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    Tempest - Act 3 Scene 3

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    Abcd

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    Tempest - Act 3 Scene 3

    Uploaded by

    Abcd
    158 views2 pages

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    Copyright:

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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    158 views2 pages

    Tempest - Act 3 Scene 3

    Uploaded by

    Abcd

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 3

    Summary

    The royal party has searched futilely for Ferdinand and collapses, exhausted upon the beach. Unknown
    to the royal party, Prospero arrives and watches their actions. Within a few moments, a number of
    ghostly shapes arrive and with them, a lavish banquet. After gesturing to the party that they should
    approach and eat, the spirit shapes depart. The royal party is incredulous, but they are also hungry and
    ready to eat. Yet Ariel appears, disguised as a harpy. He makes the banquet disappear and accuses
    Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso of being the instruments of sin. Although the men draw their
    swords,they are frozen in place by magic and unable to lift up their arms. The king is shaken by what he
    has seenand heard, and he flees, as do Antonio and Sebastian. Worried that they might do themselves
    harm, Gonzalo sends Adrian and Francisco to watch them.

    Analysis

    This scene provides the climax of Prospero's plan and the denouement of Antonio's many plots. Antonio,
    Sebastian, and Alonso are powerless against Prospero's magic. Their plotting against him — and Antonio
    and Sebastian's subsequent plotting against Alonso — is ineffectual in the face of Prospero's greater
    power. This is the moment of revenge that Prospero has awaited for 12 long years, and he offers no
    cluewhat form the punishment will take. However, because he has encouraged Miranda and
    Ferdinand'slove, it is clear that any retribution directed toward Alonso will not be severe, since he would
    not risk his daughter's happiness in such a way. That is not the case, however, for Sebastian and
    Antonio, who have every reason for concern. As he has from the beginning, Ariel carries out Prospero's
    wishes efficiently and effectively. Ariel, who projects delicacy and eagerness in all that he does, is a spirit
    of the air. He is eager to be free, and his freedom has been promised in two days, at the conclusion of
    this mission. Ariel is eager to please Prospero, who freed him from Sycorax, the witch who had
    imprisoned him in a tree for refusing to do her bidding. Although he wants his freedom in exchange,
    Ariel approaches his tasks with enthusiasm, quickly doing what is asked and reporting promptly any
    activities that he observes. Earlier, Ariel had reported the plot to murder Prospero, and now he assists in
    punishing Prospero's enemies. Ariel's obedience is an important symbol of Prospero's humanity because
    he ameliorates Prospero's role on the island and humanizes the action that he takes against his old
    adversaries. Finally, Ariel's willing obedience of Prospero's wishes stands in stark contrast to Caliban's
    cursing and plotting against the same master. This scene illustrates the deep disparity between what is
    real and what is imagined. The disappearing banquet was never real, although it briefly appears so to
    the hungry captives. Ariel appears briefly as a harpy, a mythical creature with a vulture's wings and
    claws and the face of a woman, yet it is not Ariel's voice that speaks but a deep voice that seems to
    come from the heavens. Neither the harpy nor the voice is real. None of this is real, and all of it is
    carefully staged, a theatrical spectacle designed to frighten and punish Prospero's enemies. Prospero is
    the puppet-master, carefully pulling the strings and manipulating the action. But he remains unseen
    and, like the deep voice and the banquet, even this scene is illusionary. His victims cannot know that
    Prospero waits, unseen in the wings. All that is real is the madness that this confrontation has evoked in
    the three sinners.

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