Study Questions on Shakespeare's The Tempest

1. Explore how the first scene glances at the values and beliefs of its characters and questions the relation between social and political relations (hierarchy) in the context of Nature's (Prospero's?) tempestuous power, and the bases and limits of authority.

2. Speculate on Prospero's reasons for previously withholding the story of his usurpation and exile from Miranda. How does he represent himself and his past? Analyze his past roles, choices, and responsibilities (1.2ff) and relate them to his present purposes (e.g., does he seek revenge, reconciliation, something else?).

3. Note that Prospero attests to the virtue of Miranda's mother (1.2.56, but does not name her) and speaks of begetting a falsehood in Antonio (1.2.94), Miranda finds it necessary to excuse her grandmother for producing Antonio (1.2.119), and Ferdinand greets Miranda by inquiring rather bluntly whether she is a maid (virgin,1.2.431), repeating this as a condition for making her Queen of Naples (1.2.452). We also learn that Caliban tried to violate (rape) Miranda (or Prospero's honor?), and according to Prospero is himself the bastard issue of Satan and Sycorax. Begin to analyze the play's representation of sexuality (including women's reproductive capacities, especially a preoccupation with chastity and with fertility) and its relation to social and political order (cf. question 14).

4. Caliban claims possession and authority over the island through his mother (1.2.334), taunts Prospero about his lack of subjects (1.2.344), and is described by Miranda (who seems to echo her father) as a slave incapable of becoming good. What is Caliban's nature (e.g., 3.2.83ff.,130ff., note his expressive, poetic capacities here)? Was he begot by "the devil himself" (1.2.323)? Is he incapable of learning or ethical action (e.g.,1.2.354ff;4.1.188)? Has he learned to "curse" only after being taught the language of Prospero's and Miranda's 'world'? To what extent do his views (speech, expressions/recognitions, actions) differ from others' views and values? Do his social and political claims have any merit or bearing on Prospero's and Miranda's attitudes towards him?

5. Explore Prospero's and Ariel's relationship, and Ariel's function/purpose in the play (1.2.220ff).

6. Explore Prospero's relation to and plans for Miranda further, and analyze her identity and purpose in the play. Though he pretends to be concerned about Ferdinand as a traitor, imposter, and impatient sexual suitor to Miranda, perhaps some of this pretense reveals a recurring anxiety about proper behavior, self-control, and obedience to authority. Note too Prospero's apparent insistence on temperance in his critical view of drunken behavior, and perhaps a similar attitude toward over-indulgence intemperate lustful behavior (evoked in Caliban and here again projected onto Ferdinand).

7. Consider the nature and possibilities represented by Gonzalo's "commonwealth" (2.1.147, see also Greenblatt's observation (3051) that these speculations are adapted from Montaigne's "Of the Cannibals"). For example, to what extent is Gonzalo's imaginary utopia undercut by Sebastian's and Antonio's response to it? Would you direct Gonzalo to be portrayed as a naive buffoon or as a sincere counselor to be valued?

8. Who or what do Sebastian and Antonio represent (2.1, 5.1.125ff.)?

9. Analyze Prospero's treatment of Ferdinand (1.2.400ff.,3.1.93, 4.1). What are Prospero's concerns with/over Ferdinand?

10. Why the subplot (including the trio's plot to destroy Prospero) with Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo (2.2ff)?

11. What are the natures/foundations of Prospero's (and Shakespeare's?) dramatic/rhetorical or magical arts (e.g.4.1.146ff)? Consider also functions and frequency of threats, aggression, violence, constant discipline, and demands in Prospero's language (his linguistic art, embodied life, so to speak). In the 1950s, Frank Kermode argued that Prospero's art/magic represents a human and historical aspiration to improve nature by civilized learning. What parallels and differences are there between Prospero and Sycorax? Consider also that initially (1.2.74) Prospero reveals that his dedication to his studies may have come at the expense of neglecting this political duties and thus contributed to his fall from ducal power--James I also had a deep interest in magic and demonology--is the play alluding somehow to James's manner of government?

12. Evaluate the extent and timing of Prospero's "compassion." How accurately can we estimate him by his claim that the "rarer action is / In virtue than in vengeance" (5.1.27-28)?

13. Evaluate the prospects left to Ferdinand and Miranda, to the rest of the court party, to Prospero, Ariel, and to Caliban by the play's conclusion. Have relationships, characters, and values altered over the course of the drama? What are the functions of the ending? Sean McEvoy suggests that in the romances, "despite the portrayal of women as either unruly creatures or merely beautiful and fruitful possessions, it can nevertheless be argued that there is in these plays a powerful undercurrent of 'female' qualities that will ultimately redeem the destructive 'male' desire to dominate" (Shakespeare: The Basics, second edition 255). Might the passage of time produce a perspective that enables a community to overcome arbitrary violent divisions and inequalities to emphasis common conditions and identities, or does history (viewed more skeptically) reproduce such divisions because we can't imagine a future in which power is exercised justly (rather than always to the advantage of some and the disadvantage of others). If endings are produced by humans rather than by divine dispensations, to what extent might we have the moral imagination to create particular endings?

14. How might Prospero, Ferdinand, Caliban, and perhaps Stephano each be understood to make claims upon Miranda: each claim important to producing or establishing the man's identity and authority over Miranda, her body, and over larger "territories."

15. The play's source materials may include information about the experiences in 1609 (see Greenblatt's headnote, p. 3052) of English ships in Bermuda (with Caliban's near anagram name calling to mind 'cannibals' or West Indian 'Caribs'), and at this time England had colonies, particularly in the New World, though the geography of The Tempest suggests a Mediterranean setting (an area of conflict between European Catholics and Turks, with English Protestants engaging in profitable alliances with the Turks. The play's contemporary political context also includes England's efforts to secure rule in Ireland, and England experienced an ongoing problem of 'masterless men' perceived as threats to the social order and effective government. As Sean McEvoy states, "The play can be seen to explore . . . the issues of colonisation and legitimacy of government . . . . What gives one people the right to dominate another? What makes a government the just authority in a particular territory (Shakespeare: The Basics, second edition 252)? How apt or suggestive is a comparison between Antonio usurping Prospero's place and Prospero in turn usurping Caliban's place (dispossessing him of the island and any authority over it, over himself). Note too that Caliban responds with subservience to Prospero (1.2.340) and to Stefano and Trinculo (2.2.152)--is his status as "subject" to one who "rules" natural, cultural (learned?)--what produces his "subjectivity?" The celebratory masque is disrupted by Prospero recollecting the "foul conspiracy" (4.1.139)--ponder to what extent this may disclose Prospero's unease over his failure to 'civilize' Caliban, over his role in this master/slave relationship, and over the questionable legitimacy of his own presumed right to rule (on/over the island).

16. How do you evaluate the play's conclusion(s), particularly the mixed tones of celebration over the impending royal marriage, and the prospects of Prospero's restoration to rule over Milan and abjurement of magic, Ariel's release from service, and Caliban being left behind on the island.

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