Shakespeare gives very few stage directions and so we are left to create our own interpretation of how the scene should be acted out. The way in which we realise this is through the language and the overall impression we initially get of the characters.
The stage directions Shakespeare does give us are often just when the character is entering or exiting the stage and there are a few sound directions, however they are vague. He tells us who the boatswain should be talking to e.g. ‘[to the storm]’.
The storm itself gives the play a dramatic opening and immediately catches the audience’s attention. Plays were and often still are judged on the very opening scene so it will have been important for Shakespeare to make an impact right from the start. He used storms in other plays he wrote where they are all representing change. A storm is often a sign to the audience that there will be a change in a character or change in plot and this storm in The Tempest automatically signifies to the audience there will be calm after the storm. The storm represents the turmoil in the characters lives before they reach the island and the island represents the time in their lives when everything changes for the better. Therefore, the storm is used to represent a transformation from turmoil to order.
Shakespeare uses a storm in Romeo and Juliet to signify Tybalt’s death, in the Merchant of Venice to signify a change for all the characters when Antonio loses his wealth due to the storm and this then changed the lives of all the other characters and in King Lear to signify a transition in the character of King Lear himself. However, it is used particularly similarly in Twelfth Night. There is a group of shipwrecked passengers centred around Viola and Sebastian, the twins, and their friends, Viola's sea captain who fades from the action, and, more important, Antonio, who plays a significant role later in the comedy. This is very similar to The Tempest as there is a group of ship wrecked passengers which mainly centres on Gonzalo and Antonio although there are smaller speeches from Alonso and Sebastian. The boatswain fades from the action after the opening scene. There are even two of the characters who share the same names, Sebastian and Antonio.
Alonso, the King, does not feature much in the opening scene and is only given one line,
Good boatswain, have care. Where’s the master? / Play the men!
I believe Shakespeare did this in order to show that Alonso is quite a weak character, therefore, building up to when he could have easily been killed by Antonio and Sebastian later on in the play. He also does not seem to be as powerful or overruling of the other characters as the audience would expect, ‘Good boatswain, have care.’ He speaks to the boatswain as though they are friends despite their separate positions in society. The nobility of the King is not brought out by Shakespeare which automatically gives a clue to the audience that he is not a very strong King and is quite passive. His sentences are short as is his speech, perhaps Shakespeare wished to emphasise he is not a particularly noble King and is not like Gonzalo or Prospero who make long speeches.
We can tell who the main characters are as they are given names other than the boatswain and master who just remain known as boatswain and master. This makes them less personal and it is easy for the reader to see who the main characters should be.
Within the first scene there are images of death, through the talk of hanging and drowning of the boatswain. Perhaps this is to prepare the audience for the theme of death throughout the play which is never quiet carried out but is still underlying the book through its subplots e.g. Antonio and Sebastian plotting to kill Alonso and Gonzalo and Trinculo, Stephano and Caliban plotting to kill Prospero.
The language of Gonzalo in particular gives us a clue to his character; he speaks a lot of the time in long speeches and uses most of the metaphors and similes in the first scene,
‘though the ship / were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an / unstanched wench.’
This could be used by Shakespeare in order to show the audience he tends to ramble on and does not get straight to the point. He also uses a little bit of poetry in his speech,
The King and prince at prayers, let’s assist / them, for our case is as theirs.
This can also be used to show the long-winded nature of Gonzalo and the way he is often not taken very seriously. He takes up a lot of the speech in Act 1 Scene 1 and is also the last person talking. I think he is left talking to himself at the end to show the audience that this is often the case and that people do not take him seriously as is shown in the mockery of Gonzalo by Antonio and Sebastian.
In the first scene, elisions are used is in the Master’s speech, ‘Speak to th’ mariners. Fall to’t yarely’, Sebastian’s speech, ‘A pox o’your thoat’ and Antonio’s speech, ‘Let’s all sink wi’th’ King.’ I believe Shakespeare used elisions of language for Antonio and Sebastian in order to compare them with the class and bad manners they share with the Master. As opposed to the speech of Alonso and Gonzalo who both speak with no elisions in this scene. This shows them to be upper class and well educated, as a King should be and to show Gonzalo, although just an honest councillor is in fact more intelligent than both Antonio and Sebastian.
This scene is echoed in later parts of the play as it divides the characters into groups which are reiterated throughout the play, e.g. Antonio and Sebastian share the same type of language as do Gonzalo and Alonso. Both these pairs are seen as together during the play e.g. when Gonzalo and Alonso are both put to sleep and Antonio and Sebastian are left to scheme together.
