English 154/180 Harlan
PLOT SUMMARY FOR THE TEMPEST
The Duke of Milan, Prospero, is more interested in his studies of magic and occult powers than he is in ruling the state. He turns over to his younger brother, Antonio, the actual operation of the government and concentrates on his intellectual pursuits. Antonio grows ambitious for complete power and makes a deal with the rival King of Naples, Alonso, for help in overthrowing Prospero. In exchange Milan will become a vassal state of Naples. The rightful duke and his infant daughter, Miranda, are seized by Alonso's troops and placed aboard a ship. To avoid the scandal of murdering an annointed ruler, Alonso orders Prospero and Miranda are set adrift in the middle of the Mediterranean in a leaky boat and left to die. A kind nobleman, Gonzalo, has pity on the duke and allows him to take provisions and all his books in the boat. Prospero and Miranda survive miraculously and land on a desert island.
Years before Prospero arrived on the island, a pregnant witch from Algiers, Sycorax, had been condemned and marooned there. She gave birth to a misshapen man-monster, Caliban. Sycorax had used her evil power to capture an island sprite, Ariel, and imprison him inside a pine tree. Sycorax died, leaving her son and the tormented Ariel as the island's only inhabitants when Prospero landed.
Twelve years pass while Prospero increases his powers of magic and is able to free Ariel from the tree and make him a servant while promising to free him from service eventually. He teaches Caliban to be civilized, until the monster tries to rape Miranda. From that point on Caliban is treated with harshness and kept as a slave.
Meanwhile Alonso marries his daughter to a prince of Tunis, and while sailing back from the wedding in Africa, his ship passes close to Prospero's island. At this point the play begins. The magician, with the help of Ariel, raises a great storm and separates Alonso's ship from the rest of the fleet and seems to drive it aground off the island. In Alonso's party are his son, Prince Ferdinand, his brother, Sebastian, the wrongful duke of Milan, Antonio, and Prospero's savior, Gonzalo. Prospero creates the illusion that the ship is sinking, frightening the royal party into leaping overboard. He then hides the ship and its crew in a state of suspended animation.
When Miranda expresses concern for the apparently sinking ship and its passengers, Prospero reveals to his daughter for the first time how they have come to be on the island. He tells her he has a plan which will restore him to his rightful throne while being revenged upon his enemies. We learn that Ariel is impatient to be free and that Caliban hates Prospero for taking from him his island. Prospero angrily denies their demands for freedom and threatens them with punishment. He uses Ariel as an invisible musician to lure Ferdinand to his cave where the young prince sees and falls in love with Miranda and she with him. Pretending to be angry and accusing Ferdinand of being a spy, Prospero disarms him and orders him into custody to perform menial labor. He tells us his real reason for this feigned oppression is to increase the passion of the young lovers.
Meanwhile Alonso and his party, convinced that Ferdinand has drowned, wander around the island. Gonzalo tries to cheer up Alonso by describing how the island might be made a utopian community. Antonio and Sebastian scoff at him and berate the grieving king. Ariel enters and charms Alonso, Gonzalo and courtiers to sleep. Seeing the defenseless king, Antonio urges Sebastian to follow in his footsteps and murder his brother to seize power. Just as they are about to strike, Ariel awakens everyone. The two conspirators, caught with their drawn swords, claim they had heard savage beasts.
In another part of the island, Caliban is sullenly collecting firewood when he sees a shipwreck survivor, Alonso's jester, Trinculo. Fearing that this strange creature is one of Prospero's spirits, Caliban hides under his cloak. Trinculo believes he has discovered the body of an island native. When the storm grows worse, he climbs under the same cloak for protection. At this point Stephano, the king's butler, enters. He has saved the wine from the ship and is completely drunk. Stephano mistakes the two frightened creatures under the cloak for a four-legged monster with two voices. When he finally recognizes Trinculo, he shares his wine. Caliban believes that Stephano is a god with heavenly liquor. He declares his freedom and swears obedience to the new master of the island and leads the two clowns off to show them Stephano's new kingdom.
Ferdinand has been ordered to haul logs; Miranda watches and feels sorry for him. While Prospero watches from hiding, the two swear love to each other. Caliban, meanwhile, convinces his new master to kill Prospero in order to seize his magic books and the beautiful Miranda. Stephano and Trinculo agree to the conspiracy. Ariel overhears them and then leads them off with invisible music. Elsewhere Prospero prepares a magic banquet for Alonso and the rest. When they try to eat, they are confronted by strange spirits and then by Ariel, as an angry harpy, who reminds the guilty of their past sins and tells them that the shipwreck and Ferdinand's death are the gods' punishment. Filled with guilt, Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio are led off under a charm.
Ferdinand and Miranda receive Prospero's blessing and their troth is celebrated by a magic show of spirits as goddesses. When Ariel warns his master of the approach of the drunken conspirators, Prospero breaks off the entertainment and sends the couple to wait inside his cell. He warns them not to give way to their lust before they are married. He has Ariel hang a clothesline with gaudy clothing outside his cell. When Caliban's party sneaks in to kill the magician, Stephano and Trinculo are distracted by the "glittering apparel," despite Caliban's urging them to act. Prospero attacks them with spirits in the form of angry dogs and chases them off.
Having completed his plot, Prospero voluntarily gives up his powers while Ariel brings in the king's party. He feels sympathy for Gonzalo, who is grief-stricken by Alonso's suffering. He greets his enemies and introduces himself, telling Alonso he too has lost a child. Then he reveals the two young lovers playing chess, and Ferdinand tells his father how he has fallen in love. Gonzalo calls the survival of Ferdinand and the reconciliation of enemies a miracle. Prospero then brings in the comic conspirators and reveals their plot, warning Antonio and Sebastian that he will reveal their crimes if they do not behave. Ariel is freed and returns to the natural world while Caliban promises to be more intelligent and obedient in the future. Everyone goes off to prepare for the return to Naples and the marriage of the prince and princess. Prospero's heirs will rule Naples and Milan. Ariel and Caliban will be left the sole inhabitants of the island.