The Tempest
Act 1 Worksheet
1. Describe the setting and scene in scene 1. Which of the characters get in the way of the
others? How is this ironic?
Scene 2
2. What is the setting for this scene?
3. What is Miranda’s concern? What does she want to know from Prospero?
4. What is his promise to her?
5. What can we infer about their relationship?
6. Discuss the following lines. Who is speaking? Who to? Put in your own words.
The hour’s now come;
The very minute bids thee ope thine ear.
Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember
A time before we came unto this cell?
7. What is the response to these lines?
8. How long have the 2 been on the island? What was Prospero’s original title?
9. Explain:
O the heavens!
What foul play had we that we came from thence?
Or blessed was’t we did?
10. What is the answer? How have they come to this island and exile?
11. How is Prospero indirectly/directly responsible for what happened to them?
12. Explain the double meaning in the lines with “having both the key. . . /To what tune pleased
his ear.”
13. How has the past been brought into their present? Is this why Prospero has decided to tell
Miranda about their past now?
14. Who helped the 2 after they came to their island? How? Where has this person been ever
since?
15. Why does Miranda ask: “For still tis beating in my mind—your reason/For raising this sea
storm?”
16. What response does she receive from Prospero? Why might he have raised the storm?
17. What job Prospero is given to Ariel? How does he do? Is Prospero pleased with his work?
18. How does Ferdinand come to be separated from the others on the ship? What happens to
the others and to the ship?
19. What is it Ariel wants from Prospero? What is the promise given to him from Prospero?
20. Why/How has Ariel come to be in Prospero’s service? What kindness did Prospero do for
Ariel? How does Prospero keep Ariel’s loyalty?
21. What creatures were on the island before Miranda and Prospero arrived? Is Shakespeare’s
technique of telling us this previous knowledge about the characters and setting effective?
How is he drawing us into the story?
22. Why does Prospero put Miranda asleep? When he awakens her they go to visit Caliban.
How is Caliban described in the play?
23. What relationship does Prospero have with Caliban? How does Miranda feel about Caliban?
24. Why is Caliban so resentful of the treatment he receives from Prospero?
25. What act committed by Caliban changed the way Prospero felt about him? Is Prospero
justified in his treatment of Caliban?
26. What circumstances bring Ferdinand to see Miranda and Miranda to see Ferdinand? What
is their reaction to the other?
27. Music is used throughout all of Shakespeare’s plays but serves an even more important role
in this one. Give 2 different examples of how music has been used already in the play.
28. How does Prospero react to the meeting between Ferdinand and Miranda? What changes
his initial feelings?
29. Why would Prospero encourage the match between his daughter and Ferdinand? Why
might he discourage it? What does Prospero stand to gain and lose if the 2 young people
get together?
30. One of the major themes for the play is the ability to recognize order in disorder. How has
this theme been introduced and developed in Act 1?