A Study of the Aerial Spirit – Analysing Ariel in The Tempest

A Study of the Aerial Spirit – Analysing Ariel in

 The Tempest

I. The Conjurer of Spirits: Shakespeare’s Late Art

A Study of the Aerial Spirit – Analysing Ariel in The Tempest- To fully understand the ethereal complexity of Ariel, one must first understand the stagecraft of his creator. William Shakespeare (1564-1616), in his final solo-authored play circa 1611, turned from the psychological realism of his great tragedies to the symbolic, masque-like form of the romance. The Tempest, a product of the Jacobean era’s fascination with spectacle and colonial encounter, features Ariel not merely as a special effect but as the crucial instrument of its meta-theatrical inquiry. Ariel embodies the very spirit of theatrical illusion—the unseen stage manager, the special effects technician, and the poignant symbol of the artist’s imaginative servant. For the student, analysing Ariel is key to unlocking the play’s central themes of artistic power, conditional freedom, and the ephemeral nature of performance.

II. Ariel’s Central Role and Key Themes

Ariel is the most potent extension of Prospero’s will and the play’s primary agent of action and transformation. An “airy spirit” freed from a cloven pine, he exists in a state of constant, graceful servitude, yearning for an freedom that is forever postponed until the play’s final moments. His character explores:

• The Spirit of Theatre and Illusion: Ariel is the incarnation of dramatic artifice—creating storms, music, visions, and transformations. He makes the invisible plot tangible.

• The Ethics of Servitude and Freedom: His relationship with Prospero is a contract defined by debt, compulsion, and promised liberty, interrogating the moral dimensions of power and gratitude.

• The Voice of Conscience and Judgement: Ariel often becomes Prospero’s moral mouthpiece, most powerfully when donning the harpy’s guise to accuse the “three men of sin.”

• Agency within Bondage: Despite his servitude, Ariel demonstrates subtle resistance, negotiation, and emotional intelligence, reminding Prospero (and the audience) of his sentience and desires.

• The Elemental Contrast to Caliban: Where Caliban is of the earth—base, bodily, and resentful—Ariel is of the air—ethereal, intellectual, and associated with music and mind. This duality structures the play’s exploration of nature and control.

This newsletter will trace Ariel’s pivotal performances and evolving relationship with Prospero through a detailed act-by-scene analysis.

III. Act-wise & Scene-wise Analysis of Ariel’s Character

Act I, Scene 2: The Introduction – The Debt-Bound Spirit

Ariel’s first appearance is a masterclass in establishing a complex power dynamic. He enters not as a cowering slave, but as a proud, efficient artist reporting on his masterpiece: the tempest (“I have flamed amazement… performed to point the tempest that I bade thee”). His language is vivid, poetic, and confident.

However, the exchange swiftly reveals the tension beneath the service. When Prospero assigns new tasks, Ariel’s plea for liberty (“Is there more toil?… Let me remember thee what thou hast promised”) is a bold act of negotiation. Prospero’s retaliation is brutal: a inward recounting of Ariel’s torment under Sycorax (“thy groans did make wolves howl”). This establishes the relationship’s foundation: Ariel’s service is compelled by a greater prior suffering, a debt of rescue that Prospero exploits. Ariel’s subsequent, wistful obedience (“Pardon, master, / I will be correspondent to command”) reveals a spirit tempered by trauma yet steadfast in his ultimate goal.

His next task—luring Ferdinand with song—showcases his primary dramatic function: enchantment and manipulative illusion. “Full fathom five thy father lies” is a beautiful, haunting lie, a piece of theatrical misdirection that shapes the emotional reality of another character.

Analyse this initial dialogue as a contractual negotiation. How does Shakespeare use the contrast between Ariel’s poetic descriptions and Prospero’s harsh reminders to establish a morally ambiguous relationship?

Act II, Scene 1: The Unseen Guardian – Agency and Observation

Physically absent but narratively central, Ariel’s role here is that of invisible sentinel and moral guardian. He listens to the treacherous plot of Sebastian and Antonio, a mirror of the original betrayal Prospero suffered. His intervention—awakening Gonzalo with an urgent song (“While you here do snoring lie”)—is decisive. He does not attack physically but frustrates the plot through precise, minimal action, reinforcing his role as an agent of Providential justice within Prospero’s design. This scene proves Ariel’s omniscient surveillance and his function as the extension of Prospero’s moral will.

Discuss the significance of Ariel being the witness to the conspiracy. How does this reinforce themes of divine justice, surveillance, and the repetition of sin?

Act III: The Illusionist and Moral Avenger

Scene 2: Ariel’s report on the comic conspirators (Caliban, Stephano, Trinculo) highlights his versatility and wit. He enters invisibly, mimicking Trinculo’s voice to sow discord, a moment of comic mischief that showcases a lighter aspect of his power. It also demonstrates his constant, diligent service.

Scene 3: The Harpy Scene – The Peak of Ariel’s Dramatic Power. This is Ariel’s most significant performative and moral act. Clad in the terrifying guise of a harpy, he transcends mere servitude to become the embodied conscience of the guilty. He is no longer just Prospero’s spirit but a “minister of Fate.” His speech is a direct, powerful accusation (“You are three men of sin… / whose wraths to guard you from… / The powers delaying, not forgetting”). Here, Ariel is the voice of judgement, and his action—making the banquet vanish—is a profound psychological punishment, a theatre of guilt designed to induce repentance, not physical harm.

This scene is crucial for essays on justice. Analyse Ariel’s transformation from servant to fateful minister. How does the harpy persona allow Shakespeare to deliver moral condemnation through spectacle?

Act IV, Scene 1: The Masque and the Master’s Mood

Ariel’s role shifts to celebratory artifice. As the director of the betrothal masque, he summons the classical goddesses to bless the union. This showcases the benign, harmonious potential of his and Prospero’s magic—the creation of beauty and order. However, Ariel’s character is further nuanced by his response to Prospero’s sudden fury upon remembering Caliban’s plot. Ariel’s description of the conspirators’ pitiful state (“And your charm so strongly works ‘em / That if you now beheld them, your affections / Would become tender”) is remarkably empathetically charged. It is Ariel who implicitly urges mercy, acting as a catalyst for Prospero’s change of heart (“The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance”). This shows Ariel’s developing moral influence.

Consider Ariel not just as an executor of orders, but as a moral agent who subtly shapes Prospero’s decisions. How does his empathy contrast with Prospero’s anger?

Act V, Scene 1: The Fulfilment and Flight

The culmination of Ariel’s arc. His tasks become logistical: gathering the nobles, fetching the Master and Boatswain. His report on the prisoners’ melancholic state (“Your charm so strongly works ‘em…”) is repeated, gently pressing Prospero towards compassion. His joy at the prospect of freedom is palpable (“I drink the air before me, and return / Or ere your pulse twice beat”).

Prospero’s final command, “Then to the elements / Be free, and fare thou well!”, releases the central tension of Ariel’s existence. His immediate, silent departure is profound. He does not give a speech; he simply enacts his liberty, vanishing into the element he personifies. This fulfils his defining desire and completes his symbolic function: the spirit of creative, theatrical illusion, once employed, is set free, leaving the human world to its own devices.

Evaluate Ariel’s final release as the necessary conclusion to the play’s themes. What does it signify that Prospero’s first act of regained political power is to relinquish his magical power (Ariel)?

IV. Important Exam Questions with Modal Answers

Question 1: “Ariel is nothing more than an extension of Prospero’s will, a tool without independent character.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Modal Answer: While Ariel’s primary dramatic function is undoubtedly to execute Prospero’s commands, reducing him to a mere tool overlooks the subtle agency, emotional depth, and moral influence Shakespeare invests in the spirit. True, he is the literal “instrument” of Prospero’s magic, enabling the tempest, the masques, and the punishments. His existence is defined by his debt and his yearning for the liberty Prospero controls.

However, Ariel consistently demonstrates independent qualities. He negotiates for his freedom, expresses pride in his work, and shows palpable joy and anticipation. Crucially, in Act IV, his empathetic report on the suffering conspirators (“your affections / Would become tender”) acts as a direct catalyst for Prospero’s transition from vengeance to mercy. Furthermore, his performance as the harpy, while ordered, channels a righteous indignation that feels personally invested. Thus, Ariel is best understood as a conscious, sentient being operating under severe constraint, whose desires and sensitivities persistently inform the play’s moral trajectory and ultimately help shape its compassionate conclusion. He is a partner in the artistic endeavour, albeit an unwilling one, not a mere tool.

Question 2: How does Shakespeare use the contrasting characters of Ariel and Caliban to explore different aspects of power, control, and nature?

Modal Answer: Ariel and Caliban function as a symbolic diptych, representing two opposing facets of nature and two models of servitude, through which Shakespeare explores the complexities of colonial and artistic mastery.

• Elemental Nature: Ariel is airy, ethereal, and intellectual; his magic involves music, illusion, and transformation. Caliban is earthy, corporeal, and sensual; his skills are physical—fetching wood, knowing the island’s resources. This contrast sets spirit against body, art against labour.

• Models of Servitude: Both are enslaved, but their servitude differs fundamentally. Ariel’s bondage is based on a debt of gratitude for his rescue from Sycorax; his obedience is efficient, though he longs for a contractual freedom. Caliban’s servitude is one of punishment and colonial subjugation (“This island’s mine…”); his obedience is born of fear and physical torment, his resistance overt and resentful.

• Response to Control: Ariel works within the system, using persuasion and negotiation to seek his end. Caliban rejects the system entirely, seeking violent overthrow and a new master in Stephano. Through them, Shakespeare examines whether control is better maintained through the mind (Ariel’s debt) or the body (Caliban’s punishment), and critiques the failure of “civilising” education versus the efficacy of manipulative contract.

Question 3: Discuss the significance of Ariel’s songs in The Tempest. How do they contribute to theme and plot?

Modal Answer: Ariel’s songs are not mere decorative interludes; they are potent instruments of plot advancement, thematic expression, and emotional manipulation. Each serves a precise dramatic function:

1. “Come unto these yellow sands” & “Full fathom five” (Act I, Sc.2): These songs are tools of enchantment and misdirection. The first calms Ferdinand, the second, one of Shakespeare’s most famous lyrics, artfully deceives him about Alonso’s death. They establish Ariel’s power to shape reality through beautiful falsehood, blurring the line between comfort and control, and introducing the theme of transformation (“Those are pearls that were his eyes”).

2. “While you here do snoring lie” (Act II, Sc.1): A song of urgent intervention. Its jarring content wakes Gonzalo to thwart murder, positioning Ariel as an agent of providential care and moral order.

3. The Masque Songs (Act IV, Sc.1): As Ceres, Iris, and Juno, the songs here are ceremonial and symbolic, celebrating chastity, marriage, and natural bounty. They represent the harmonious, creative peak of Prospero’s and Ariel’s magic—the art that blesses, rather than punishes.
   Collectively, the songs showcase Ariel as the spirit of music and poetic illusion, essential for the play’s emotional landscape and its exploration of how art can deceive, protect, judge, and bless.

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Keywords :

1. Ariel Character Analysis The Tempest

2. Ariel and Prospero Relationship

3. Ariel’s Songs Significance

4. Ariel vs Caliban Comparison

5. Freedom and Servitude The Tempest

6. Ariel as a Dramatic Device

A Study of the Magus – Analysing Prospero in The Tempest

A Study of the Magus – Analysing Prospero in 

The Tempest

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To comprehend the profundity of Prospero, one must first apprehend the artist who conjured him. William Shakespeare (1564-1616), in the twilight of his career during the Jacobean era, penned The Tempest around 1611. Often regarded as his last solo work, the play emerges from a context of developing colonial exploration, the sophisticated court masque, and perhaps the author’s own meditations on artistic legacy and retirement. The figure of Prospero—the deposed Duke turned island magician who controls, judges, and forgives—is frequently read as a richly metaphorical self-portrait of the playwright, the ultimate “artificer” who controls his characters and plots before relinquishing his creative power. For the student, this biographical lens is not incidental but central to unlocking the play’s metatheatrical depths and its complex treatment of authority, art, and renunciation.

The Sovereign of the Isle: Prospero’s Central Role and Key Themes

Prospero is the axial figure around which the entire world of The Tempest revolves. He is the play’s architect, its moral compass, and its most ambiguous psychological study. He embodies a constellation of interconnected roles and themes essential for A Level scrutiny:

• The Magus and Artificer: His "rough magic" symbolises artistic creation itself—the playwright’s power to conjure storms, spectres, and dramatic resolution.

• The Wronged Duke and Revenger: His backstory of usurpation fuels his initial desire for retributive justice, placing him within a tragic tradition.

• The Colonial Governor: His relationship with Caliban and Ariel interrogates Renaissance ideologies of mastery, education, and "civilising" imperialism.

• The Protective Father: His love for Miranda is genuine but often expressed through authoritarian control and manipulation.

• The Moral Philosopher: His journey from vengefulness to forgiveness explores Christian-humanist ideals of mercy and reconciliation.

• The Meta-theatrical Director: He self-consciously stages events, observes from the wings, and ultimately delivers the epilogue, blurring character and creator.

This newsletter will trace the intricate evolution of this multifaceted character through a detailed act-by-scene analysis.

Act-wise & Scene-wise Analysis of Prospero’s Character

Act I: The Expository Machiavel – Establishing Power and Purpose

Scene 2 (The entirety): This mammoth scene is the cornerstone of Prospero’s characterisation. He appears first as a didactic father, calming Miranda and initiating her (and the audience) into his history. His narrative of betrayal in Milan is a masterful piece of exposition, but note its potential partiality—it establishes his victimhood and moral high ground. His tone shifts markedly with his other "subjects":

• With Ariel: He is the exacting taskmaster. His promises of freedom are laced with reminders of past suffering (“Dost thou forget / From what a torment I did free thee?”), revealing a relationship built on debt, coercion, and conditional loyalty. He displays impeccable, manipulative control.

• With Caliban: Here, he is the colonial disciplinarian. Their exchange is a vicious cycle of mutual resentment. Prospero’s justification for tyranny—Caliban’s attempted violation of Miranda—is potent, yet his failure to educate (“I endowed thy purposes / With words that made them known”) speaks to a deep-seated, possibly racist, pessimism about “nature.”

• With Ferdinand: His feigned severity (“I’ll manacle thy neck and feet together”) is a calculated performance. His asides (“It goes on, I see, / As my soul prompts it”) reveal his true, orchestrating intent. He engineers the love match as part of his grand design, demonstrating his puppeteer-like control over human emotion.

Analyse Prospero’s use of different linguistic registers (narrative, threatening, imperious) to manage different relationships. Consider how his account of Milan may be a constructed narrative to justify his actions.

Act II: The Unseen Puppeteer – Power from a Distance

Prospero does not appear physically in Act II, yet his presence is omnipresent through his proxy, Ariel. This absence is deeply revealing.

• His omnipotence and surveillance are confirmed by Ariel’s report of the shipwrecked nobles and his intervention to thwart Sebastian and Antonio’s conspiracy. Prospero’s power operates as a form of divine providence or panoptical control. The parallel between Antonio’s past treachery and Sebastian’s present plot reinforces Prospero’s moral framework—he is observing a repetition of sin, which his magic will punish and correct.

Discuss the dramatic significance of Prospero’s absence. How does it elevate his stature to a god-like observer and reinforce themes of fate and control?

Act III: The Artist as Spectator and Judge

Scene 1: Prospero’s visible but hidden observation of Ferdinand and Miranda’s love scene is key. His silence here is more telling than his earlier interventions. His aside (“Fair encounter / Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace / On that which breeds between ‘em!”) shows his paternal satisfaction and approval. The stern test is revealed as a façade; his project of political restoration through dynastic marriage is on course.

Scene 3: Here, Prospero’s art reaches a sinister zenith. As the invisible stage-manager of punishment, he crafts the harpy’s banquet, a spectacular moral allegory designed to inflict psychic, not physical, torment. Ariel’s accusatory speech is Prospero’s voice, channeling his rage and demanding repentance. This is not forgiveness but judgement through theatre, targeting the “three men of sin.” It shows Prospero’s vengeful streak and his belief in the corrective power of traumatic illusion.

Contrast Prospero’s treatment of the lovers (benign manipulation) with his treatment of the nobles (harsh psychological theatre). What does this reveal about his sense of justice?

Act IV: The Vulnerable Artist – The Masque and its Fracture

Scene 1: This scene contains the apogee and sudden collapse of Prospero’s artistic control. The betrothal masque (Ceres, Iris, Juno) is a gift, a Neo-platonic ideal of harmony, chastity, and natural order—a vision of the future he desires. Its abrupt dismissal (“I had forgot that foul conspiracy”) is a crucial moment of humanising vulnerability. The famous “Our revels now are ended” speech transcends the immediate plot; it is a meta-theatrical meditation on transience, the illusion of art, and, by extension, his own life and power. His anger at Caliban’s plot is thus also an anger at the intrusion of base reality upon perfect art.

This is the heart of any Prospero essay. Analyse the masque as a symbol of his idealised vision, and its dissolution as a moment of profound philosophical and dramatic self-awareness, linking directly to Shakespeare’s own art.

Act V: The Renunciant – From Magic to Mercy

Scene 1: Prospero’s ultimate transformation. Dressed in his ducal robes, he completes his arc.

1. The Soliloquy of Renunciation: His elegy for his “rough magic” (“I have bedimm’d / The noontide sun…”) is both a celebration and a farewell. Breaking the staff and drowning the book are acts of wilful de-powering, a choice to return to humanity and responsible governance.

2. The Confrontation: Facing his enemies, he shifts from revenger to moral arbiter and merciful victor. He forgives Alonso (“Let us not burthen our remembrances with / A heaviness that’s gone”), warns Sebastian and Antonio with chilling clarity, and spares them. The forgiveness of Antonio—notably silent—remains deliberately ambiguous, a masterstroke of psychological realism.

3. The Releases: Freeing Ariel (“Be free, and fare thou well!”) is an emotional release from his magical self. His handling of Caliban (“This thing of darkness I / Acknowledge mine”) is a stark, possibly grudging, acceptance of responsibility for his creation/slave.

4. The Epilogue: The final blurring. Now stripped of magic, Prospero stands as an actor, pleading with the audience for applause and prayers to set him free. This completes the metatheatrical circle, making Prospero’s quest for freedom a mirror of the actor’s/playwright’s reliance on the audience’s grace.

Evaluate the sincerity and completeness of Prospero’s forgiveness. Is his renunciation of power convincing? Analyse the epilogue as the final, crucial piece of his character puzzle.

Important Exam Questions with Modal Answers

Question 1: “Prospero is a vindictive tyrant, not a benevolent ruler.” To what extent do you agree with this view of his character?

Modal Answer: While Prospero exhibits tyrannical tendencies, particularly in his treatment of Caliban and his psychologically cruel punishment of the nobles, to label him solely a vindictive tyrant is reductive. He is a complex, evolving figure whose initial desire for vengeance is ultimately superseded by a conscious choice for mercy and order. His tyranny is evident: he enslaves Ariel through conditional promises, subjects Caliban to dehumanising brutality, and manipulates Miranda and Ferdinand. His “project” is undeniably self-serving—restoration and dynastic security.

However, Shakespeare complicates this picture. Prospero’s backstory justifies his anger, and his magic is often used protectively (saving the ship, guiding the lovers). His ultimate actions in Act V are deliberately non-tyrannical: he renounces the absolute power of magic, forgives his enemies, and prepares to return to Milan’s constitutional rule, where his “every third thought shall be the grave.” His forgiveness, though staged, is a political and moral necessity that breaks the cycle of revenge. Therefore, he is better understood as a flawed governor who learns that true sovereignty lies not in occult coercion but in clemency and the responsible relinquishment of power.

Question 2: How does Shakespeare use the relationship between Prospero and Ariel to explore themes of power, freedom, and creativity?

Modal Answer: The Prospero-Ariel dynamic is the principal vehicle for exploring the ethics of creative and political mastery. Ariel, an “airy spirit,” represents the ethereal tool of Prospero’s art—his magic, his imagination, his ability to stage-manage reality. Their relationship is a contract: service for promised liberty. Prospero’s constant reminders of Ariel’s past torment (“the dark deep and loathsome den”) reveal power maintained through debt and psychological coercion, mirroring a ruler’s manipulation of subjects.

The theme of freedom is central. Ariel’s exquisite yearning for liberty (“Do you love me, master? No?”) underscores the intrinsic desire for autonomy that even the most efficient servitude cannot extinguish. Prospero’s final grant of freedom (“Be free!”) is thus a pivotal moment of renunciation; it signifies Prospero releasing his own artistic power, his “so potent art.” Creatively, their separation symbolises the end of the play—the artist setting his imagination free. Through them, Shakespeare suggests that true creative and political power is demonstrated not in perpetual control, but in the gracious act of release.

Question 3: In what ways can Prospero be seen as a representation of Shakespeare himself, and how does this metatheatrical reading deepen our understanding of the play?

Modal Answer: Prospero functions as a profound metatheatrical surrogate for the playwright, a reading that illuminates The Tempest as a meditation on the art of theatre itself. Prospero is the ultimate director-playwright: he conjures the opening storm (the play’s dramatic hook), manipulates characters into his plot, stages elaborate spectacles (the masque, the harpy), and resolves the complex narrative. His “magic” is analogous to theatrical illusion.

His famous “Our revels now are ended” speech explicitly links the island’s illusions to the transience of the “great globe itself,” a likely reference to the Globe Theatre. His abjuration of magic in Act V parallels Shakespeare’s own artistic retirement, the “drowning” of his book a symbolic farewell to his craft. The epilogue, where Prospero stands stripped of power, begging for applause, completes this: the character dissolves into the actor, reliant on the audience’s “indulgence” for his freedom. This reading deepens our understanding by framing the play’s themes of control, forgiveness, and release as reflections on the playwright’s power over his fictional world and his ultimate dependence on the audience’s judgement. It transforms The Tempest from a mere romance into a self-conscious commentary on the nature of artistic creation.

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Essential Exam Questions & Model Answers for Errol John - Moon on a Rainbow Shawl

For Cambridge students delving into postcolonial literature, twentieth-century drama, or the specific canon of Caribbean writing, Errol John’s Moon on a Rainbow Shawl is not merely a set text; it is a pivotal cultural artefact. This play, emerging from the heart of the Windrush Generation’s experience, offers a searing, intimate portrait of life in post-war Trinidad, grappling with the enduring scars of colonialism, the desperate pursuit of social mobility, and the complex dynamics of gender and community. This newsletter guide synthesises a complete LitChart analysis into a detailed, coherent resource. We have structured it with the keywords and queries most searched by Cambridge students: themes, character analysis, historical context, symbolism, and critical quotes. Written in precise British literary English, this guide will provide you with the depth required for high-level essay writing and examination success.

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