The Tempest

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1. ACT 1

   A storm wrecks the King of Naples' ship on Prospero's island. Prospero tells Miranda for the first time how his brother Antonio usurped his dukedom; he commands the spirit Ariel and the slave Caliban, and brings the King's son Ferdinand to meet — and instantly love — Miranda.

   1. Scene 1

      Aboard a ship caught in a tempest, the Boatswain fights to save the vessel while the panicking noblemen only hinder him ('What cares these roarers for the name of king?'). The ship seems to split, and all take to prayers.

   2. Scene 2

      On the island Prospero calms the frightened Miranda and tells her at last their history: how his brother Antonio, with the King of Naples, usurped his dukedom of Milan and set them adrift, saved only by old Gonzalo's kindness. He raises the storm by his art; the spirit Ariel reports the castaways scattered and unharmed and presses for promised freedom; Prospero recalls freeing Ariel from the witch Sycorax's curse and rebukes the resentful Caliban. Ariel leads the grieving Ferdinand to Miranda; the two fall in love at sight, and Prospero, secretly pleased, feigns harshness and sets Ferdinand to hard labour to test him.

2. ACT 2

   The shipwrecked court party wanders the island. Antonio tempts Sebastian to murder the sleeping King; meanwhile Caliban meets the drunken Stephano and Trinculo and takes them for gods.

   1. Scene 1 — --Another part of the island

      The castaway lords search for the lost Ferdinand; the hopeful Gonzalo, sparring with the cynical Antonio and Sebastian, daydreams of the ideal commonwealth he would plant on the island. Ariel's music charms most of the company asleep; Antonio persuades Sebastian to kill his brother Alonso and seize Naples, but Ariel wakes the sleepers just in time.

   2. Scene 2 — Another part of the island

      Caliban, cursing his master, mistakes the jester Trinculo and the drunken butler Stephano for spirits. Sharing Stephano's bottle, he hails the butler as a god, swears to serve him, and offers to show him the island's secrets — a drunken parody of conquest and worship.

3. ACT 3

   Ferdinand and Miranda pledge their love; Caliban plots Prospero's murder with the drunkards; and Ariel, as a harpy, confronts the 'three men of sin' with their crime.

   1. Scene 1 — Before PROSPERO'S cell

      Bearing logs at Prospero's command, Ferdinand is comforted by Miranda; the two confess their love and exchange vows of marriage, secretly watched and blessed by Prospero.

   2. Scene 2 — Another part of the island

      Drunk, Caliban urges Stephano to murder Prospero in his sleep, burn his books, and take the island and Miranda. The invisible Ariel sows discord by mimicking their voices, and the island's mysterious music awes even Caliban ('the isle is full of noises').

   3. Scene 3 — Another part of the island

      As the weary court party rests, a banquet magically appears, then vanishes as Ariel descends like a harpy and denounces Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian for their old sin against Prospero, promising 'ling'ring perdition' unless they repent. The stricken Alonso despairs and rushes off.

4. ACT 4

   Prospero blesses the betrothal with a masque of goddesses, then breaks it off to foil Caliban's murder plot.

   1. Scene 1 — Before PROSPERO'S cell

      Prospero gives Miranda to Ferdinand, warning them to keep chaste until the wedding, and conjures a masque in which the goddesses Iris, Ceres, and Juno bless the couple with marriage and plenty while nymphs and reapers dance. Suddenly remembering Caliban's conspiracy, Prospero ends the vision ('Our revels now are ended... We are such stuff as dreams are made on'), sets spirit-hounds to chase the drunken plotters, and reflects that the whole world will one day dissolve like the pageant.

5. ACT 5

   Moved by Ariel's pity, Prospero forgives his enemies, reveals himself, restores Ferdinand to his father, renounces his magic, and frees Ariel; in an epilogue he asks the audience to set him free.

   1. Scene 1 — Before the cell of PROSPERO.

      Told by Ariel how the spellbound castaways suffer, Prospero chooses 'virtue' over 'vengeance' and releases them. He reveals himself to the penitent Alonso, who restores his dukedom, and discloses Ferdinand and Miranda at chess — to her wonder at the 'brave new world.' The Boatswain reports the ship whole and ready; the drunken plotters are driven in and shamed, and Caliban resolves to 'seek for grace.' Prospero invites all to hear his story, sets Ariel free, and abjures his rough magic. Alone in the Epilogue, his charms gone, he asks the audience's applause and prayers to release him from the island.

Characters

• Prospero protagonist

  The rightful Duke of Milan, deposed twelve years before by his brother Antonio and set adrift with his infant daughter. A scholar-magician who rules a remote island through his spirit Ariel and his books of art, he raises the storm that wrecks his enemies ashore to confront them, reclaim his dukedom, and — choosing 'virtue' over 'vengeance' — forgive and lay his magic down.

• Ariel deuteragonist

  An airy spirit freed by Prospero from the witch Sycorax's curse and bound to serve him in return. Ariel raises the tempest, torments and shepherds the castaways with music and illusion, and longs throughout for the liberty Prospero finally grants. Neither human nor earthbound, Ariel is the instrument of the play's magic.

• Miranda major

  Prospero's daughter, raised on the island since infancy and remembering no human face but her father's. Innocent and compassionate, she pities the shipwrecked and falls in love with Ferdinand at first sight. Her wonder at the newcomers gives the play its most famous line, 'O brave new world, That has such people in't!'

• Caliban major

  The deformed son of the dead witch Sycorax and the island's first inhabitant, now Prospero's resentful slave. He once showed Prospero the island's secrets and was taught language in return ('You taught me language, and my profit on't Is, I know how to curse'). He plots with the drunkards Stephano and Trinculo to murder his master and take the island back.

• Ferdinand major

  Son and heir of Alonso, King of Naples. Separated from the others in the wreck and believing his father drowned, he meets Miranda and the two fall in love at once. Prospero sets him to humble log-bearing labour to test his devotion, then blesses the match and conjures a masque to celebrate it.

• Alonso major

  King of Naples, who years before helped Antonio usurp Prospero's dukedom. Grief-stricken on the island in the belief that his son Ferdinand has drowned, he is brought by Prospero's art to repentance, and restored both to his living son and to the man he wronged.

• Antonio antagonist

  Prospero's younger brother, who seized the dukedom of Milan with Alonso's help and cast Prospero and the infant Miranda adrift. Coldly ambitious and unrepentant, on the island he tempts Sebastian to murder the sleeping Alonso and seize Naples. He alone returns Prospero's closing pardon with silence.

• Sebastian supporting

  Brother of Alonso, King of Naples. Idle and easily led, he is talked by Antonio into a plot to kill his sleeping brother and take the crown — a scheme foiled by Ariel's timely waking music.

• Gonzalo supporting

  An honest old counsellor of Naples who, years before, secretly provisioned the banished Prospero with food, water, and his precious books. On the island his hopeful good nature and his daydream of an ideal commonwealth mark him as the play's moral touchstone.

• Stephano supporting

  A drunken butler from the wrecked ship who staggers ashore with a butt of salvaged wine. Mistaken by Caliban for a god, he is flattered into a drunken plot to murder Prospero and rule the island, until Ariel's music and Prospero's spirit-hounds rout the conspirators.

• Trinculo supporting

  A jester from the King's ship, washed ashore and paired with the butler Stephano. His cowardly clowning — sheltering from the storm under Caliban's cloak — supplies much of the play's low comedy.

• Adrian minor

  A lord attending King Alonso, who trades observations with Gonzalo, Sebastian, and Antonio as the court party wanders the island.

• Francisco minor

  A lord attending King Alonso, who insists that Ferdinand may have survived the wreck by swimming strongly to shore.

• Boatswain minor

  The ship's boatswain, whose blunt seamanship in the opening storm puts the work of survival above the noblemen's rank ('What cares these roarers for the name of king?'). He is discovered with his crew, the vessel miraculously whole, at the play's end.

• Master minor

  The master of the King's ship, who in the opening storm orders the boatswain to set the crew to work before the vessel runs aground.

• Mariners ensemble

  The sailors of the King's ship, who cry 'All lost! to prayers, to prayers!' as the vessel founders, and are found safe and the ship whole at the close.

• Iris supporting

  Goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods, presented by Prospero's spirits in the betrothal masque he conjures for Ferdinand and Miranda. As Juno's herald she summons Ceres and the country spirits to bless the lovers.

• Ceres supporting

  Roman goddess of the harvest and grain, presented by spirits in the betrothal masque, who blesses the lovers with 'Earth's increase, foison plenty.' Her grief at her daughter Proserpina's abduction by Dis (Pluto) underlies her wariness of Venus and Cupid.

• Juno supporting

  Queen of the gods and goddess of marriage, presented by spirits as the chief figure of the betrothal masque, who descends to bless Ferdinand and Miranda with 'Honour, riches, marriage-blessing.'

• Nymphs ensemble

  Naiads — water-nymphs — presented by spirits in the betrothal masque, summoned by Iris to join the harvest reapers in a graceful dance honouring the lovers' contract.

• Reapers ensemble

  Sunburnt harvest-workers, presented by spirits in the betrothal masque, who join the nymphs in a country dance until Prospero, recalling Caliban's plot, starts and breaks off the vision.

Cross-references

• Folger Shakespeare
• MIT plain text
• Wikipedia