THE TEMPEST REPORT

1. PLOT
Prospero, an aspiring magician and the rightful Duke of Milan, was unfairly exiled, with his
daughter Miranda, from his dukedom by his brother Antonio and the King of Naples
Alonso.
Prospero and Miranda reached an island, where the witch Sycorax lived with her son
Caliban and her spirit Ariel. They survived there for a lot of years thanks to food, clothes
and books of magic that Gonzalo, a servant, secretly put in the ship.
In the island Prospero became a real magician and could overcome the witch Sycorax,
making Ariel one of his magic spirits and used Caliban as a servant beacause he previously
tried to rape Miranda.
12 years later Antonio (that meanwhile had become the Duke of Milan instead of his exiled
brother), Alonso (the King of Naples), Ferdinand (son of Alonso) and Gonzalo were going
to Tunis to celebrate the marriage between Ferdinand and the Princess of Tunis.
Their ship accidentally shipwreacked during a tempest and Prospero, that with his powers
saw the scene, made them shipwreack on his island, but in different points of the island, so
they couldn't meet each other.
The first person that Prospero and Miranda met on the island was Ferdinand, who fell in
love with Miranda and wanted to marry her. When, at the end, Prospero met Antonio and
Alonso and forgave them for their conspiracy against him and they returned all together to
Milan.
Ariel was released and Caliban was left alone on the island. Prospero became the Duke of
Milan again giving up his magical powers, and Miranda and Ferdinand got married.
2. CHARACTERS
Prospero, the protagonist of this comedy, is constantly looking for revenge and knowledge
(especially the knowledge of magic), in fact when he was duke, he gave his brother the
opportunity to rise up against him, helped by the kingdom of Naples, and ban him on an
island.
Arriving on the latter, together with her daughter Miranda and the magic books she
becomes the "Tyrant" of the island, enslaving Caliban, the son of the witch Sycorace (who
died in childbirth), and taking Ariel, former assistant of Sycorace, as his assistant, to whom
he promises freedom, which will be conferred only at the end of the vindictive requests of
his master (at the end of the play).
He is an enigmatic and controversial character, capable of sudden changes of emotion, just
think that he wants to take revenge on those who exiled and betrayed him, but during his
plan of revenge he worries about the safety of the innocent on board the ship, and comes to
think that the pains they have suffered on the island are sufficient as purification and that
forgiveness is the best way.
Another example of the difficult understanding of this character we find when Ferdinand
and Miranda fall in love, he is happy for this love that has blossomed even if he presents
himself as a tyrannical father to test their love and is strongly in favor of premarital
abstinence. But he succeeds in his goal of recovering his duchy, even if at the cost of having
to abandon his magic.
Prospero generates the plot of the opera almost by himself, as his various schemes, spells
and manipulations all work as part of his great project to achieve the happy ending of the
play, as a playwright would and precisely for this reason many critics and readers of the
work have portrayed Prospero as a substitute for Shakespeare, allowing the audience to
explore firsthand the ambiguities and the final wonder of the creative effort.

Miranda is Prospero's daughter. Although she has some vague memories of her time at
court when she was a child, in general she has no memory of a life other than being
isolated on an island without company other than her father and Caliban.
He is by nature kind, he takes pity on the unknown travelers he sees sinking into the storm.
She helped educate Caliban and took pity on him until she tried to rape her, since she
preferred not to have any contact with him.
She falls completely in love with the first young man she sees and is shocked when her
father is rude to him. He claims to have never seen him act that way before, despite
witnessing how Prospero acts with Caliban. Try to relieve Ferdinand's burdens as much as
possible. Among his achievements is the game of chess.

Ariel is an airy spirit attached to Prospero's service and impatient for his release. He was
confined to a tree by the witch Sycorax for refusing to serve her, and only freed when
Prospero arrived on the island. The memory of this imprisonment and the threat of being
so confined again is enough to prevent him from complaining too much about Prospero's
demands.
Shapeshifting, he is the main source of Prospero's magic, using his powers to fulfill
Prospero's wishes. He manages the storm of opening and by various means leads the
various castaways to their respective punishments and purges, making sure that they do
not die or commit truly serious crimes.
He is an experienced singer, supported by a chorus of minor spirits he commands, and
portrays Ceres in the mask. He also plays the tabor and the pipe. He is mischievous, but
not entirely insensitive: he recognizes human emotions and what causes them even if he
cannot feel them himself. He is freed once he has safely sent the ship back to Naples.

Caliban is the wild son of the witch Sycorax and is the only true native of the island. When
Prospero arrives on the island, he shows him all the secrets he knows, and in return is
educated by Miranda and her father. He attempts to rape the girl, and is later enslaved.
In his first speech to Prospero, Caliban insists that Prospero has stolen the island from
him. Through this discourse, Caliban suggests that his situation is more or less the same as
prospero, whose brother usurped his duchy.
On the other hand, Caliban's desire for the sovereignty of the island reflects the lust for
power that led Antony to overthrow Prospero. Caliban's conspiracy with Stephano and
Trinculo to kill Prospero mirrors Antonio and Sebastian's plot against Alonso, as well as
Antonio and Alonso's original conspiracy against Prospero.
His thoughts towards Prospero are brutally violent, but he is not immune to aesthetics and
loves the music that can be heard all over the island. Although distinctly human in form, it
is considered deformed by many and often called a monster, but its appearance, forced
servitude and native status on the island have led many readers to interpret it as a symbol
of the native cultures occupied and suppressed by European colonial societies, which are
represented by the power of Prospero.

Alonso is the king of Naples. An enemy of Prospero, he accepted Antonio's proposal to

help the latter usurp Prospero's throne in exchange for Antonio's oath of allegiance to
Napoli.
On the way back from his daughter's wedding in Tunis, a storm throws him on a magical
island, where he searches for his son Ferdinand, who barely dares to hope he may have
survived the shipwreck.
Ariel's curses and condemnations of the vanishing party arouse remorse in him and,
believing that Ferdinand has drowned, he runs away to do the same with himself. Trapped
in his mind, he wakes up and finds Prospero in front of him, and immediately returns the
freedom of his duchy and asks for forgiveness.
She reconciles with him, particularly when she discovers that her son is indeed alive, and is
more than happy to consent to Ferdinand marrying Prospero's daughter.
Ferdinando is the son of Alonso. Left alone on the island after the shipwreck, he is
convinced that his father has drowned, even for Ariel's songs.
He seems to have a docile and pure soul and falls in love with Miranda at first sight. He
accepts his condition of forced servitude to Prospero for his sake, and to receive Miranda's
hand. He accepts Prospero's condition of preserving his daughter's virginity until marriage.

Antonio is Prospero’s brother. He usurped the throne of Milan from his brother with
Alonso’s help, willingly abandoning the sovereignty of the Dukedom to Naples. He shows
no appreciation for the island, and finds Gonzalo overly talkative and silly. He has no
qualms about loudly mocking him.
He suggests to Alonso’s brother Sebastian that the latter usurp the throne of Naples, and
offers to perform the murder himself. Lacking chances to do the deed, he follows the King.
Ariel’s imprecations leave him searching for someone to fight. He is arrogant, cynical, and
a through-and-through villain, not willing to pray for salvation when the ship is sinking
and blaming the wreck on the mariners.
Faced by Prospero, who begrudgingly forgives him while taking back his Dukedom, he says
nothing. He is still able to mock Caliban, however.

Sebastian is the brother of Alonso, the King of Naples. Like Antonio, he is both aggressive
and cowardly. He is easily persuaded to kill his brother Prevented by Ariel’s actions from
murdering Alonso, he follows him in his search for the missing Ferdinand. He is arrogant
and insulting to his lesser. Ariel’s imprecations leave him searching for someone to fight.
He is frightened at the magician’s knowledge of his plot against his brother, but recovers
enough to mock Stefano’s pretensions.

Gonzalo is among the men cast ashore during the tempest that opens the play. He serves
as a counselor to Alonso, the King of Naples, though he once worked in Prospero’s service,
back when he was Duke of Milan. In fact, Gonzalo helped Prospero and Miranda escape
Milan. He filled their shabby boat with food, clothing, and prized books on the magic arts
from Prospero’s library. The care he took to ensure Prospero and Miranda’s survival
indicates an innate kindness and compassion that he continues to embody throughout the
play. Gonzalo attempts to get other characters to act kindly toward one another.

Stephano is Alonso’s butler. He has something of a taste for liquor, and is well-served
when he is cast up on the shore with a butt of wine that he held onto to avoid drowning.
Finding Trinculo, that is Trinculo is Alonso’s jester. He is a coward.
He has a taste for finery as well as for liquor, and plans to help Stefano become king of the
island, with Caliban, he swiftly gets the latter drunk and makes him swear obedience to
him. He quickly becomes lord-like, threatening Trinculo with violence. He listens to
Caliban and decides to kill Prospero so as to become king of the island and marry Miranda.
He is quickly distracted from this plot by some shiny new clothes, then tormented by
invisible spirits, before discovering that his master is still alive and that he is in serious
trouble.

Appearing only in the first and last scenes, the Boatswain is vigorously good-natured. He
seems competent and almost cheerful in the shipwreck scene, demanding practical help
rather than weeping and praying. And he seems surprised but not stunned when he
awakens from a long sleep at the end of the play.

Mariners try to keep the ship afloat during the storm, but soon realize that all is lost and
that their only hope is in prayer. They spend some time under strange hatches, haunted by
odd sounds, but then awake to discover that their ship has not been wrecked after all.
3. THEMES AND PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS
The Illusion of Justice
The Tempest tells a fairly simple story involving an unfair act, the usurpation of Prospero's
throne by his brother, and Prospero's quest to restore justice by returning to power.
Although Prospero presents himself as a victim of injustice working to right the wrongs
that have been done to him, Prospero's idea of justice and injustice is somewhat
hypocritical, although he is furious with his brother for taking his power, he has not
scruples about enslaving Ariel and Caliban to achieve his ends. At many moments in the
play, Prospero's sense of justice seems extremely one-sided and primarily involves what is
good for Prospero. Furthermore, since the work offers no notion of higher order or justice
to replace Prospero's interpretation of events, the work is morally ambiguous. As the show
progresses, however, he becomes more and more involved in the idea of creativity and art,
and Prospero's role begins to more explicitly mirror the role of an author creating a story
around him. With this metaphor in mind, and especially if we accept Prospero as a
surrogate for Shakespeare himself, Prospero's sense of justice begins to seem, if not
perfect, at least sympathetic. Furthermore, the means he uses to realize his idea of justice
mirror the machinations of the artist, who also tries to allow others to see his vision of the
world of him. Playwrights organize their stories in such a way that their idea of justice is
imposed on events. In The Tempest, the author is in the comedy and the fact that he
establishes his idea of justice and creates a happy ending for all the characters becomes a
cause for celebration, not criticism.
Obedience and disobedience
The themes of obedience and disobedience underscore the island’s hierarchy of power.
Prospero stands at the top of this hierarchy. As both the former Duke of Milan and a gifted
student of magic, Prospero is the most powerful figure on the island. He therefore
demands obedience from all of his subjects, including his servants and his daughter. At
some point, however, each of these subjects disobeys him. Caliban swears his allegiance to
Stephano, trading one master for another in an attempt to topple the island’s hierarchy
altogether. Other examples of disobedience in the play are more nuanced. Miranda, for
instance, believes she disobeys her father by pursuing romance with Ferdinand. But her
actions are actually in line with her father’s wishes, since Prospero’s harsh treatment of
Ferdinand is designed to make Miranda take pity on him and fall in love with him. The
situation is again different in Ariel’s case. Ariel has proven himself a faithful servant, yet
Prospero considers him disobedient when he asks for his freedom. These complexities
ultimately suggest that the island’s hierarchy of power is less stable than it appears.
Treason
Shakespeare weaves the theme of treason throughout The Tempest. The first instance of
treason occurred in the play’s prehistory, when Antonio conspired with King Alonso to
assassinate Prospero and succeed him as the new Duke of Milan. The attempt to kill
Prospero was both political treason and brotherly betrayal. The theme of treason returns in
the form of twin assassination plots that arise during the play. While Caliban and Stephano
plot to kill Prospero and take control of the island, Antonio and Sebastian plot to kill
Alonso and take control of Naples. Both of these plots get interrupted, so despite these
men’s treasonous intentions, they ultimately do no real harm. Yet the interruption of these
assassination plots does not fully dismantle the theme of treason. Perhaps indicating
future strife, the play’s final scene features Miranda and Ferdinand playing chess—a game
that can only be won with the metaphorical assassination of the opponent’s king. When
Miranda accuses Ferdinand of cheating, she recalls how her uncle Antonio cheated his way
into power twelve years prior. Does the future hold yet more instances of treason?
Monstrosity
The theme of monstrosity constitutes the flip-side to the themes of wonder and
admiration. Whereas wonder and admiration apply mainly to the beautiful and loving
Miranda, monstrosity applies mainly to the ugly and hateful Caliban. The word “monster”
appears most frequently in the scenes with Stephano and Trinculo. Upon first laying eyes
on Caliban, Trinculo identifies him as a fishy-looking freak, and he imagines exploiting
Caliban’s monstrous appearance for profit on the streets of a city: “holiday fools” would
willingly part with “a piece of silver” to witness the sideshow attraction. Caliban’s
monstrosity derives not from his appearance alone, but from the contrast between his
savage appearance and his civilized language. At one point Trinculo expresses surprise that
a creature like Caliban should use a term of respect like “Lord.” Although Caliban stands as
the primary example of monstrosity in The Tempest, Alonso also uses the word
“monstrous” to refer to illusory sounds and visions produced by Ariel.
Magic, Illusion, and Prospero as Playwright
The Tempest is full of Prospero's magic and illusions. The play begins with Prospero's
magic (the tempest), and ends with Prospero's magic (his command that Ariel send the
ship safely back to Italy). In between, the audience watches as Prospero uses visual and
aural illusions to manipulate his enemies and expose their true selves. At nearly every
point in the play, Prospero's magic gives him total control—he always seems to know what
will happen next, or even to control what will happen next.
Many critics see Prospero's magical powers as a metaphor for a playwright's literary
techniques. Just as Prospero uses magic to create illusions, control situations, and resolve
conflicts, the playwright does the same using words. Throughout the play, Prospero often
lurks in the shadows behind a scene, like a director monitoring the action as it unfolds.
Prospero refers to his magic as "art." In Act 4 scene 1, Prospero literally steps into the role
of playwright when he puts on a masque for Miranda and Ferdinand. In fact, many critics
take an additional step, and argue that Prospero should actually be seen as a stand-in for
Shakespeare himself. The Tempest was one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote before he
retired from the theatre, and many critics interpret the play's epilogue, in which Prospero
asks the audience for applause that will set him free, as Shakespeare's farewell to theatre.
Colonization
During the time when The Tempest was written and first performed, both Shakespeare and
his audiences would have been very interested in the efforts of English and other European
settlers to colonize distant lands around the globe. The Tempest explores the complex and
problematic relationship between the European colonizer and the native colonized peoples
through the relationship between Prospero and Caliban. Prospero views Caliban as a lesser
being than himself. As such, Prospero believes that Caliban should be grateful to him for
educating Caliban and lifting him out of "savagery." It simply does not occur to Prospero
that he has stolen rulership of the island from Caliban, because Prospero can't imagine
Caliban as being fit to rule anything. In contrast, Caliban soon realizes that Prospero views
him as a second-class citizen fit only to serve and that by giving up his rulership of the
island in return for his education, he has allowed himself to be robbed. As a result, Caliban
turns bitter and violent, which only reinforces Prospero's view of him as a "savage."
Shakespeare uses Prospero and Caliban's relationship to show how the misunderstandings
between the colonizer and the colonized lead to hatred and conflict, with each side thinking
that the other is at fault.
In addition to the relationship between the colonizer and colonized, The Tempest also
explores the fears and opportunities that colonization creates. Exposure to new and
different peoples leads to racism and intolerance, as seen when Sebastian criticizes Alonso
for allowing his daughter to marry an African. Exploration and colonization led directly to
slavery and the conquering of native peoples. For instance, Stephano and Trinculo both
consider capturing Caliban to sell as a curiosity back at home, while Stephano eventually
begins to see himself as a potential king of the island. At the same time, the expanded
territories established by colonization created new places in which to experiment with
alternative societies. Shakespeare conveys this idea in Gonzalo's musings about the perfect
civilization he would establish if he could acquire a territory of his own.