34 pages • 1 hour read
A Tempest
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Act IChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act I Summary
Scene 1 takes place on a ship on the sea during a storm. Gonzalo tries to reassure his fellow travelers, Antonio and Sebastian, explaining that they need to reach the stillness in the center of the storm to find relief. They notice a commotion on the deck of the ship, where the Captain warns the Boatswain of a nearby island.
Alonso, the king of Naples, approaches the group, and the Boatswain advises the gentlemen to go back to their cabins; at first, he makes the request calmly, but when the men resist, he employs an aggressive tone. Gonzalo introduces the gentlemen to the Boatswain, but the Boatswain is unimpressed by their titles, asserting that the true king to whom they must submit is the wind. The gentlemen find the Boatswain disrespectful, but Gonzalo admits that the man “lacks neither courage nor wit” (11). The Boatswain orders them below deck as thunder and lightning crack. Gonzalo marvels at the appearance of the storm, observing a kind of magic in the lightning that sets it apart from the lightning he has seen in Europe. As Antonio speaks pessimistically of their situation, Gonzalo claims he is ready for death. As the ship begins to sink, Ferdinand, the king’s son, enters the scene and remarks that no one is in hell; “all the devils” are present on the ship at this very moment (11).
At the start of Scene 2, Miranda is horrified at the sight of the sinking ship. Her father, Prospero, reminds her that “[i]t’s only a play” before telling her the truth about her identity (12). Prospero reveals to Miranda that she is a princess and that she was born in Milan, where he was once duke. He explains that before they arrived on the island on which they now live, Antonio, Prospero’s brother, and the king of Naples, Alonso, conspired against Prospero because they wanted Prospero’s empire of European lands. They denounced Prospero and called him “a magician and a sorcerer” before the Priests of the Holy Order banished him and three-year-old Miranda to the island (13).
In a flashback, a friar appears on stage; he reads Prospero’s sentence from a parchment. After the friar reads the sentence, Miranda sympathizes with her father, who describes Gonzalo, the king’s counselor, as a generous man who showed Prospero and Miranda sympathy when they were sent away from Milan. Ariel enters as Prospero admits to Miranda that he is responsible for the shipwreck; as soon as Prospero discovered that Alonso and Antonio had recently set sail to seize Prospero’s overseas lands, he recruited Ariel to create a storm to sabotage their mission.
Ariel assures Prospero that they have accomplished their goal. Prospero is pleased, but he notices that Ariel seems upset. Ariel admits that he was reluctant to sink the ship and drown the men, inspiring Prospero to mock Ariel and call him an “intellectual.” Ariel reminds Prospero of Prospero’s promise to free him, which angers Prospero. As Ariel exits the stage, Prospero calls for Caliban, who greets Prospero in Swahili: “Uhuru!” Caliban and Prospero swap insults, and Caliban asserts that if Prospero were to disappear, Caliban would be the ruler of the island as the island used to belong to his mother, Sycorax. Prospero insults Caliban’s mother, who is dead, but Caliban asserts that she lives on in the earth, which deserves more respect than Prospero can give. Caliban and Prospero continue to argue about Caliban’s ingratitude and uncivilized habits until Prospero threatens to whip Caliban for his “grumbling.” Before Caliban exits, he tells Prospero that he will no longer answer to the name Caliban; from now on, he will answer only to “X.”
Ariel reenters the scene, having changed shape into a sea-nymph. Prospero remarks to Ariel that Caliban has changed; now, Prospero considers Caliban an enemy. Prospero goes on to tell Ariel that he has changed his mind about the shipwrecked men; he would like them alive, and he would like Alonso’s son Ferdinand to marry Miranda so that the conflict between the men can be resolved. Ariel agrees to do his bidding and sings as he leaves the stage. Ferdinand enters the scene, looking for the source of music, and he happens upon Miranda. He calls her a “goddess” before telling her that he is a king as his father has died in a shipwreck. Miranda comforts Ferdinand, but Prospero interrupts to tell Ferdinand that he is to become Prospero’s servant. Ferdinand draws his sword to defend his honor; Ariel warns him to give up, telling him that Prospero is a “sorcerer.” Ferdinand accepts his fate, “finding my servitude sweet” (24).
Act I Analysis
During the shipwreck scene, power dynamics come into play, establishing that tension exists between the gentlemen and all beings who are ruled by the noblemen in charge and drawing attention to one of the major themes of the play: leadership and usurpation. The hostile exchange that takes place between the Boatswain and Antonio, Prospero’s brother and usurper of Prospero’s dukedom, foreshadows other exchanges between other pairs of leaders and underlings in the play. The Boatswain, though his social status is low, has power during the storm to command the noblemen below deck; his understanding of the situation means that the gentlemen must rely on him if they are to survive the storm. Antonio cannot tolerate the role reversal, and he suspects that the Boatswain is taking advantage of the situation to speak disrespectfully. Antonio’s defensiveness reveals that he is a petty man who prioritizes power over pragmatism; his temperament is ill-suited to leadership, which may explain why he had to usurp his dukedom from his brother Prospero in the first place.
As Caliban makes his first appearance on stage, he greets Prospero in Swahili, asserting his cultural heritage as a black man, and insists that Prospero call him “X.” Caliban’s boldness and his allusion to Malcolm X, a civil rights activist who was willing to fight for black freedom by whatever means necessary, reveal that the character of Caliban is a driving force behind another important theme in the play: the theme of race, power, and exploitation. Caliban’s choice to speak to Prospero in Swahili, an African language, represents Caliban’s refusal to submit entirely to Prospero’s exploitative rule. Caliban also refuses to answer to the slave name given to him by Prospero, revealing his revolutionary spirit. Ariel, on the other hand, is respectful to Prospero while communicating his true feelings about his participation in causing the shipwreck. Both Caliban and Ariel must live as Prospero’s slaves, but they treat their master differently, demonstrating the complexity of race relations and the individual nature of protest.
Nature imagery plays a significant role in Act I. Descriptions of the storm that causes the shipwreck suggest that the wind is violent; ironically, the wind that causes the sea to churn so dangerously has been summoned by Ariel and Prospero, who have supernatural powers. The storm, a symbol of nature, demonstrates that while Prospero’s power has the potential to dominate natural forces like the wind and the sea, the damage that nature can inflict on humans is extreme. Though Prospero can harness the wind and the sea at this moment, he needs Ariel’s help; without Ariel, Prospero is weak and vulnerable. Prospero’s vulnerability to nature is also expressed by Caliban’s insistence that Prospero has no respect for the earth, where Caliban’s mother Sycorax is buried. Caliban, on the other hand, is as connected to nature as Ariel, which suggests that Prospero’s role as master is perhaps less stable than Prospero believes.
In Act I, two metatheatrical moments remind the audience of the fact that they are watching a play. At the beginning of Scene 2, Prospero tells his daughter Miranda to calm herself as she watches the shipwreck take place; he reminds her, and the actor playing her role, that the shipwreck is fake and a part of the play. As well, the Friar appears on stage to read Prospero’s sentence when Prospero engages in a flashback while telling Miranda the story of the last 12 years. Both moments emphasize the fact that the playwright is using the vehicle of a fictional play to teach the audience something about real life.
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