The Tempest abbreviated

Synopsis


We’re led to believe as the play begins that Alonso, the king of Naples, his brother, his son, along with Antonio, the duke of Milan, among others, have been lost at sea in a terrible storm.

At the time of the storm, on a barren island in the Mediterranean Sea, Prospero and his daughter Miranda are talking when she says, “If by your art you have put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.” Prospero is quite the magician, uniquely talented, able to make oceans roar and birds speak. He tells her, “Be collected. No more amazement. No harm. Wipe thou thine eyes, daughter.” (History, Act 1, Scene 2) Through a history lesson for us and his fifteen year old daughter, Prospero lets her know of events that led to this moment, from when he was duke of Milan to this time. He and his daughter have been for some time consigned to this remote island, a place, however, where he gets to freely practice his magic tricks. (Resentment, Act 1, Scene 2.1) (Resentment, Act 1, Scene 2.2) (Father to Daughter, Act 1, Scene 2) He has Miranda fall asleep, using the opportunity to have Ariel, his spirit-servant, report to him. We learn that all on-board are fine, but that Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, Alonso’s son, was separated from the others. Prospero praises Ariel for his good work. We also learn of Sycorax, purported to be a witch, who had been banished from Algiers some twelve years earlier to this island; exiled along with her son Caliban and her then spirit-servant Ariel. Referring to Caliban, Prospero says that with Sycorax’s death the island “was not honored with a human shape.” Prospero then dismisses Ariel, asking him to “disguise himself as a sea nymph.” Caliban then enters to give us a history of his relationship with Prospero and Miranda. (Resentment, Act 1, Scene 2.3)

Meanwhile, having, as we say, survived the shipwreck and landed on the island, Alonso and his entourage appear on stage. Gonzalo, a young man who had been loyal to Prospero when they both were in Milan, offers Alonso a very upbeat assessment of their situation; Sebastian being more skeptical says, “He receives comfort like cold porridge.” (Confidence, Act 2, Scene 1) Alonso says to Gonzalo, “Prithee, no more,” fearing his son was lost in the shipwreck, and as well despondent over the thought that he’ll never again see his daughter, she now being a queen, having just married the King of Tunis. Alonso and his followers had attended his daughter’s wedding in Africa and were returning to Italy when their trip home was interrupted with this shipwreck.

Meanwhile, an invisible-to-the-men Ariel enters the scene and sings to Alonso and some of his associates. Most of them fall asleep. Antonio convinces Sebastian (the two of them not having fallen asleep) that they should use this opportunity to kill Alonzo and Gonzalo, both now sleeping, which would leave Sebastian, the king’s brother, as heir to the throne of Naples, Alonso’s son, now seeming to be lost, and his daughter a queen in Africa. Sebastian buys into Antonio’s plan. (Ruthlessness, Act 2, Scene 1) Antonio had “supplanted” Prospero, his brother, as duke of Milan in a coup some twelve years earlier. But just in the nick of time Ariel arrives to awaken Gonzalo and Alonso, thwarting Antonio’s dastardly plan.

Separately, Ariel leads Ferdinand to Miranda, the two young people immediately falling for each other. (Love, Act 3, Scene 1.1) A happy Prospero says “At the first sight they have changed eyes. Delicate Ariel, I’ll set thee free for this.” With gentle diplomacy, Ferdinand charms Miranda. With a master plan in mind, Prospero tells Ferdinand that he will be chained and must follow his instructions, all the while Miranda doing her best to defend her father, yet trying to protect Ferdinand, saying, “My father’s of a better nature, sir, then he appears by speech.”

Separately, two of Alonso’s aides, Trinculo and Stephano, separated from the others at the time of the shipwreck, run into each other by happenstance, believing they are the sole survivors of the wreck. They meet Caliban under unusual circumstances, Caliban willingly becoming Stephano’s servant, Stephano plying him with wine, having made it to shore “upon a barrel of sack.” Trinculo becomes the odd-man-out not having wine to gain Caliban’s favor. Caliban suggests Stephano “knock a hole in Prospero’s head,” and tells him of Prospero’s beautiful daughter, Miranda. Stephano responds, “Monster, I will kill this man. His daughter and I will be king and queen, and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys.” They exit to visit the supposedly sleeping Prospero.

Meanwhile, Prospero requires Ferdinand to “remove some thousands of logs upon a sore injunction.” Miranda is upset with his hard labor; he all along telling her how much he cares for her and that “for your sake am I this patient log-man.” (Love, Act 3, Scene 1.2) She eventually says, “I am your wife if you will marry me;” he accepts her offer saying, “Here’s my hand.”

Meanwhile shipwrecked Alonso and his associates find themselves exhausted. But Ariel and other spirits, Ariel now transformed into a Harpy, a talking bird with a human head, the spirits being ones never to miss an opportunity, prepare a banquet table with appropriate food and drink before the worn-out and hungry men. But just as the men sit down to the table, the Harpy jumps onto the table and causes the food and drink to vanish. (Threat, Act 3, Scene 3) He proceeds to scare the daylights out of Alonso, mostly over Alonso’s years-earlier mistreatment of Prospero, prompting Gonzalo to say to Alonso as the Harpy vanishes, “Why stand you in this strange stare?” Following Prospero’s instructions, Ariel binds up all the men.

Meanwhile, apologizing to Ferdinand for the harsh treatment he’s imposed, imposed as a test of character, Prospero welcomes Ferdinand into his narrow family saying, “She is thine own.” To “bestow my magic powers,” Prospero instructs Ariel to have his spirits put on a show for Ferdinand. But Prospero quickly interrupts the show, remembering the threat of “Caliban and his confederates against my life.” He then offers Ferdinand some of Shakespeare’s most interesting thoughts on mortality. (Father to Son, Act 4, Scene 1) As Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo try to sneak up on Prospero, Prospero scatters them with the frightening howls of hounds, as “spirits in the shape of dogs” chase them away. Prospero has quite the inventory of magic tricks.

Meanwhile Ariel reports to Prospero, telling him “All prisoners cannot budge till your release,” and Prospero responds, “Go, release them, Ariel. My charms I’ll break.” When Prospero’s spell over Alonso and his followers ends, Prospero is present and he and Alonso embrace, each apologizing to the other for past actions. Alonso bemoans the apparent loss of his son Ferdinand; Prospero wryly saying, “I have lost my daughter.” But he quickly welcomes Alonso into his home where Ferdinand and Miranda are playing chess. A jubilant Alonso says, “Is she the goddess that hath severed us and brought us thus together?”

Meanwhile, following Prospero’s instructions, Ariel returns with the ship’s Master and Boatswain in tow, both having remained with the ship. The Boatswain reports to an astonished Alonso and the others that the ship is “seaworthy and bravely rigged.” As Prospero praises Ariel, Alonso says, “These are not natural events. They strengthen from strange to stranger.” (Honor, Act 5, Scene 1) When Prospero and the shipwrecked men are together in Prospero’s home, he tells them “of my time on this isle” and how he hopes to join them on their voyage to Naples, when he can return to “my Milan,” and “see the nuptial of these our dear-beloved solemnized.” (Chivalry, Act 5, Scene 1) He then grants Ariel his freedom.


Principal Characters


Alonso
Alonso is the king of Naples and the leader of the castaways who find themselves on this island, all subjected to Prospero’s magic. Alonso is a gentleman throughout; concerned with the believed loss of his son as well the dire circumstances he and his followers are forced to endure. Near the end of the play, he and Prospero come to peace with each other, each forgiving the other for past actions. Alonso’s son, Ferdinand, falls for Miranda and marries her, in no small part a result of Prospero’s unique powers.

Antonio
Antonio is Prospero’s younger brother who twelve years earlier had engineered a successful coup, “supplanting” his brother Prospero as the duke of Milan, exiling Prospero and his daughter to a sailboat, left to drift at sea, supplied with provisions by Gonzalo, only to be forgiven at the end of the play by Prospero, the ultimate survivor. At one point in the play Antonio teams up with Sebastian with a plan to kill Alonso and Gonzalo, only to be denied by Prospero’s spirits.

Ariel
Ariel is the principal spirit-servant in the story who twelve years before this story begins had been brought to this island as a spirit-servant to Sycorax, the supposed witch exiled to this island with her son Caliban. Ariel earns his long-sought freedom from Prospero through the extraordinary on-demand service he faithfully provides the magician.

Caliban
Caliban is the son of the late Sycorax, a woman from Algiers accused of being a witch and exiled to this forlorn and barren island in the Mediterranean some years before Prospero and his daughter arrive. Prospero identifies Sycorax as being “This blue-eyed hag brought with child and here left by th’ sailors.” Prospero identifies Caliban as being “not honored with a human shape.” Speaking of Caliban, Prospero says “she died and left thee here” and that “I have used thee with humane care, lodged thee in my mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate the honor of my child.” Caliban is Prospero’s servant, but switches his allegiance to Stephano, Alonso’s butler, when Stephano, who rode a barrel of sack to shore, provides Caliban with a seeming unlimited supply of wine. We don’t know who made up this story folks.

Ferdinand
Ferdinand is Alonso’s son, the prince of Naples, a young man with no unpleasant characteristics (as opposed to some others in Alonso’s entourage) who falls in love at first sight with Miranda, a result it seems of her father’s outstanding magic skills. He and Gonzalo represent the best side of the male side of our being.

Gonzalo
Gonzalo is the connecting link between Alonso and Prospero, always positive and upbeat, always thoughtful and loyal. Twelve years earlier he had provided Prospero and his then three-year old daughter Miranda with the provisions that permitted the two of them to survive the challenge when they were left alone at night in a small boat out in the Mediterranean Sea. He also provided Prospero with his supply of magic books.

Miranda
Miranda is Prospero’s beautiful young sweetheart of a daughter, the token female in the story, and a good one at that, who it seems Shakespeare created to give purpose to her father’s life.

Prospero
Prospero is the play’s lead who as the duke of Milan had spent more time with his magic studies than he had leading the city and was usurped of his title in a coup early in the play, a coup led by his brother Antonio. Prospero and his three year old daughter Miranda had been left alone in a small craft far out at sea only to survive a twelve year stint on a barren island, mostly as a result of Prospero’s enormous and unique talent as a magician.

Sebastian
Sebastian is Alonso’s brother who has almost no role other than as the king of Naples’ younger brother who gets talked into a coup attempt by Antonio, Prospero’s brother. Antonio and Sebastian plan to kill the sleeping Alonso and Gonzalo, an effort thwarted by the talented and often present spirit, Ariel.

 A portrait of William Shakespeare