The scene ends with turmoil engulfing the boat and no-one having any sort of power or control, praying as a last resort, “The king and prince at prayers” (1:1:50). Clearly, it would be apparent to the audience that power rests with nature and those on the boat can do nothing about it. In this way, Shakespeare establishes the relationship between power, control and, ultimately, magic and shows that magic is power which leads to control. Of course, the audience would not think that there is anyone with power or control in this opening scene and Shakespeare probably aimed to do this by not revealing Prospero from the beginning. This leads to the audience seeing him as nearly godlike when revealed to posses such powers, powers that could cause such chaos. The theme of power and control is introduced effectively as it is an interesting way to reveal the main character and his powers by not having the theme introduced in it's entirety in the first scene and making the audience wait to meet the person who holds the power and is in control.
Perhaps the most important relationship between power, control and a character is that of Prospero’s and Ariel's. It is one of master and slave. Prospero does not hide this and refers to Ariel as “my slave” (1:2:270) and it would seem that Ariel is the more powerful being in terms of magic but Prospero, through his use of words and actions is able to control the spirit. He often uses these possessive pronouns to show ownership of Ariel when addressing the spirit , “Why, that’s my spirit.” (1:2:216) Using such words and phrases, Prospero keeps Ariel thinking that the spirit is owned by him, possibly even suppressing the desire to rebel. It seems that Shakespeare has scripted their relationship to have many undertones of psychological control and even show parallels between Prospero and himself, Shakespeare controlling the audience using words in the same way that Prospero controls Ariel using words. Even so, Ariel is a delicate spirit and longs for affection. Ariel asks “Do you love me?” (4:1:48) of Prospero, to which he replies that he does “Dearly” (4:1:49). This shows that Ariel isn't bitter as Caliban is and is affectionate towards Prospero so that Prospero is not angered and may award Ariel freedom, showing a clear case of control through psychological manipulation by Ariel.
To stop Ariel from rebelling, Prospero brings up an incident from the past where Ariel was trapped in a tree by the foul witch Sycorax, who “did confine thee” (1:2:274) and Prospero came to Ariel’s rescue after “A dozen years” (1:2:279). Therefore, as much as Ariel is more powerful than Prospero in terms of magic, Prospero has this incident which Ariel owes him for and so uses this as a way to keep Ariel under his command. This psychological method of control, the guilt, is strengthened by the fact that Ariel would also be physically tortured “If thou murmur’st” (1:2:294) which overall makes this one of the most effective ways that Prospero uses to keep Ariel from disobeying. This master-slave relationship is the way that Prospero keeps track of and controls the other people on the island, sending Ariel to perform tasks on his behest, having to report back every finest detail. Without Ariel, it is difficult to imagine how Prospero could be as powerful which makes Ariel an extremely important tool for keeping a hold on other characters through magic.
Caliban is a being that Prospero uses as his slave and, just as he does with Ariel, he refers to him as a “slave” (1:2:344) so their relationship is one of negative emotions, suffering and derogatory treatment. He is the son of witch Sycorax and is half-beast, half-man. The often maligned beast is bitter about being treated as such and is frequently tortured by Prospero for misbehaving, which is a clear instance of the physical control that Prospero has over him. Prospero's use of threats of violence is a way that he is able to keep Caliban behaving and maintain control, remaining powerful and resulting in the bitterness that Caliban displays. However, Prospero and Caliban’s relationship was not always that way as Prospero was befriended by Caliban and they taught each other, Prospero taught him language, looked after him “with humane care” (1:2:346) and was taught about the island. This turned when Caliban tried to rape Miranda with the intent to fill the “isle with Calibans” (1:2:350) and from then on their relationship was never again the same.
Throughout the play, Caliban wishes to be in power and once he finds characters that listen to him, he attempts to do so. These two characters, Stephan and Trinculo are royals that have been shipwrecked by Prospero’s tempest and aren't very bright types who listen to Caliban, which he uses to his advantage by prompting them to murder Prospero, however, their plans are overheard by Ariel. Caliban promises that “Thou shalt be lord” of the isle and he shall “serve thee” (3:2:55) which indicates that Caliban is under the control of Stephano. In this scene, it is also obvious that Stephano is the one who controls Trinculo by the threats and beatings which Trinculo receives, although Trinculo is beaten mistakenly as Ariel is the one accusing Caliban of lying. This encounter shows that Stephano feels that Caliban is his “servant-monster” (3:2:7) and serves him, although it also seems that Caliban is cleverly using Stephano and Trinculo for his own aims of overthrowing Prospero. So, Stephano has power over Caliban and Trinculo, but in essence, Caliban is controlling them both and Ariel is commanding the situation via whom Prospero will know of the plot. This keeps him in control, having power over all of the characters and further strengthening his hold over the situation. This is none more exemplified than when at the end of Act 4 Scene 1 Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo are caught by Prospero and Ariel and are tortured, foiling their plot and showing that the murder attempt was never going to be successful.
A central aim of Prospero and one that is a key theme in the play is the relationship between Miranda and Ferdinand, the son of Alonso, King of Naples. They fall in love after Prospero arranges for the two to meet. During that time Miranda proclaims that Ferdinand is a “thing divine” (1:2:419) and she says that nothing natural she has seen has been “so noble” (1:2:420). In this instance, Prospero is the one who plans the meeting and is in control once more by manipulating other characters' emotions. Until this point in the play, most of the emotions Prospero has manipulated have been negative, whereas these emotions are positive. However, the two are almost forced to fall in love, which is immoral to an extent, because Prospero is affecting the very strongest emotion in a person. This isn't too difficult to affect in this case as Miranda's experience is very limited; the only males she has interacted with had been, until that point, Caliban and her father. During this meeting, Prospero commands the situation and knows that “It goes on”, (1:2:421) meaning his plan is working, which is another instance of Prospero controlling a situation to achieve his needs. Interestingly, this is also another situation in which Ariel is the tool used to gain this control and he promises freedom “Within two days for this” (1:2:422). At the end of their encounter, Prospero does not want to make winning too easy, so makes Ferdinand work to have Miranda. In Act 3, Scene 1, Ferdinand is piling logs and Miranda enters, followed by Prospero “at a distance, unseen” (3:1:15-16, stage directions). Prospero likes to be in control and does so by watching over all the events on the island himself, or getting Ariel to do it and report back all the minute details which is why he is difficult to outwit.
In the final scene, just as in the first one, Prospero is in full command of events. Prospero refers to all that has happened as his “project” (5:1:1) and shows that all of the events have, in one way or another, been his doing. The language shows that he feels that he has manipulated everyone to aid him in achieving his goals. What happens throughout, is that Prospero forgives each character and denounces his magic, freeing Ariel for being such an obedient and helpful spirit. He is also granted the dukedom of Milan back. I believe that Ariel has been freed and he has denounced his magic because he has obtained his goal of regaining the dukedom and so doesn't need magic or Ariel any more and he understands that Ariel has worked hard and performed well. The play concludes with Prospero having power and control through magic, which is the key way to achieve success as shown by Prospero with him being the one who receives everything that he had desired.
