The Tempest
Prospero and Ariel played by Dennis
Kleinsmith and Don Pitsch in Auburn
Regional Theatre’s 2007 production
of The Tempest
Performer - Culture & Literature
Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,
Margaret Layton © 2012
The Tempest
1. The plot
Act 1
•
•
•
Setting in place
an enchanted island.
Protagonists
Prospero, a magician, his daughter
Miranda; Caliban, a strange
creature of brute intelligence;
Ariel, a spirit of the air.
Main event
a tempest. Shipwrecked, Alonso,
King of Naples, his son
Ferdinand, Antonio, Duke of
Milan, and their court are washed
up on the island.
Performer - Culture&Literature
The Tempest
1. The plot
Act 2
• King Alonso is desperate
because he thinks his son
drowned.
• Ferdinand wanders through
the island, moved by Ariel’s
singing.
meets Miranda and falls in love.
Performer - Culture&Literature
Frederick Goodall.
Miranda, exhibited in 1888
The Tempest
1. The plot
Act 3
•
Prospero makes Ferdinand perform
menial tasks to test him.
•
Caliban meets Trinculo,
the king’s jester,
and Stephano,
the royal butler.
•
John Everett Millais, Ferdinand Lured by
Ariel, 1850, private collection.
Performer - Culture&Literature
They plan
to kill
Prospero.
Ariel listens to them and reports
the plan to Prospero.
The Tempest
1. The plot
Act 4  an interlude to entertain Miranda
and Ferdinand while Prospero completes
his plans.
Act 5 general reconciliation
•Miranda and Ferdinand get
married;
•Prospero forgives his brother and
returns to Milan;
•Caliban is left alone on the island;
•Ariel is released.
Edward Reginald Frampton , Ferdinand and Miranda,
The Tempest, act 5, (1870-1923).
Performer - Culture&Literature
The Tempest
2. The characters
Who is Prospero?
A magician, the former
duke of Milan, usurped
by his brother Antonio
twelve years before, in
concert with Alonso,
king of Naples, and
forced to flee on a boat
with his daughter
Miranda.
Performer - Culture&Literature
Christopher Plummer as
Prospero of The Tempest
in Stratford
The Tempest
2. The characters
Prospero’s magic
Giorgio Albertazzi and Roberta Caronia
as Prospero and his daughter Miranda
Performer - Culture&Literature
The symbols
of his magic
power are
• his books;
• his wand;
• his robe.
He uses magic
• to protect Miranda;
• to cast spells;
• to control the other
characters.
At the end he drowns his books
and renounces magic.
The Tempest
2. The characters
Who is Ariel?
• Ariel is an airy spirit
who first appears in
Act I, Scene 2.
• He is Prospero’s
messenger.
• He joins the power of
all elemental spirits.
He appears as
Performer - Culture&Literature
Ben Diskant as Ariel in 'The Tempest,' directed by Adrian Noble
The Tempest
2. The characters
Who is Ariel?
• Formerly at the service of the witch
Sycorax, he was confined in a pine,
because he had offended her.
• After twelve years’ imprisonment,
Prospero’s magic power set him free
and he became his servant.
Kate Newlyn, Ariel,
2005.
Performer - Culture&Literature
The Tempest
2. The characters
Ariel’s name
• His name means ‘Lion of the
Lord’.
• In the play, his voice is
sometimes confused with lion
roars.
• Ariel may also be a simple play
on the word ‘aerial’.
Performer - Culture&Literature
Julyana Soelistyo as Ariel
of The Tempest in Stratford
The Tempest
2. The characters
Ariel’s powers
• Ariel can control other spirits and
music, which is a way to transform
reality and to confuse and terrorise
the enemies.
• He can become invisible.
• He is as fast as a thought and can
change his appearance.
David Scott, Ariel and Caliban, 1837
Performer - Culture&Literature
The Tempest
2. The characters
Ariel as Prospero’s tool
• Ariel is Prospero’s
eyes and ears
throughout the play,
using his magical
abilities to cause the
tempest and to
prevent other
characters’ plots
against his master.
William Blake,
Ariel and Prospero
Julyana Soelistyo
and Christopher Plummer
as Ariel and Prospero
of The Tempest
in Stratford.
Performer - Culture&Literature
The Tempest
2. The characters
Who is Caliban ?
• The son of the witch Sycorax.
• A savage and deformed
creature, half human,
half monster.
• Attempts to rape Miranda.
• Forced into servitude by
Prospero.
Heinrich Fuseli, Caliban
faces Prospero; Miranda
sleeping in the cave
(The Tempest, 1, 2) 18061810
Performer - Culture&Literature
Caliban (Tom Scofield)
in Folger Theatre’s
production of The Tempest
(2007)
The Tempest
2. The characters
The character of Caliban
• He considers himself mistreated
and overworked.
• He accuses Prospero of befriending
him to take advantage of his
gratitude and rob him of the island.
• His brutal mind is in contact with the
pure and original forms of nature.
Dion Johnstone as Caliban
of The Tempest in Stratford
Performer - Culture&Literature
The Tempest
3. The themes
• Forgiveness: all ends in reconciliation and peace,
with music intensifying the enchantment.
• the relationship between natives and invaders,
the problem of forced labour.
• the ‘element of magic’ and its representation as ‘theatrical
illusion’.
Maleficent: that of the witch
Sycorax
•works evil.
two types of magic
Beneficent: that of Prospero
•derives from study;
•used for good purposes.
Performer - Culture&Literature