Study Questions
1. What are Ferdinand and Miranda pretending to do as Prospero discovers them? What are they really doing?

2. What does Ferdinand do when he sees his father, the king?

3. Why does Ferdinand feel that the seas are merciful?

4. What does Miranda think when she first sees the members of the royal court?

5. How does Alonso feel about asking Miranda’s forgiveness?

6. How will Ferdinand and Miranda’s marriage change the future “brave new world” of Milan?

7. How does Gonzalo react when he sees the boatswain?

8. What has happened to the ship in the tempest?

9. What does Prospero promise Ariel as a reward for his services?

10. Why is the boatswain unsure when Alonso asks him how he came to Prospero’s cell?

Answers
1. Ferdinand and Miranda are pretending to play chess but are really engaging in loving conversation.

2. Ferdinand kneels before his father when he first sees him.

3. Symbolically, Ferdinand feels the seas are merciful because they have not drowned his father.

4. Miranda is impressed because there are so many noble men in the world.

5. Alonso is concerned about asking his own child’s forgiveness since he is, by Elizabethan standards, superior to her.

6. The young couple’s marriage will bring their fathers together and reconcile their past differences.

7. Gonzalo feels his prophecy has come true in which he vowed that the boatswain was born to be hanged and would, therefore, not drown at sea.

8. The ship is safely docked in the harbor and looks as good as new.

9. Prospero promises Ariel his freedom when his project is completed.

10. The boatswain had been asleep and was still in a daze when Ariel brought him to Prospero’s cell.