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The Tempest
In The Tempest, Shakespeare makes two references to Neptune, the Roman god of the sea. In act 1, scene 2, Ariel describes to Prospero how he followed Prospero's orders to the letter, raised a...
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The Tempest
The benefits of exile for Prospero are clear from Miranda's description of his magic art at the beginning of Act I scene 2. Prospero has had all the time in the world to focus his efforts and...
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The Tempest
It's Act III, Scene iii, and Alonso has become utterly exhausted while looking for his son, Fernando. Weary in body, mind, and soul, Alonso has pretty much given up hope of ever finding him. All...
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The Tempest
In act 2 scene 1 of The Tempest, when Alonso and his retinue become shipwrecked on Prospero’s island, Gonzalo, the king’s loyal counselor, tries to see things optimistically. He reminds the...
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The Tempest
In William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Gonzalo is one of the few passengers on the tempest-tossed ship that hasn't in some way offended Prospero. As the play opens, Gonzalo is an advisor to King...
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The Tempest
At the opening of act 5 of William's Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero tells Ariel to release Prospero's prisoners and bring them to him. Prospero says that he'll remove all magic spells from...
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The Tempest
This particular question refers to a theme embedded and recurring throughout The Tempest, which is manifested in several different contexts (which vary in presentation from the sinister to the...
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The Tempest
Prospero has long wished to wreak vengeance on Alonso, Antonio, and the others who conspired to depose him from the throne. When Ariel reports that the men are trapped terrified in the grove,...
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The Tempest
This is a complicated assignment as there doesn't seem to be an overarching rationale for choosing these two works for comparison. There are, however, a few areas it might be possible to explore....
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The Tempest
Prospero uses his magic to control Ariel and Caliban. He does this to do several things. First, he uses it to establish a kind of hierarchy on the island, with him on top, and the enslaved spirit...
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The Tempest
In terms of themes, there are a number of options. You might, for example, compare how each text explores the theme of love. Gatsby's love for Daisy is arguably a positive influence on his life...
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The Tempest
This scene, which features the main courtship of Ferdinand and Miranda, raises many interesting issues that are central to the play as a whole. One of the crucial things it is important to remember...
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The Tempest
William Shakespeare ties up the main plot lines by the end of the play. The main line is the restoration of Prospero's dukedom in Milan over his brother, Antonio, who had usurped his rule. He...
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The Tempest
In act 1, scene 2 of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero explains to his daughter, Miranda, how they came to be on the island which is the setting for the play. Prospero tells Miranda that...
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The Tempest
The title of The Tempest has both literal and metaphorical significance. Literally, it refers to the storm, or tempest, whipped up by Prospero's magic to shipwreck the King of Naples and his crew....
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The Tempest
At the beginning of act 1, scene 2, Miranda says to her father, Prospero, "If by your art, my dearest father, you have / Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them." These lines introduce the...
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The Tempest
One of the main themes in "The Tempest" is the consequences of the uses and abuses of power. Prospero has accumulated and lost a great deal of power in his life. For this reason, and because his...
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The Tempest
Caliban is very subservient to Stephano. In fact, he's so unctuous towards him that he actually bows down to him and calls him a god. Old habits die hard, and Caliban's years of bowing and scraping...
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The Tempest
The answer lies in act 2, scene 1. Gonzalo and the other guests have been shipwrecked off the coast of Prospero's magic island. Alonso, for one, is pretty upset by their ordeal, but Gonzalo urges...
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The Tempest
At the beginning of the play, the audience's reactions to Prospero are rather ambivalent, to say the least. He is verbally abusive towards Ariel when his authority is challenged, and threatens him...
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The Tempest
In act 2, scene 1, Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo wash ashore with their various attendants and Gonzalo attempts to comfort everyone by explaining to them the promising aspects of the...
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The Tempest
At the beginning of the play Miranda is naive and tender-hearted. She hasn't known anyone except her father and Caliban within her living memory, and she hasn't left the island that she lives on...
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The Tempest
Postcolonialism has given The Tempest a new lease on life, making it one of the most popular plays for university teaching and recasting Prospero from benign if unorthodox ruler to villainous...
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The Tempest
The first recorded performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest was for King James I at Whitehall Palace on November 1, 1611. The date of the first performance is important in understanding the origin...
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The Tempest
Clearly the play contains many different and varying forms of conflict from the conflict between Prospero and Caliban and Ariel to the conflict between the island's more worldly incomers. However...
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The Tempest
Sycorax was a powerful, fearsome witch, the mother of Caliban. We never actually see "the blue-eyed hag" at any point during The Tempest; she dies several years before the main action takes place....
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The Tempest
It soon becomes apparent that Prospero intends Miranda and Ferdinand to marry,and it is therefore no surprise that he is delighted when their feelings fit in so neatly with his plans. Ferdinand is...
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The Tempest
In act 2, scene 2, Stephano and Trinculo encounter Caliban, and together they become drunk. In act 3, scene 2, Caliban boasts that he knows how to kill Prospero, and they make a plan to do so as...
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The Tempest
In act 1, scene 2, the audience is introduced to Prospero and his lovely daughter Miranda, who laments the outcome of the terrible storm and fears that the crew members were killed during the...
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The Tempest
In act 1, scene 2 of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Ferdinand, the Prince of Naples, meets Prospero's daughter, Miranda, and the two young people fall in love at first sight—which is exactly why...
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The Tempest
Within the context of Act 1, Scene 1, we learn that the boatswain is a confident and capable sailor. When Alonso and Antonio come calling for the Master of the ship, the boatswain tells them to get...
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The Tempest
Prospero doesn't want Ferdinand to win Miranda's hand in marriage too easily; Prospero fears that, if Ferdinand does so, he won't properly value his daughter. Therefore, Prospero sets Ferdinand to...
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The Tempest
Prospero was once the Duke of Milan, but became so "rapt in secret studies" (I.ii.77) that he began to neglect his responsibilities as duke. He was becoming so alienated that he turned many of the...
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The Tempest
In act 2, scene 1 of William Shakespeare's play The Tempest, Gonzalo says to Alonso: Beseech you, sir, be merry. You have cause, So have we all, of joy, for our escape Is much beyond our loss....
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The Tempest
In literature, the term “masque” refers to a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe. It was the most important kind of entertainment in the...
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The Tempest
In act 4, scene 1 of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero apologizes to Ferdinand for treating him harshly, and gives permission for Ferdinand to marry his daughter, Miranda. PROSPERO: Then, as my...
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The Tempest
The characters living on the deserted island as the tempest arises are Prospero, Miranda, Ariel, and Caliban. Prospero's hardship is that his former kingdom has been usurped, or taken from him, and...
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The Tempest
At the beginning of act 2, scene 1, of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Alonso (the King of Naples), Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo have washed ashore on Prospero's island and they're assessing their...
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The Tempest
In Act IV, Scene I, Prospero decides to put on “a show,” using magic, for Ferdinand and Miranda. He summons the spirits of Juno, Ceres, and Iris. Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, calls...
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The Tempest
The real vs. the unreal is a major theme in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Prospero, the main character, is a powerful magician who uses his powers enact his revenge on his shipwrecked...
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The Tempest
Prospero is one of the main characters in The Tempest, a play by William Shakespeare. Formerly the Duke of Milan, he lost his position to his treacherous brother, Antonio. Since then, he has lived...
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The Tempest
Prospero can claim both Ariel and Caliban as his servants, but his attitude toward and treatment of the two are very different. Both became his slaves because of the machinations of the witch...
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The Tempest
In ancient Greece, an oracle was a gateway to the will of the gods. It was a place that, for a fee, people could consult with a priest or priestess, through whom the gods spoke, to receive...
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The Tempest
In Act Three (not Two), Prospero treats Ferdinand like a slave. There are several reasons for this. He is still angry over the loss of his kingdom, and Ferdinand is linked to that. He (Prospero) is...
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The Tempest
Gonzalo is referring to the ship's boatswain, the hardy, sea-faring soul who's just rudely told Sebastian and Antonio to get below deck and let him get on with his work. This is clearly one tough...
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The Tempest
For Caliban, Prospero's library full of magic books is the source of his power. But for Antonio, Prospero's scheming brother, it's the exact opposite: it's a source of weakness. Prospero spends so...
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The Tempest
The boatswain tells Gonzalo and the other men that they're getting in the way of his work and should stay in their cabins. The ship's in the middle of a violent storm whipped up by Prospero on his...
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The Tempest
A boatswain's duties on a sailing ship haven't changed much since Shakespeare wrote The Tempest. The boatswain is the senior crewman on the deck whose responsibilities include managing the deck...
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The Tempest
In this context, "mean task" simply means "hard work." "Heavy and odious" refers to hard work that is boring and unpleasant. The expression comes from act 3, scene 1 of The Tempest and is spoken by...
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The Tempest
In the opening scene of the play, the royal court is aboard a ship that is being viciously tossed by powerful waves in the middle of an intense tempest. As the Boatswain shouts orders to the...