The Tempest by William Shakespeare - For AS & A Level English Literature

A Comprehensive Study Companion for The Tempest by William Shakespeare

For AS & A Level English Literature

This edition of The Insight Newsletter presents a definitive scholarly companion to William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, meticulously crafted for the Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in English student. This guide transcends a simple plot summary, offering instead a penetrating analytical journey through one of the Bard’s most complex and haunting late romance. 

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I. Author Biography: The Bard of Avon

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the pre-eminent dramatist of the English language, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. His career in London as an actor, playwright, and part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later the King’s Men) spanned the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras. His canon of 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and two narrative poems explores the full spectrum of human experience with unparalleled linguistic inventiveness and psychological depth.

The Tempest, written around 1611, is widely regarded as Shakespeare’s final solo-authored play. It emerges from a context of Jacobean court masques, European colonial narratives of the ‘New World’, and perhaps reflects the author’s own artistic farewell. The play synthesises genres—it is a romance, a tragicomedy, and a pastoral—offering a complex meditation on art, power, forgiveness, and human nature. For the student, understanding this biographical and historical background is crucial to appreciating the play’s nuanced treatment of authority, betrayal, and redemption.

II. Act-wise & Scene-wise Analysis

Act I: The Tempestuous Beginning – Expositions and Entrances

Scene 1: The play opens in the middle of things with a spectacular storm at sea. The Master and Boatswain, in vigorous, prose dialogue, battle the elements while the noble passengers (Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo) interrupt. This scene establishes themes of usurped authority (the Boatswain commands kings), nature’s sublime power, and social hierarchy in crisis.

Scene 2: The longest exposition scene in Shakespeare. On the island, Miranda’s compassionate plea to her father, Prospero, introduces the theme of empathy versus control. Prospero, in a measured, narrative speech, reveals their backstory: his former dukedom of Milan, his usurpation by his brother Antonio with Alonso’s complicity, and their miraculous exile. This expository monologue is vital for understanding motives. We are introduced to Ariel, the “airy spirit” bound in gratitude, and Caliban, the “savage and deformed slave,” embodying colonial conflict and the debate on nature versus nurture (“You taught me language, and my profit on’t / Is, I know how to curse”). The act concludes with Ferdinand, led by Ariel’s song, encountering Miranda—a meeting of love at first sight orchestrated by Prospero, who then assumes a stern guise to test their affection.

Note the contrast in language: poetic blank verse for nobility and magic, coarse prose for comic/low characters and tension. Prospero’s control over narrative mirrors his control over the island.

Act II: Conspiracies and Comic Relief

Scene 1: In another part of the island, Alonso grieves for Ferdinand, presumed drowned. Gonzalo’s utopian speech about an ideal commonwealth (“No sovereignty”) offers a vision of natural order and anti-colonialism, mocked by the cynical Sebastian and Antonio. Ariel’s entrance, lulling all but the conspirators to sleep, triggers a mirroring conspiracy: Sebastian, persuaded by Antonio, plots to murder Alonso, replicating Antonio’s own past treachery. Ariel’s intervention prevents this, highlighting providence and surveillance.

Scene 2: Introduces the subplot of comic relief. Caliban, cursed and tormented by spirits, encounters Trinculo, the jester, whose pragmatic and crude humour (“A strange fish!”) contrasts with the island’s mystery. Stephano’s entrance with “celestial liquor” begins Caliban’s comic mis-apprehension of divinity and power (“That’s a brave god, and bears celestial liquor”). Caliban’s shift of allegiance from Prospero to Stephano parodies the courtly conspiracies, exploring themes of servitude, freedom, and intoxication.

The structural parallelism between the noble and the comic conspiracies. Analyse how Gonzalo’s speech functions as a critical commentary on European colonialism.

Act III: Declarations, Debates, and Dread

Scene 1: Ferdinand’s log-carrying, a test of love, is interrupted by Miranda. Their exchange, one of Shakespeare’s most tender, culminates in mutual declarations (“I am your wife, if you will marry me”). Prospero, observing unseen, approves, showcasing his orchestration of reconciliation.

Scene 2: The comic trio plot. Caliban’s eloquent and vengeful persuasion to kill Prospero (“Brain him… burn his books”) is undercut by Stephano and Trinculo’s drunken preoccupation with finery. This scene deepens Caliban’s characterisation—he is both sympathetic and threatening—and underscores the theme of illusory power.

Scene 3: Alonso’s party is subjected to a symbolic banquet and harpy spectacle. The lavish feast, a tantalising mirage, vanishes. Ariel, as a harpy, delivers a powerful judgement speech, accusing the “three men of sin” of their past crimes. This supernatural intervention induces profound guilt and madness in Alonso, and defiant resistance in Sebastian and Antonio.

The theatricality of power—how Prospero uses spectacle (the masque, the harpy) to manipulate and morally educate. Contrast the sincerity of the lovers’ language with the fragmented, prose dialogue of the plotters.

Act IV: The Masque and the Metastructure

Scene 1: Prospero, accepting Ferdinand (“Then, as my gift, and thine own acquisition”), presents a betrothal masque. The spirits Iris, Ceres, and Juno enact a ritual celebrating chastity, fertility, and harmony. This Neo-platonic spectacle represents the apex of Prospero’s art—civilisation, order, and blessing. Its abrupt dissolution (“Our revels now are ended”) as Prospero remembers the “foul conspiracy” of Caliban is a metatheatrical moment, comparing life to an insubstantial pageant. The subsequent diversion of the plotters with glistening apparel and their punishment by spirit-hounds is a comic inversion of the masque’s grace.

The masque as a key to understanding Renaissance courtly values and Shakespeare’s own art. Analyse Prospero’s famous “revels” speech as a commentary on illusion, reality, and the playwright’s craft.

Act V: The Great Release – Epilogue and Resolution

Scene 1: The climax of forgiveness and renunciation. Prospero, in his ducal robes, stages his final scene. He delivers a soliloquy on his profound humanist magic (“Graves at my command have waked their sleepers”) but abjures his “rough magic,” promising to break his staff and drown his book. The enchanted circle gathers all characters. Prospero forgives Alonso, exposes but spares Sebastian and Antonio (with ambiguous tension), and is restored to his dukedom. The joyful discovery of Ferdinand and Miranda (“playing at chess”) symbolises a new, strategic order. Ariel’s report on the calmed seas leads to Prospero’s touching promise of freedom for the spirit (“Be free, and fare thou well!”). Caliban is chastened but gains self-knowledge (“I’ll be wise hereafter”). The play concludes with Prospero’s direct epilogue, asking for the audience’s applause and prayers to set him free—a final blurring of character and creator.

The resolution as an earned reconciliation, not a simple happy ending. Evaluate the completeness of forgiveness, especially for Antonio. Consider the epilogue’s significance in linking artistic creation to liberty and mercy.

III. Important Exam Questions with Modal Answers

Question 1: “The Tempest is more concerned with the process of colonisation than with the nature of power.” To what extent do you agree?

Modal Answer: While the play is undeniably engaged with colonial discourses through the figure of Caliban and Gonzalo’s utopianism, it is ultimately a more profound exploration of power’s multifaceted nature. Colonisation is one manifestation of a broader preoccupation with usurpation, control, and legitimate authority. Prospero’s power is complex: it is political (as Duke), paternal (over Miranda), magical (over Ariel, spirits, and nature), and colonial (over Caliban and the island). The play scrutinises the ethics of rule through parallel conspiracies (Antonio’s, Sebastian’s, Caliban’s) and the central theme of forgiveness as a greater power than vengeance. Prospero’s ultimate renunciation of magic suggests Shakespeare’s interest lies in the responsible relinquishment of power, a concern that transcends the colonial context to encompass personal, artistic, and political governance.

Question 2: How does Shakespeare use the characters of Ariel and Caliban to explore themes of freedom and servitude?

Modal Answer: Ariel and Caliban function as foils, representing two contrasting responses to Prospero’s mastery and two different natures (airy/spiritual vs. earthy/corporeal). Ariel’s servitude is a debt of gratitude for liberation from Sycorax; he performs his duties with ethereal efficiency but yearns for his promised liberty. His obedience highlights the contractual, if unequal, relationship with Prospero. Caliban, in contrast, is a colonial subject, his servitude born of punishment and perceived inherent savagery. His desire for freedom is linked to violent rebellion and a claim to native sovereignty. Both characters probe the morality of mastery: Ariel’s release is joyful, Caliban’s future uncertain. Ultimately, their journeys question what true freedom constitutes—is it Ariel’s release to the elements, or Caliban’s elusive self-rule?

Question 3: “The Tempest successfully combines tragic and comic elements to create a satisfying resolution.” Discuss.

Modal Answer: The Tempest is a prime example of tragicomedy or romance, blending elements to achieve a catharsis of joy rather than pity and fear. The tragic potential is real: Alonso’s grief, Antonio’s unrepentant evil, Prospero’s deep wrongs, and even Caliban’s tragic exploitation. The comic elements are found in the drunken plots of Stephano and Trinculo, the love-at-first-sight of Miranda and Ferdinand, and the farcical punishments. The satisfying resolution is achieved not by ignoring the dark elements, but by subsuming them within a framework of forgiveness, reconciliation, and theatrical magic. The comic marriage masque symbolises this harmonious blend. However, the satisfaction is deliberately tempered—Antonio’s silence, Caliban’s unresolved fate, and Prospero’s weary epilogue introduce a note of melancholy realism, preventing the comedy from becoming simplistic. The final harmony is thus complex, earned through trial, and reflective of life’s mingled yarn.

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