Describe the chaos in act 1, scene 1, of The Tempest.

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a tempest can be defined as "a violent storm." Its alternate definition is "tumult, uproar." In the classic play The Tempest by William Shakespeare, there are numerous metaphorical tempests of fantasy, emotion, forbidden love, desire for revenge, politics, and colonialism. However, act 1, scene 1, of the play opens with an actual tempest of nature: full of thunder and lightning.

This natural storm that threatens the ship and the lives of all aboard creates much of the chaos and confusion in this scene. The ship's master, the boatswain, and the mariners all strive to take in the topsail, lower the topmast, and keep the ship on course so that they don't all drown.

Besides the chaos of the storm, there is further confusion due to the intrusion of the king, his counselor, and his brother. This brings on the clash of class conflict. The king is the supreme ruler, but on a ship, the captain is in charge. The king attempts to order the boatswain about, but the boatswain tells him and his party to get below into their cabins so that the mariners can do their jobs and save the ship. The boatswain says: "You do assist the storm." In other words: you make things worse by your interference.

The reluctance of the king and his party to get out of the way causes considerable confusion, which adds to the already chaotic situation brought on by the storm.

Describe the events in the first scene of The Tempest.

In the play's opening scene a small ship is being tossed about at sea by a violent storm, the tempest of the title. But this is no ordinary storm; it's been whipped up by the magician Prospero to frighten the ship's passengers. Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, seeks revenge for his overthrow, and the men responsible for his usurpation and subsequent banishment to a remote, uninhabited island are on board the ship now being buffeted by the storm.

We don't yet know any of this, or of the identity of the ship's passengers. All we know at this stage is that the ship looks certain to sink. Two of the VIP guests on board, Sebastian and Alonso, curse the boatswain for what they perceive as his impudence in ordering them to remain below deck while he and the crew try to do their jobs. When they re-emerge from their cabin, the situation, if anything, is even more desperate, so much so that Gonzalo orders the mariners to join with him in prayer for the king. All of a sudden, there's a huge cracking sound; it seems that, despite the best efforts of the crew, the ship's finally ready to give up the ghost and sink.