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Who are the three groups Prospero divides the shipwrecked people into in "The Tempest"? How does the island experience affect each group?

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Prospero divides the people shipwrecked on the island into three groups.

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In The Tempest, one of Shakespeare's most loved and symbolic plays, the island setting does indeed affect and influence the play's action and the behavior of the characters. It is important to acknowledge that some of the play's "magical" characters, specifically Ariel (the airy spirit), Caliban (the defined slave), and, to a lesser extent, Sycorax (the sea witch who gave birth to Caliban), are associated with the island's different locations and the landscape's features and qualities.

The imagery of the four elements (air, fire, water, and earth) is important in the play, and these elements have specific correspondences (similar to their meanings in astrology and other systems) that are revealed in literary and artistic ways. The different locations are associated with them as well (the caves where Caliban dwells are associated with the element of earth, for example, and the earth element is a symbol of structure, steadfastness, stubbornness,...

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loyalty, jealousy, and the functions of the body: these are all associated with Caliban, whose name is a sort of anagram of "cannibal"). Ariel is associated with air, the element of intellect, mercurial action, speed, impulsivity, indecision, and creativity. Ariel is often portrayed with wings, and in some stage productions, he is shown flying or in suggested flight. Ariel is also associated with fire, which is conjured during the tempest and used to set the ship's mast aflame, and with water, as when Prospero orders Ariel to transform into a "sea nymph." Indeed, Ariel embodies three out of the four elements and functions as a sort of hybrid, alchemical figure.

The island's elemental forces, the specific natural features that make up the landscape, are literal catalysts that impact the well-being and emotional and mental states of the characters. The two main "magical" characters embody their respective elements strongly. At the same time, Ariel and Caliban are to some extent imprisoned by their elemental natures. Caliban lives in caves and is banished to them, ostensibly for being such a foul and unpleasant being (we see this in the things Miranda says about him being "abhorrent"). Ariel can move more freely, but his "airiness" is in part responsible for his enslavement, as he is constantly in an etheric state fulfilling Prospero's wishes and demands.

Ariel and Caliban's servitude to Prospero are both presented as signifiant aspects of these characters' dramatic motivation. Furthermore, Ariel's ability to move freely and quickly to different locations, in an almost invisible and sylphlike manner, makes Ariel the de facto "wizard" who manifests magical activity, despite being under Prospero's authority. Prospero gives orders, and Ariel obeys them. It may be that Prospero's awareness of the limitations of his own abilities motivates him to keep Ariel and Caliban enslaved. Part of this is that Prospero's potency as a magician should naturally be expressed in his command of the elements. However, since he is not even strong or skilled enough to create a storm (a natural force that combines the elements of air, water, fire, and earth), one may surmise that he needs his otherworldly servants to do his bidding and also to uphold his reputation. As well, the name "Prospero" is evocative of "prosperity," which is associated with the earth element. Like Caliban, Prospero is somewhat "earthbound" and does not possess the mercurial, fluid magical powers of Ariel, his surrogate.

The people separated into three groups are men who were shipwrecked in the storm that Prospero instructed Ariel to create. One "group" consists of just Prince Ferdinand, and Prospero tells Ariel to keep him isolated after it is obvious that the prince has fallen in love with Prospero's daughter, Miranda. When Ariel goes to the place where he led Ferdinand, he hides and sings, prompting Ferdinand to say:

Where should this music be? I' th' air or th' earth? It sounds no more, and sure, it waits upon Some god o' th' island.

This also refers to the elemental imagery associated with the magical being of the island and signifies Ferdinand as being deeply affected by and charmed by the island's magic. Even without necessarily understanding the significance, Ferdinand refers to the "earth" and "air" qualities of Caliban and Ariel, respectively. The "god o' th'island" he refers to is intentionally vague; this also refers to the supernatural power that Caliban and Ariel possess, as compared to Prospero's powers, which are fading with age. Ariel sings to Ferdinand about his dead father, suggesting a couple of things: first, that the island may be haunted and second, that the island has powers that can manipulate and fool people into seeing or hearing things which may not be true.

The state of being shipwrecked confers a feeling of being lost and unmoored from reality, and Ferdinand is responding to Ariel's singing by imagining the worst. Soon after, Miranda looks out the window and sees Ferdinand and assumes he is a spirit. This moment plays upon the hallucinatory nature of the island's atmosphere; Miranda's name, of course, is reminiscent of the word "mirage" (an illusion seen in unusual weather conditions, such as in the desert or at sea). Ferdinand, in turn, mistakes Miranda for a "goddess." There is a suggestion that these two lovers are meant to be together because of their ability to see one another as being otherworldly. Miranda is associated with the sea because her father keeps her isolated from the rest of the world by keeping her on the island. Ferdinand arrives by sea, and the element of water is associated with emotion, mystery, music, and love.

The second group is the mariners whom Ariel has charmed by singing them to sleep, and they remain below deck on the ship, which Ariel has nestled safely in the harbor after the storm. Folklore about ships and sailing often refer to "sirens," supernatural female entities that sing sailors to sleep or entice them to die in the waves. Prosper commands Ariel to transform into the form of a "sea nymph," which is essentially another version of a siren. It is worth noting that the character of Ariel is often portrayed as androgynous, and this gender fluidity and alchemical nature is another way in which the character appears to comprise all of the elements.

The third group separated by Ariel is the lords of the merchant ship, including Alonzo, Sebastian, Gonzalo, and Antonio. Ariel also attempts to sing these men to sleep, but Antonio and Sebastian, who are portrayed as being rather cruel and obnoxious, are immune to these musical charms. They begin to plot the possibility of killing their companions. It is suggested that these two mean-spirited men are not as susceptible to the island's magical forces because of their evil nature.

All three groups are affected by the island's elemental forces as they are expressed through the elemental abilities and qualities of Ariel, Caliban, Prospero, and Miranda. Each of these main characters is associated to a different degree with the four elements, and in tandem, these four elements create the magical and imposing atmosphere of the island.

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