinand’s labour seem light.

Q.5 What were the King and his party doing the meantime?
Ans. The king and his party were all wandering about on the island. In fact, they were searching
for Ferdinand who was detached from them during the shipwreck

Q.6 Why were they amazed to see Prospero?

Ans. They were amazed to see Prospero alive because they had thought he would have died
twelve years ago in the old and damaged ship in which they had put him and his daughter to
perish at sea.

Q.7 Justify Prospero”s statement, “I have lost my daughter…”

Ans. Prospero told the king that he too had lost his daughter in the tempest. He was right in the
sense that he had lost his daughter to Ferdinand. Miranda and Ferdinand had fallen in love with
each other and we’re going to get married. Thus, Prospero no more possessed his daughter. She
was now in the possession of Ferdinand, who was going to be her husband.

Q.8 Why did Prospero give up his magic powers?

Ans. He gave up his magic powers because he had no further use of them. He had achieved
whatever he wanted. He got his Dukedom back from his brother Antonio and King of Naples.
Moreover, his daughter was also happily settled with Ferdinand who was a young and handsome
man and above all loved her too much.

Q.9 What was Ariel”s the last service to his master?

Ans. Ariel last service to his master Prospero was that he created favourable winds in the sea.
The favourable winds helped the ship on which Prospero and his party were in sailing to Naples.