The Tempest Group

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syedajmain
syedajmain
Student

Where did Prospero and Miranda live? How was the art of magic useful for Prospero? Who was Sycorax?

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Posted by syedajmain on Friday October 9, 2009 at 9:06 PM and tagged with ariel, miranda, prospero, sycorax, the tempest.

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  1. lit24
    lit24 Teacher
    Doctorate

    eNotes Editor

    After Prospero and Miranda were set afloat on the Mediterranean Sea by Antonio and his men, they finally arrive safely on an island and set up home in a small cave or "cell."

    When Prospero was the Duke of Milan he spent most of his time in studying the magical arts. When he and his daughter Miranda were left to die on ill furnished boat, Gonzalo their trusted friend packed the boat with many of Prospero's prized books. It is with the help of these books and his knowledge of magic that he successfully takes  his revenge against his brother Antonio and the King of Naples and gets back his dukedom:

    "By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune,
    Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies
    Brought to this shore; and by my prescience
    I find my zenith doth depend upon
    A most auspicious star, whose influence
    If now I court not but omit, my fortunes
    Will ever after droop."

    Sycorax the Algerian witch was the former owner of the island which is now owned by Prospero. She was a very wicked person who had bound Ariel as a slave:

    Hast thou forgot
    The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy
    Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her?
    ARIEL
    No, sir.
    PROSPERO
    Thou hast. Where was she born? speak; tell me.
    ARIEL
    Sir, in Argier.
    PROSPERO
    O, was she so? I must
    Once in a month recount what thou hast been,
    Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch Sycorax,
    For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible
    To enter human hearing, from Argier,
    Thou know'st, was banish'd: for one thing she did
    They would not take her life. Is not this true?

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    Posted by lit24 on Friday October 9, 2009 at 9:12 PM

  2. lizzy-b
    lizzy-b Student
    High School - 11th Grade

    Sycorax is Caliban's mother.She is from Alger nd she was the one who punished Ariel for not carrying our her orders.

    Prospero and Miranda lived in a cell on the island.

    Prospero used his art of magic to get the spirits of the isle to obey him, and also to set Ariel free from boundage by Sycorax.

    Prospero,a master planner, uses his art of magic to get his enemies closer to him.

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    Posted by lizzy-b on Friday November 27, 2009 at 11:23 AM