The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L

Places and the concept of discovery: 2

Events and the concept of discovery: 4
People and the Concept of Discovery: 9
Relationships and the concept of discovery: 11
Ideas and the concept of discovery: 13
• Idea 1) The Play is about Prospero’s Journey from
Revenge to Forgiveness 15
• Idea 2) The Play is a Work of ‘post-colonial’ Drama 16
• Idea 3) The Play is about Shakespeare’s role as a Dramatist and
farewell to the stage 16
Societies and the concept of discovery: 17
Language and the concept of discovery: 18
The Epilogue: 20

Page 1 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
Places and the concept of discovery:

• Addresses the link between notions of place and the broader concept of discovery
• The opening lines of the play expresses fear that the Tempest will “run ourselves
aground (act 1 scene 1) and lead to disaster
• It is the exile of these characters from their homelands and imprisonment in a foreign
place which creates the stage for the play’s continuous and revelatory process of
discovery

Prospero’s plan for the role of discovery

• Island is a place where the sudden and alarming discoveries of the shipwrecked
characters are expressed either in terms of despair or wonder
• Ferdinand is led through the island by the invisible Ariel. He asks rhetorically, “Where
should this music be? I th’ air or th’ earth?”
• His discovery is Grim; Ariel informs him “Full fathom five thy fathers lies” The
alliteration of the fricative consonants (repetition of the f sound) creates poetic rhythm
that mirrors the sinking depth of his fathers body.
• King Alonso is similarly led to believe the flashed that Ferdinand is dead, “What
strange fish hath made his meal on thee?” The metaphor of strange fish alludes to the
biblical tale of Jonah who was thrown overboard and swallowed by a whale during a
tempest.
• Shakespeare draws upon biblical symbolism to indicate the power of Prospero to create
a place for his enemies upon where they will discover aspects of their sinful natures on
a grand and epic scale
• The island is a stage upon which Prospero will engineer the transformation of his
enemies
• He both teaches and learns lessons in earthy magic, divine power and human
forgiveness

The Island and Discovery

• The island is the central setting of the play and important to the concept of discovery for
the very reason that it is a symbol for territorial discovery itself, and a land whose
ownership is in heated dispute
• “This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother / Which thou takes from me” Calibans
language to Prospero is direct and accusatory, continuing a broader theme in the play
linking discovery to theft
• The audience learns Prospero’s backstory to Miranda that the island was chanced upon
following their joint exile from Milan, where “th’ winds, whose pity sighing back again
/ Did us but loving wrong” Prospero’s use of oxymoron in his description of the
elements (loving wrong) expresses the paradoxical elements of pain, confusion and
relief in the discovery of the island.
• The audience learns that Sycorax has previously endured the island in her own forced
exile from Algier, and Caliban now claims ownership over the isle via his mother

Page 2 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• King Alonso, Antonio, Sebastian, Adrian, Ferdinand, Stephano, Trinculo and Gonzalo
have separately ‘discovered’ the island and plan how they intend rule it

Place and language techniques

• Shakespeare’s use of language techniques in reference to discovery and place in notable
in the parallel plots of Antonio and Sebastian, and Trunculo and Stephano, four
usurpers of land and title
• The dry and caustic wit of the aristocratic Antonio and Sebastian is underscored by the
use of pun, irony, personification and stichomythia (contradictory retorts)
• Adrian: “The air breathes here most sweetly” Sebastian: “As if it had lungs, and rotten
ones”
• The drunken language of Stephano and Trinculo is similarly witty and caustic in their
mocking of Caliban, but verges on the absurd after Caliban convinces them to usurp
kingship of the isle
• The two men are deluded in their desire to seize the throne, as seen when Stephano
declares, “Trinculo, the king and all our company else being drowned / we will inherit
here”
• Shakespeare seems to mock the European notion of ‘discovery’ and ownership of a
foreign land, especially in relation to disputed lands chanced upon and seized as a result
of accidental conquest (colonisation) —> A ‘post-colonial’ view on the play

The Island as a theatrical place

• Shakespeare employs the island as a type of symbolic, or meta-theatrical device to
represent his own control of the stage
• As a playwright, Shakespeare manipulated the events of the stage in an analogous
manner to Prospero ‘playing’ with the moods and events of the people on the isle
• “All the world is a stage” As you like it; maybe alluding to the colonisation of Britain
(as James I named it) and the newly ‘discovered’ Americas
• The play expresses the clear notion that it is ultimately not important who rightfully lays
claim to the discovery and sovereignty of a contested territory, but rather how we
individually take the opportunity for personal discovery and growth upon out arrival in
a strange, new land.

Place and Symbolism

• In symbolic terms, the island’s purpose is to act as a sort of stage for discovery:
responders witness the intellectual, emotional and spiritual discoveries of all the main
characters.
• The audience remembers how each character is somehow displaced from their original
homeland and are alternately stranded, each discovering different things
• Prospero’s design allows each of the main characters to discover something about
themselves in a time and place that has been created to lead to redemption
• As a place of discovery, the island is a location which every characters ultimately
unwilling to enter and all eventually choose to leave, except native Caliban.

Page 3 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• Thematically the island is a place of punishment, exile, imprisonment and introspection.
Paradoxically, it is also a place of freedom, wonder and spiritual discovery for those
willing to embrace the lessons of their exile

Events and the concept of discovery:

• It is vital to consider the representation of events with regards to their accompanying

language techniques
• The particular discovery of a given character might be emotional, creative, intellectual or
spiritual

Act 1)
- The shipwreck itself
• The ‘drowning’ of the mariners and the exile of the wandering crew upon the isle after
the tempest.
• One of the many symbols of the sea storm is that of Prospero’s anger; the elements are
conjured to send down his wrath.
• The metaphor of birth is used in this event, and idea explored thought the chapter
• “You mar our labour” “If he be not born to be hanged our case is miserable’ “We split,
we split, we split!” The imagery pf pregnancy and delivery foreshadows the
understanding that Prospero’s enemies will experience the birth of emotional and
spiritual discoveries
- Miranda’s Journey
• Prospero places Miranda on a journey of discovery about the fate of the crew, and
audiences glimpse her compassion “O I have suffered with those that I saw suffer!”
(repetition of suffer)
• Prospero recounts their perilous voyage to the island, revealing events that he had kept
concealed from Miranda
- Prospero’s Intentions
• Ariel reports the sinking of the ship in the tempest to Prospero.
• Prospero’s concerns over the safety of the crew, to which Ariel responds, “Not a hair
perished.” The biblical allusion to Christ (Not a hair on your head shall perish; Luke 21)
Effectively foreshadows that Prospero’s intentions are grand, epic and ultimately
benevolent (The journey from revenge to forgiveness)
- Ferdinand’s Discovery
• Approached by Ariel and discovers that his father has drowned, a troubling yet false
discovery
• “Full fathom five thy father lies / of his bones are coral made / those pearls were his
eyes” The alliteration of the fricative consonants (repetition of the f sound) creates
poetic rhythm that mirrors the sinking depth of his fathers body.
• The song softens the emotional discovery of death, and signifies the beginning of a
structural motif; song

Page 4 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• Ariel’s songs are employed to variously comfort, tease, frighten and warn the
shipwrecks
- Ferdinand and Miranda
• Miranda discovers Ferdinand, the first young male she has ever seen and declares him a
“thing divine” to which Prospero responds, “No wench, it eats, sleeps, and hath such
senses as we have.” The language reverts to monosyllables and effectively breaks the
rhythmic iambic pentameter with a prose like rebuke of harsh, basic words.
- Discoveries of Love
• Prospero charms Ferdinand, and subsequently imprisons him
• The purpose of these actions is to create an emotional discovery of love between his
daughter and Ferdinand

Act 2)
- The Sea
• Gonzalo attempts to console Alonso, “sir, be merry; you have cause,So have we all, of
joy; for our escape Is much beyond our loss.” Yet Alonso’s merely responds with the
repetition of “Prithee, peace”
• Gonzalo also attempts to lighten the mood, “our garments seem now as fresh as when
we were at Tunis at the marriage of your daughter” to lighten the mood in the events of
his sons death, which audiences know is false. The words fail thought, and Alonso
responds, “you cram these words into mine ears, against the stomach of my senses” The
metaphor clearly conveying Alonso’s grief
• The imagery begins a set of nautical metaphors in the play, notably with Alonso’s
lament for his (not) dead son “What strange fish as made his meal of thee?”
• Later, shakespear positions the sea as a type of digestive tract (Personification) in
Antonio’s declaration “We were all sea-swallowed”, and Ariels explanation to Alonso,
“The never-surfeited sea hath caused to belch you up”
• The effect of this extended metaphor is to position Prospero as the Hebrew God and the
Sea as the whale. It alludes to the idea that Prospero’s enemies have been stranded by
destiny until they repent for their crimes
- A New Age
• Gonzalo attempts to have the lord imagine they have discovered a new golden age, a
commonwealth without riches, poverty, greed or hunger, and fails “In the
commonwealth I would by contraries / execute all things” —> Irony of the utopian
declaration, and verbal pun of execute, who literally plot the execution of Prospero
• Alludes to the psychological dominance felt by all colonials who inhabit a foreign land
- Temptation
• Antonio tempts Sebastian to discover his own buried desire to be king while Alonso
sleeps “My imagination sees a crown / dropping upon thy head”, Persuading him to join
in the killing of Alonso and Gonzalo
- Alonso’s Journey

Page 5 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• having awoken to the drawn sounds of Sebastian and Antonio as they prepare to kill
him, Alonso leads the party on a journey of discovery to retrieve ‘my poor son’
- Opportunities
• Stephano and Trinculo discvoer Caliban, a ‘most poor, credulous monster’
• Stephano imagines they had discovered a four legged beast and speculates that he will
make a profit by taking the monster back to Naples “He’s a present for any emperor that
ever trod on neat’s leather”
• Discovery is presented in this context as an opportunistic money-making venture for the
wicked colonial exploiting the native “strange fish”
• The stage directions for Trinculo to his under the cloak of Caliban addsa a further layer
of irony and humour; the ‘beast’ itself is not Caliban (the native) but rather exploitative
nature of the invaders themselves, horribly entangled in a confusion of greed , theft and
murder
- A Physical Journey
• Caliban leads Stephano and Trinculo on a physical journey to discover ‘every fertile
inch on the island’ and partake of the isle’s crabs, pignuts, seabirds, and ‘clust’ring
filberts’

Act 3)
- Ferdinand’s Journey
• Prospero places Ferdinand on a journey of physical discovery while carrying logs.
• Miranda’s insistence that he cease is an element of Prospero’s design; her witnessing
his discomfort builds empathy for Ferdinand’s experience and a growing desire for
marital companionship.
• “If you sit down i’ll bear your logs the while”
- Miranda’s Discovery
• Miranda relates her discoveries of other men to Ferdinand, unsuccessfully trying to
‘imagine a shape besides yourself, to like of”
• This is a biblical allusion to Adam and Eve and is instructive, for those who perceive
discovery as a thing of wonder; the isle is a veritable Eden and fecund paradise with
Prospero at its centre, a god-like figure wandering through the garden and
eavesdropping on his creatures
- Ariel’s Accusations
• Ariel enters invisible and sounds hostile accusations; “thou list” to inspire Stephano to
strike Trinculo
• Caliban places Stephano on a journey of imagination and discovery that he will be lord
of the island if they can ‘brain’ the sleeping man ‘having first seized his books”
• Later in the stage directions, ‘Ariel plays the tune on a tabor and pipe’ a physical
discovery causing Trinculo to speculate the devil is upon them and, furthurmore, the
mock- repentant exclamation of ‘O, forgive me my sins!’
• Caliban consoles Stephano and Trinculo in turn, “be not afeared, the isle is full of
noises”

Page 6 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• Alonso promptly declares of his missing son “He is drowned”; A vital element of
Prospero’s intention is that Alonso’s assumption and ‘discovery’ will lead to empathy
and understanding for what he has perpetuated upon the exiled duke of Milan (revenge
—> forgiveness interpretation)
- Intellectual Discovery
• sweet music fills the air and ‘several strange shapes’ bring in a banquet before the
weary lords, prompting Sebastian’s acceptance of the supernatural phenomena such as
unicorns and the phoenix
• Gonzalo is prompted to recall the skepticism of his youth about the existence of
‘mountaineers dewlap like bulls”, a discovery of the intellect which challenges the
characters and responders rational assumptions
• The banquet inspired Gonzalo to speculate whether the people of Naples would believe
their account of the islanders “Who though they are of monstrous shape, yet note / Their
manners are more gentle, kind, than of / Our human generation you shall find”
• Discovery is presented in this context as a process of identification with broader society
or, in post-colonial theory, the ‘other’; the untouchable native strangers who populate
the colonial’s acquired territory
- Self-Discovery
• Ariel enters as a harpy, removes the viands, (foods) and announces that Alonso,
Antonio and Sebastian are ‘three men of sin’
• This prompts Alonso to experience and overwhelming guilt for his actions against
Prospero and believe this is the reason for his sons demise. “The name of Prosper; it did
bass my trespass”
• Prospero has fulfilled a vital element of his grand design ; creating understanding within
the king via discovery for the wickedness of his actions twelve years prior

Act 4)
- Ferdinand’s discoveries
• Prospero informs Ferdinand that he has won his endurance trials and is permitted to
marry Miranda.
• Ferdinand’s range of physical, emotional and spiritual discoveries has formed the
greater part of Prospero’s plan for the elevation of his daughter to the throne
- Discoveries of a Crime
• The masque begins but is interrupted by the plot against Prospero’s life in the shape of
Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo
• Prospero ends the masque in anger, rediscovering the plot against his life that he
previously ignored within his false sense of reality due to his magic
• He informs Ferdinand, “We are such stuff dreams are made on”, placing Ferdinand and
the audience on an intellectual journey of discovery concerning the ontology (nature of
being) of human beings
• Prospero employs theatrical metaphors (‘actors’ ‘baseless fabric of this vision’ ‘the
great globe itself’ ) to emphasise that way that the stage offers its audience manifold
intellectual and spiritual epiphanies in the course of a play
Page 7 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
- Ariels Lead
• Ariel describes how he led Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban through thickets by means
of a tabor to find a ‘mantled pool’ and left them the stink up to their chins (This prompts
Ariels sympathy towards the, which he details to Prospero; the human taught human
emotions by the non human
- The Jester and the Butler
• Caliban urges Stephano and Trinculo to murder Prospero, but the butler and jester are
distracted by their discovery of ‘glistening apparel’ and they squabble over the gowns
(playing kings)
• Trinculo’s language is full of mock exclamations “O Kings Stephano, O worthy peer O
worthy Stephano!” This drunken worship of the jester is a feature of dramatic irony and
humour: the audience recognises that this murderous plot is doomed to fail and mirrors
the failed plot of Antonio and Sebastian
- A Physical Discovery
• Prospero and Ariel set spirits in shape of dogs and hounds upon Stephano, Trinculo and
Calibam, a distinctly sensory or physical discovery for the insurgents
Prospero’s language in this scene displays his bitter, vengeful and malevolent
temperament when faced with a conspiracy: “Fury, Fury! There, Tyrant, there! Hark,
Hark!”
• The dog’s names aptly symbolise his inner ferocity for the would be murderers

Act 5)
- Prospero’s Choice
• Prospero informs Ariel that he will soon forgive his enemies and afterwards declares to
the spirits that “I will drown my book”
• Prospero’s overly measured iambic pentameter achieves a near-staccato rhythm which
conveys his anger at the assumptions of Ariel.
• His speech is broken into multiple enjambments and caesuras to symbolise the
overwhelming nature of thoughts flooding into his mind - the fierce divisions within his
thinking about whether or not to forgive his enemies - and provides a perfect mirror of
the mercurial, neurotic magician who had previously lost concentration at the masque to
focus on revenging the foul plot upon his life
• “Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling / Of their afflictions, and shall not
myself, one of their kind, that relish all as sharply passion as they, be kindlier moved
than thou art?”
- Coming Full Circle
• Prospero draws a magic circle around his enemies who, to their astonishment, discover
the former Duke of Milan standing in their midsts
• The stage direction Prospero traces out a circle on the stage strongly conveys the high
symbolism of the moment: the ‘revolution’ against the Duke of Milan has come in a full
circle
• Prospero has entrapped his enemies in a circular isle analogous to his own island prison

Page 8 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
- Discovery and Rediscovery
• Prospero forgives his enemies and discovers that Antonio is not penitent (showing
remorse)
• Alonso rediscovers Ferdinand and sees him playing chess with Miranda
• The stage direction is a further element of symbolism and irony: it is Prospero who has
‘played chess’ with his enemies and brought them to within one square of their
figurative checkmate, remembering his grand design is to advance the ‘pawn’ Miranda
to the queen of Naples.
• Miranda discovers the king and courtiers and stands amazed, for she has never seen as
many people (her ‘discovery’ of people however is mainly regal) “How many goodly
creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is!”
• Miranda’s awe is almost too plainly ironic in that she actually beholds her fathers
enemies, yet, her heartfelt, ecstatic declaration contrasts the hollowness of Trinculo’s
earlier drunken worship of Stephano
- The Epilogue
• Prospero sets Ariel free and asks the audience to ‘release me from my bands with the
help of your good hands’
• His words are ambiguous; Prospero genuinely may be set free from the isle at the plays
end or else left stranded to dwell on the bare island
• The epilogue might form a plea for forgiveness to the courtiers who have already exited
and thereby left him with Caliban
People and the Concept of Discovery:

- Prospero
• His grand Design is to initiate others into a range of physical, emotional, creative,
intellectual, and spiritual discoveries
• He is capable of discovery as seen in the discovery of a buried and forgotten desire in
act 5, to forgive those who have wronged him, even Antonio despite his refusal to
demonstrate repentance
- Miranda
• She falls deeply in love with Ferdinand, whom she sees wandering through the isle and
later when imprisioned by Prospero; a set of discoveries alternately emotional, physical,
creative intellectual and spiritual
• Her own journey begins in act 1, in which she discovers the shipwreck and the plight of
her father and their exile to the island
• She ultimately discovers love, a husband, and humanity
- Ferdinand
• Imprisonment on the isle —> prevents him from repeating his fathers mistakes of greed,
conspiracy and persecution
• Ferdinand is brought to humility and grace through his discoveries of his father alive
and marriage with Miranda

Page 9 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• His first emotional discovery is patently false, his father, King Alonso did not drown
and die
• The concept of discovery relevant to Ferdinand is that the sudden and alarming
discoveries of the emotions and intellect are vital in order to experience empathy and
personal growth “There be some sports are painful, and their labour Delight in them sets
them off”
• Prospero invents a courtship which teaches Ferdinand and Miranda that marital love is
built on patience, temperance, fidelity “They are both in each others powers, but this
swift business / I must uneasy make, less too light winning ? Make the prize light”
• Prospero: “So glad of this as they I cannot be / Who are surprised with all; but my
rejoicing / At nothing can be more. I’ll to my book”
• Ferdinand imagines, via Prospero’s organised discovery, that his father had been lost to
the sea, unleashing a sensory grief and speculative frame of mind which tests himself
• Ferdinand is humbled and made empathetic through his loss and the work he had to
endure as a log bearer
• Ferdinand ‘discovers’ what Prospero hid; his father and the crew remained alive
- Alonso
• Discovers an overwhelming sense of guilt for Prospero’s life in exile, and the
heartbreaking belief that his son perished in the wreck
• Alonso eventually rediscovered his son, and his repentance for his past crimes against
Prospero
• The kings various physical, emotional and intellectual discoveries form the basis of the
plays central plot
• Alonso represents the way that painful emotional discoveries entered on grief and sled-
recognition may ultimately provide spiritual benefit and redemption for their sufferer:
“But O, how oddly will it sound, that I / Must ask my child forgiveness!”
- Caliban
• Sycorax’s son of the isle experiences a set of discoveries variously physical and
emotional, some of which could represent the way european ‘discovery’ of the land
robbed natives of their identity, dignity and territorial rights
• Ironically, Calibam shares Prospero’s loss of land “This island’s mine by Sycorax my
mother”
• Caliban, furthermore, initiates the physical discovery of the island for Stephano and
trinculo in the plays second subplot
• Caliban’s use of language is alternately sullen , accusatory and serene “be not afeared
the isle is full of noises” —> use of language he earlier rejected
- Stephano and Trinculo
• They comically ‘discover’ the island by mean of their host, Caliban
• The pair are represented as murderous opportunists and experience unsettling and
painful discoveries in their drunken greed to seize the island
• The pair represent the contemporary savagery and opportunism of Europeans in their
exploitation of subjugated foreigners, especially as they plan to exhibit the ‘strange fish’
for a ‘piece of silver’
Page 10 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
- Gonzalo
• The lord’s reaction to the island prompts speculation about the utopian possibilities of
the isle and his open minded to the challenge of his predicament and therefore
represents the rubric statement discoveries open us up to new words and discoveries Commented [1]:
ruberic
can be fresh and intensely meaningful in ways that may be emotional, creative,
intellectual, physical and spiritual Commented [2]:
ruberic
• Gonzalo is innocent of criminal intent and aided Prospero in his exile
• His knowledge of the evil of the court is bridged with speculation of the possibilities of
the isle
• His speech of a commonwealth without services, contracts, agriculture, occupations
• His speculations are ironic as he would be king even though he said no kings
• The various language devices of his ‘commonwealth’ speech; listing, inverted syntax
and the repetition of ‘no’ ‘none’ ‘not’ captures the nature of his epiphany after being
stranded, yet the unreality of his statement
- Ariel
• Prospero’s spirit enacts the discoveries of the other characters at his master’s request.
• He is an agent for discovery and driven by the memory of his own discovery by
Prospero which released him from his imprisonment “Hast thou forgotten / the foul
witch sycorax, who with age and envy / was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her”
• Ariel furthermore assists his master in the recognition of a far-reaching and
transformative discovery for the individual and his broader society: the willingness of
Prospero to forgive his enemies
- Antonio
• Prospero’s usurping brother represents the way that intense, sudden and unexpected
physical discoveries do not always effect change upon one’s character
• He plots the murder of Gonzalo and Alonso
• Antonio is unaffected by his sensory experiences and furthermore seeks to exploit his
exile in convincing sebastian to murder Alsonso.
• The transformative effects of discovery create the desired measure of humility,empathy
and understanding within the king, while on the contrary for Antonio who is not
changed by his experiences

Relationships and the concept of discovery:

- Prospero
• The discoveries of the major characters are ‘paired’ to Prospero’s growing discoveries
about himself and to our own recognition that he shares some characteristics with those
whom he classifies as his enemeis
• Prospero’s discoveries led him to the point where he renounces his magic
• Prospero’s grand design is to bring about the revelation, guilt, shame, repentance and
forgiveness of his enemies.
• An element of the responder’s discovery is that Prospero’s own character resembles the
major characters: “This thing of darkness, I acknowledge mine”

Page 11 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• Prospero’s journey is from revenge to forgiveness, and that his sudden pardon of his
enemies is brought about by a discovery of his own humanity and mortality
• The recognition of his own human failings and propensity for cruelty creates a means to
reconcile himself to his enemies
• The role of relationships in the play is that through Prospero’s planned discoveries of
the other characters and the role of magic, ultimately, he is more human than divine
• “Shall not myself / one of their kind … be kindlier moved than thou art?” (To ariel)
• For Prospero, discovery is confronting and provocative, leading to new worlds and
values that challenge his assumptions and beliefs : “The rarer action is in virtue than in
vengeance”
- Ariel and Prospero

• “Discoveries can emerge from a process of deliberate and careful planning evoked by
curiosity, necessity or wonder” Commented [3]:
r
• Both characters have the ability to coerce and control
• Ariel conjures up the discoveries Prospero planned for his enemies
• Both characters yearn, and attempt to earn their freedom from imprisonment
- Ariel and Prospero

• “An individual’s discoveries and their process of discovering can vary accordingly to Commented [4]:
r
their personal, cultural, historical and social contexts and values”
• They both hold a propensity to instigate discoveries in themselves and others
• Ironic reference: “The creatures who were mine, I say, changed ;em / Or else new
formed ‘em what tune pleased his ear” both to Prospero’s magical powers and Ariels
music
• They both are willing to opportunistically draw upon the power of others to their own
advantage
- Stephano, Trinculo and Prospero

• “Discoveries can offer new understandings and renewed perceptions of ourselves and Commented [5]:
r
others”
• Prospero is similar to the drunken pair as they are use paranoid and neurotic ways to
acquire kingship and control
• Just as the pair are intoxicated with alcohol, Prospero was intoxicated with his revenge
scheming and power
- Alonso and Prospero

• “Discoveries … can lead us to new worlds and values, stimulate new ideas, and enable Commented [6]:
r
us to speculate about future possibilities…The ramifications of particular discoveries
may differ for individuals and their worlds”
• Prospero’s experience on the isle is similar to that of Alonso in various ways
• They both ‘lost’ their kingdom, Prospero due to exile and Alonso due to Prospero’s
magic and the tempest
Page 12 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• Both Alonso and Prospero discover a truer sense of self and become aware of their own
failings to recognise their wrongdoing
• Prospero sacrifices his magic and drowns his book “deeper than did ever plummet” to
grant Miranda a new life —> Alonso’s affection for Ferdinand
- Sycroax and Prospero

• “Discovery can encompass the experience of discovering something for the first time or Commented [7]:
r
rediscovering something which has been lost, forgotten or concealed”
• Sebastian says: “The devil speaks in him” a link Prospero himself often made about
Sycroax
• Both characters were forced into an exile on the island from their countrymen
• Both their exiles condemn the martial prospect of their children respectively
• Caliban is the only young man Miranda had sighted, Miranda the same for Caliban
- Ferdinand, Miranda and Prospero

• “Discoveries can be fresh and intensely meaningful in ways that can be emotional, Commented [8]:
r
creative, intellectual, physical and spiritual”
• Prospero leads Ferdinand through a series of physcial, emotional and spiritual
discoveries and thereby trains Ferdinand to be hard-working, compassion and
empathetic
• In Miranda, Prospero has a kindred spirit who is idealistic and naive in her conception
of mankind (too trusting)

Ideas and the concept of discovery:

• One must distinguish between the syllabus notion of ‘ideas’ and a more traditional
literary analysis which focuses on themes
• Themes are not conceptual ideas; themes include revenge, love, redemption, magic, and
loss but these are much broader that the refined speculation ideas about Prospero’s
concept of discovery and its deliberate and planned role
• Prospero’s purpose for planning, enacting and observing the discoveries of various
characters suggests the design of a project for a grand plan
• “Noe does my project gather to a head” (Act 5)
• The chronological sequence of events on the island is set out, and act 1 details
Prosperos plan, satisfying the duel purpose of obtaining revenge and ensuring the safety
of Miranda
• “Their understanding begins to swell, and the approaching tide will shortly fill the
reasonable shore that now lies foul and muddy” (act 5)
• Prospero’s marine metaphor for his enemies understanding highlights various dramatic
techniques: the play’s motif of water, the figurative ‘swelling’ of guilt within his
enemies, the sense of Prospero’s injustice has now returned as a tide returns back to

Page 13 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
shore, and the symbolic setting of an isle whose prisoners are stranded in a metaphorical
ocean of despair

- The Rationale for Prospero’s Planned Discoveries

• The role of discovery is to generate the characters self-awareness of their own crimes,
draw upon their natural guilt, and ultimately produce their penitence
• The discoveries serve to bridge the buried self-knowledge of their crimes to an
equivalent sensory experience or discovery of Prospero’s suffering

- Prospero’s Grand Design for his Enemies and Miranda

• strand his enemies upon the isle after a contrived shipwreck
• cause his enemies to believe they are forever lost and that King Alonso’s son and heir is
dead
• create the recognition within his enemies that their suffering is analogous to Prospero’s
suffering twelve years earlier
• build empathy within those who cruelly exiled him from Milan with parallel
experiences pf frustration, exile and loss]manufacture the courtship and marriage of his
daughter to Ferdinand
• ensure the political conditions for his own safe return
• generate the penitence of his enemies and, therefore, the necessary conditions for his on
forgiveness and trust
• return to Milan after denouncing his powers witch had served and protected him on the
island but also had compromised his precious role as Duke of Milan
• For each of the characters, the discoveries are alternately shocking, heartbreaking,
testing, painful, rewarding or else design to create virtue by instilling hard work and
patience
• Prospero draws upon the magic of Ariel to enact the various physical and emotional
discoveries of his enemies with song, music, false banquets and hunting dogs
• Ariels discovery of the havoc wrought upon the people causes him to urge Prospero to
forgive his enemies
• Miranda undergoes an alarming set of discoveries, including the physical and emotional
grief after witnessing the sinking ship, learning her troubled family past, falling in love,
and encountering the ‘brave new world’ of people
• Alonso’s experience on the isle is a moral discovery after recognising his crimes against
Prospero: “O, it is monstrous: monstrous!… The name Prosper. It did bare my trespass
Therefore my son i ‘th ooze is bedded and i’ll seek him deeper than e’er plummet
sounded, and with him there lie mudded”
• Shakespeare breaks the iambic pentameter with anapaestic substitution in the opening
line of Alonso’s declaration to stress his deep and abiding understanding of his own
crime, laying emphasis on the word monstrous. This repetition reinforces the sense of
Alonso’s self discovery that his ‘mudded’ son lies in a sea grave owing to his own
‘tresspass’ —> Alonso ‘muddied’ his own soul though Prospero’s exile

Page 14 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban experience unsettling physical discoveries in their
battles against Ariel, who torments them with apparitions
• Gonzalo undergoes discoveries in equal measure intellectual and emotional, causing
him to speculate upon ideal social, political, agricultural and spiritual possibilities of the
isle
• Contrastingly, Sebastian and Antonio appear wholly unmoved by their discoveries.
Prosper plans their experience of shipwreck, familial grief and a deep sense of personal
loss that should lead to empathy, understanding and penitence. However, such is the
design that his brothers lack of remorse does not unhinge the execution of his grand
project: “For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother would even infect my mouth, I
do forgive thy rankest fault - all of them - and require my dukedom of he”
• The great part of Prospero’s grand design is to establish a model regency for Ferdinand
and Miranda. This is achieved by placing Ferdinand on a series of emotional discoveries
about his ‘dead’ father and a visceral discovery of physical work via the logs
• Prospero’s plan for Ferdinand is that he will prove a model suitor for Miranda and
return to Naples from his journey of self-discovery with a newfound empathy for the
men of his kingdom

• “I have too austerely punished you / your compensation makes amends (Act 4 scene 1) Commented [9]:
check where this quote is

- Key Ideas about The Tempest and Discovery

• Idea 1) The Play is about Prospero’s Journey from
Revenge to Forgiveness

• Prospero as a lonely, vengeful political exile who opportunistically ensnares his enemies
with magic, coercing Ariel initial the tempest
• This idea holds that Prospero is principally driven by the desire for vengeance and that
he ultimately is convinced to forego his revenge after Ariel shames him.
• This theory holds that Prospero’s character arc is evidenced by his willingness to
renounce vengeance and forgive his enemies
• “Your charm so strongly works ‘em That is you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender” “Dost thou think so, spirit” “Mine would sir, were I human”
“And mine shall”
• The link to the concept of discovery with this particular theory is the idea that
Prospero’s desire for revenge wilts the sudden and unexpected discovery that his
enemies suffer by his actions and the idea that discoveries may stimulate new ideas and
offer renewed perceptions of others.
• His desire for revenge is tempered by the grief and suffering of others and Prospero is
ironically transformed by the very empathy he is attempting to create within those who
have wronged him.
• Alonso and Gonzalo’s discoveries are individually far-reaching and transformative but
will also deeply affect the political and cultural organisation of their border society upon
their return to Naples

Page 15 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L

• Idea 2) The Play is a Work of ‘post-colonial’ Drama

• Idea that the play is centred on the relationship between Caliban and Prospero as a
means to symbolise the emerging victimhood of colonial slaves in European empires
• It centres on Prospero’s mistreatment of Caliban and his seizing of the isle from its
owner, and thus his teaching of his own language to Caliban
• “You taught me language, and my profit on’t Is, I know how to curse. The red plague
rid you for learning me your language” (Act 1)
• This theory maintains that Prospero symbolises a wealthy and manipulative European
colonial who desires to enslave the natives of other nations and thereafter relegates the
displaced natives as the untouchable ‘other’ on the island, thought capable of rape, theft
and murder and efficiently projects his own crimes onto their heads
• This theory centres on Prospero’s ‘theft’ of the island, as related by Caliban “This
island’s mine by Sycroax my mother, Which thou take's from me. When though
cam’s first, thou strok’st me and made much of me, wouldst give me water with
berries in’t, and teach me how to name the bigger light, and how the less. That burn by
day and night. And then I loved thee, and showed thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle”
• The framework of this idea is known as ‘post-colonial theory’, a misnomer of a term for
The Tempest in that while Prospero is on the island, he is very much the role of a
colonial, opposed to a post colonial ruler
• This theory also ignores that Caliban attempted to rape Miranda in the backstory and
Prospero’s anger centred on this particular transgression and ultimate breach of trust for
the hag born “freckled whelp” he once loved and adopted as a child (Act 1)
• The conception idea of discovery within this idea is that discoveries can be confronting
and provocative, may be challenged or questioned when viewed from different
perspectives , their worth reassessed over time, and that the ramifications of particular
discoveries may differ for individuals and their worlds
• Argue that shakespeare’s purpose is to show us that the European discovery of foreign
land was fraught with moral and ethical problems (use the e.g. of Prospero and Caliban)
• It asserts that the historical notion of European ownership of ‘discovered’ land is a
concept to be challenged and not easily trusted
• It also encompasses the idea that the discovery of Prospero’s language by Caliban is a
double edged sword, at once granting Caliban a means of communication whilst
simultaneously condemning him to the life of an outcast who could not possibly hope to
match a natural authority

• Idea 3) The Play is about Shakespeare’s role as a Dramatist and

farewell to the stage

• This theory holds that the play is Shakespeare’s farewell to the stage as a metaphorical
conception of theatre as a type of private world controlled by the playwright

Page 16 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• It equates Prospero’s isle to Shakespeare’s stage and it principally about the idea that
Shakespeare, and other playwrights, are in such control of their stage that they are
equivalent to a magician in their ability to inspire and control events - create intended
effects within characters - and cast a type of spell that entrances their audiences:
• “Ariel, fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell. I will discase me, and myself present, As I
was sometimes Milan”
• The link between concept of discovery and this idea is that discovery is a process of Commented [10]:
r
deliberate and careful planning evoked by curiosity, necessity and wonder and that
discovery may lead to new worlds and values, stimulate new ideas and offer renewed
perceptions and understandings of ourselves and others
• This idea furthermore encompasses the notion that Shakespeare is presenting himself to
the world as a dramatist capable of creating continual revelatory discoveries within his
audience and thereby synthesise or bridge their understanding of fictional characters to
real people in the broader community
• it is to argue that Shakespeare envisions himself as a grand magical capable of
engineering the discoveries and metamorphosis of his characters on stage and, in turn,
the emotional, intellectual and spiritual discoveries of his audience

Societies and the concept of discovery:

• An important element of a plays concept and drama is to be located in its context
• Elizabethan society was contemporarily obsessed with the discovery of foreign lands
and began to socially interact with the native people of these ‘discovered’ territories
• Shakespeare wrote The Tempest in approximately 1611, at a time of English exploration
and colonisation of Africa, the Caribbean and, only four years earlier, the settlement of
Jamestown in modern Virginia
• Its worth remembering that this play was written at a time of passing failure for the
great English colonial experiment: Jamestown was briefly abandoned following
‘starving time’ of the previous two winters and English settlers largely relied upon
North American Powhatan tribe and trade ships for their food supply and ultimate
survival (famine lasted for two years)
• Sir Thomas Gates reaching Virginia was considered a miracle given that his ship Sea
Venture, had survived a great tempest off the coast of Bermuda in 1609 and his crew
were forced to live of freshwater springs and wild animals of the island for almost a year
before embarking to Virginia in a parallel exile to that of Prospero and Miranda

• Shakespeare’s comedy acknowledges the risks and attractions of territorial exploration

and cultural interaction as a means to stimulate cultural, historical and personal
discoveries
• To discover and settle land in the Americas during Shakespeare’s time was to risk ones
life in the midst of unknown native societies
• Despite his own societies topical interest in the perilous trips of adventurers to the
indian ocean and Americas, Shakespeare elected to set his final play on a fictitious
island in the mediterranean sea, and island unintentionally ‘discovered’ by exiles and
shipwrecked royals
Page 17 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• This is an important distinction to note when conceptualising the relevance of society
and discovery in the text. Prospero’s island is not claimed for empire with explorers
product planting a flag, but rather, with the exception of Miranda, is an island inhabited
by guilty creatures “Men of sin” (act 3 scene 3) compelled to suffer the effect of their
own wicked actions and thereafter experience the transformative power of discoveries in
the island
• It is also worth remembering Shakespeare wrote this play immediately following Jon
Dee, a controversial alchemist, magician and occultist’s, death
• John Dee’s cultural similarities to that of Prospero lie not only in their ability to use
magic but his keen interest for the preservation of old manuscripts and books , his
concerted attempts to communicate with angels and his expert navigational techniques
• Navigational skills were central to the new notions of exploration and discovery

Language and the concept of discovery:

- Plot and Subplots
• The play is structured around a central plot, Prospero’s grand design or ‘project’ to
ensure his enemies and create a royal advancement for his daughter
• The play is structured around two subplots; the first which focuses on Sebastian and
Antonio’s plan to murder Alonso and Gonzalo in act 2 in order to become king, and the
second which focuses on Stephani, trinculo and Caliban’s plan to usurp the kingship of
the isle from Prospero, explored in act 2 and act 4
• The purpose and function of the two subplots is a feature of the play’s dramatic irony;
the respond is at once comically aware of the inevitable failure of the plot against
Prospero’s life by the butler, jester, and Demi-devil, but also recognises by the plays end
that the parallel plot of Sebastian and Antonio’s planned murder of Alonso and Gonzalo
is equally opportunistic and amateurish.
• Both subplots are doomed to fail and, moreover, the merging of the main plot and the
subplots underscores throw transformative effects of the isle and its ability to expose
human nature: the aristocratic courtiers are no greater than the drunken servant jester
and monster in their base desire for power and willingness to murder to achieve their
corrupt ends
• Arguably the play has yet another two subplots in the courtship of Miranda and
Ferdinand, and in the relationship between Prospero and Ferdinand

- Blank Verse and Prose

• Shakespeare employs ‘blank verse’, lines of iambic pentameter (Lines of 5 feet. One
foot is one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. There are usually 10
syllables total per line. It is said to mimic the sound of the human heart. )
• There is the noticeable absence of a shift between blank verse and prose in this ply
compared to other works (blank verse does not occur during the tempest in act 1)
• There is a lack of soliloquy despite numerous asides from Prospero
• Caliban’s blank verse is ironically as profound, eloquent and poignant as that of any
other character within the play

- Symbolism

Page 18 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
• “Good wombs have borne bad sons” (Act 1) —> The multiple images of birth, wombs
and pregnancy allude to the idea of rebirth of the shipwrecked men; a grand spiritual
resurrection akin to that prophesied
• The isle is a figurative womb in which subjects grow and undergo self-discoveries
• Moreover, the mariners are metaphorically delivered to Prospero stillborn and remain
‘asleep’ until Ariel awakes them in act 5
• Sebastian’s insult to boatswain in act 1 of ‘Uncharitable dog” and Antonio’s “hang cur”
symbolically suggests the idea of a letter being issued on the island.
• The imagery of hanging in Gonzalo’s prose: “Make the rope of his destiny our cable, for
our own doth little advantage. If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable”
suggests a troubled birth via a choking umbilical chord
• Even Sebastian and Antonio couch their plot to kill Alonso and Gonzalo in a birth
metaphor: “The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim a better from thee; and a birth,
indeed / Which throes thee much to yield” (act 2)
• Pregnancy, labour and birth imagery is prolific in The Tempest as a means to illustrate
the extended metaphor that the island affects spiritual rebirth from its subjects
• The transitional nature of being in utero and the wombs ability to paradoxically promote
growth within a water bound carriage is an apt metaphor to symbolise the
transformative qualities of discovery
• Miranda’s loss of innocence at the shipwreck of the crew is moreover a metaphorical
impegnantijon of her mind, eventually leading to her “brave new world” remark upon
seeing the assembled lords and crew in act 5, the wording a pun on the contemporary
meaning of ‘brave’ as a fruitful womb

- Biblical Allusion
• Shakespeare refers to several biblical allusions in the play, including the imagery of an
idyllic isle reminding of the Garden of Eden populated by a young male and female
(Ferdinand and Miranda) spied upon by a harsh and vengeful God
• the staff of Prospero which parts the waters and creates the sea-storm, reminiscent of the
staff of moses
• Prospero’s persecution of Caliban and the servitude of Ariel, reminiscent of Jehovah,
Lucifer an the archangels
• The disbelief of the crew upon sighting Prospero in act 5, reminiscent of the resurrection
of Christ and the reaction of his disciples who doubted their own discoveries

- Songs
• The role of songs underscores the tranquility and beauty of the island
• Ariel ensnares and traps Ferdinand as he is led to the discovery of the death office father
through enchaining music and song
• The purpose of the songs in the role of discovery is to soften the blow of the alarming
messages they carry
• However, their central message also bear metaphoric truths: Alonso is about to undergo
a sea-change into something rich and strange, remembering his eventual repentance for

Page 19 of 20
The Tempest; William Shakespeare Laura L
his crimes against Prospero will transform his character —> A discovery as powerful as
death itself in its ability to create a new world of love, forgiveness and reconciliation
• Song is also employed by Ariel as a means to taunt , frighten and warn the wandering
shipwrecks
• It is alternately employed in the second subplot as a means to express the druken ecstasy
of the pair on their lascivious and rapacious quest the seize the island

The Epilogue:
• The Tempest is often interpreted as the request of Prospero to his audience to release
him from their spell
• While the epilogue is validly read as Prospero’s direct address to his audience, it might
equally be interpreted as a humble request to his new companions not to leave him
stranded on the isle
• Another possibility is that the Epilogue is a form of repentance to a higher celestial
authority whose supernatural powers, vengeance and grand schemes he has mimicked
• Stage direction: Please you, draw near Prospero assembles the lords
• Consider Prospero’s request “But release me from my bands, With the help of your
good hands” it is a pun on the applause of the audience and the boatswain, who begin
the play disregarding authority of the nature order
• Prospero’s final couplet, “As you from crimes would pardoned be / Let your
indulgences set me free” it sounds like a request to Antonio, given the events of the
unpleasant brother
• Caliban now rules the isle over Prospero whose strength is “most faint” without his
books
• The epilogue could be seen as Prospero’s direct address to Jehovah, whose powers he
mimicked
• Without his magic Prospero is left humbled and frail, and his address is reminiscent of
the Lords Prayer in the plea for mercy “Let me not / Since I have my dukedom got /
And pardoned the deceiver, dwell / In this bare island by your spell”
• “Gentle breath of yours my sails / Must fill, or else my project fails” might refer to the
plea to the audience
• Moreover, the dukes recognition that his “ending is despair / Unless I be relieved by
prayer” signal Prospero’s humble recognition before a wrathful God that he has unduly
imitated him with supernatural powers over Caliban and Ariel
• The newly dispossessed magician seeks divine forgiveness in the same manner he has
granted it to his one-time enemies: freely, indulgently and without reservation

Page 20 of 20