The Tempest

The Tempest begins, conveniently enough, with a tempest. The courtiers – the main ones being Alonso (the King of Naples), Ferdinand (Alonso’s son), Antonio (the Duke of Milan), Gonzalo (adviser to the King), and Sebastian (the brother of the King) – are on board a ship with the Mariners and Boatswain. The storm worsens and chaos ensues.

The conductor of the storm is then revealed – the wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero, who after being usurped by his brother Antonio, King Alonso, and Sebastian, fled to the island which he and his daughter, Miranda, now live on. After years of keeping her in the dark, Prospero decides now is the time to tell Miranda of their past seeing as the storm “hath mine enemies / Brought to this shore.” He then calls his spirit/servant Ariel to the stage and bids him to report on the shipwreck they have just caused together. Ariel recounts the tale of the shipwreck with sheer delight, and reports that all of the royal party are in fact safe upon the shore with “not a hair perished.” After Ariel gets a little bit volatile, Prospero awakens Miranda and off they go to visit Caliban – the ‘monster’ which Prospero has imprisoned within the rocks. It’s revealed that Caliban is furious with Prospero and resents his capture, which will eventually lead to his usurping desires later in the play.

Next, Ariel brings Ferdinand to Prospero and Miranda, and since Ferdinand is the first man that Miranda has ever seen except her father and Caliban, she instantly falls in love. He promises that he’ll make her Queen of Naples and off the happy couple go.

The other courtiers (who Ferdinand believes are drowned!) enter and become absolutely enthralled by the island, confused by its music, wonders, and mystique. Their scenes mostly consist of good-natured Gonzalo trying to cheer up poor Alonso who believes that his son is drowned, as they wander confused around the island. But while Alonso mopes (and naps), Antonio and Sebastian rile each other up to kill Alonso and thereby transfer the throne to Sebastian, seeing as Alonso’s heirs are gone (with Ferdinand believed to be drowned, and Claribel married to the King of Tunis).

We are then introduced to the final set of characters, Trinculo and Stephano, two lower class members of the courtier party. After getting mixed up with Caliban, who proclaims them his new masters, they decide to murder Prospero and take the isle for themselves.

Meanwhile, as Ferdinand and Miranda fall deeper in love (and eventually get married!), Prospero and Ariel haunt and taunt the courtiers drawing them not only closer to Prospero, but closer to the brink of insanity. Eventually, just before meeting with his enemies (both the usurpers of his past and of his present), Prospero decides to part with his magic and rather than pursue revenge, decides upon forgiveness.

Upon Prospero revealing himself to them, the courtiers are dumbstruck. Alonso in particular is so affected by both seeing Prospero and the horrors he has experienced on the island that he immediately revokes the Dukedom from Antonio and restores it to Prospero. Prospero indicts Antonio and Sebastian for their immoral actions before revealing to Alonso that not only is his son Ferdinand alive, he is healthy and in love with Prospero’s daughter Miranda.
After the happy reunion between father and son, Ariel brings the new usurpers (Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano) to Prospero and they apologise for their actions. For Ariel’s obedience, Prospero decides to set him free, but Caliban’s future is unclear. While Prospero and Miranda will be travelling back to Italy with the courtiers, Shakespeare leaves us in the dark regarding Caliban’s fate, ending with a grand epilogue delivered by Prospero, begging the audience to release not just Prospero from his role, but the actor too.