A ‘wild’ and ‘uncivilised’ savage, he subsequently endeavoured to rape Miranda, after which he was condemned as Prospero’s slave. Since then, he has served Prospero out of fear and trepidation, constantly reliving the wrongs he has suffered, and so the reciprocal relationship between the two characters transformed, from being harmonious to contemptuous. We find that, when the dignitaries arrive on the island, and Caliban is given, “celestial liquor” (2.2.99) by Stephano, he immediately turns traitor on Prospero and plots to have him killed. In addition to that he promises to be the slave of both Trinculo and Stephano, which shows how little he has learnt from living with Prospero, and reiterates his representation of a savage in search of a new master. This repeat in the pattern of his behaviour shows how little he has been transformed. At the end of the play, he says that he has learnt his lesson, but whether this was to reduce the punishment he thought he would receive is questionable, here he states:
Caliban: And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass
Was I to take this drunkard for a god
And worship this dull fool!
Ariel, an airy spirit is native to the island and was condemned to timeless suffering by the evil witch Sycorax, trapped inside a pine tree, who had been the previous ruler of the island. Since Prospero’s arrival, she has worked as his slave, as he had rescued her from the tree. However, unlike Caliban, she has been cared for by Prospero and does his bidding unreservedly. She has a certain child-like facet that renders her willing to please and eager to remind her master of her devotion and dexterity, for this Prospero treats her with affection.
Ariel: Do you love me master? No?
Prospero: Dearly, my delicate Ariel. (4.1.48-9)
However she still yearns for freedom, which Prospero promises her if she completes the tasks he sets her this last time, and so she undergoes physical transformations throughout the play and at the end she is given the freedom she has desired. Ariel also plays a part in transforming Prospero, when at the beginning of Act V, she describes Prospero’s enemies to him and succeeds in making him sympathise with them, therefore causing him to forgive them later on.
Ariel: …if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.
Prospero: Dost thou think so spirit? … And mine shall. (5.1.18-21)
The daughter of Prospero, Miranda is about fifteen at the time the play is set. Brought up by Prospero since she was three, he adores her and describes her as a “cherubin“ who provided him with the courage to tolerate all the destitution they suffered in Milan and at sea. The minimal transformation that she goes through, almost wholly concerns Ferdinand, the son of Alonso. Ferdinand’s arrival on the island effects Miranda in diverse ways. He is the first man, excluding her father and Caliban, which she has ever met; this has transformed her idea of men and has given her a vision that she now applies to all mankind. And so, her reaction is one of revelation and interest, yet she remains shy and reserved. When he first arrives he is forced to do manual work by Prospero as a punishment, yet there is a desired effect on Miranda and as she grows to love him, we see a change in the way they address one another. She shows a highly developed side of her personality that she has not demonstrated in the presence of her father, and her initial timid persona towards Ferdinand transforms, showing an ability of manipulation and an element of control over what she chooses to show those around her,
Miranda: …but by my modesty,
The jewel in my dower, I would not wish
Any companion in the world but you… (3.1.54-56)
In this example she pledges her virginity to Ferdinand, this is unexpected from her as she is so isolated from society, yet she understands the attitudes of the people that she has never been around. Ferdinand is warned by Prospero not to “break her virgin-knot” before the wedding or they will experience misfortunes beyond both of their control and they “shall hate it both”. Ferdinand heeds this warning and the sanctimonious marriage takes place. Their marriage is a transformation organised by Prospero before Ferdinand’s arrival on the island, it was a political move to secure Prospero’s place as the Duke of Milan and ensure Miranda’s future by making her Queen. However, Prospero never mentions the power that he and his daughter are regaining because of this “rich gift”, or the true price or purchase of his daughter’s hand, and the fact that the marriage is not consummated before the ceremony is equally important to him because it is his prime bargaining chip and will secure both of their positions in Italy. Ferdinand and Miranda’s love is the same sort of instant physical attraction that Romeo and Juliet had, although Romeo and Juliet’s love wasn’t influence by a mischievous spirit like Ariel and a powerful father like Prospero.
King Alonso of Naples begins his entrance as a man who wants control, “Where’s the master? Play the men.” (I.I.8-9). However, once he arrives on the island, with his companions, and he comes to a realisation that his son is dead, he becomes a withdrawn character who says little and wants to hear even less. He is one of Prospero’s enemies, having plotted with Antonio to usurp him from the dukedom of Milan. Once he is confronted with his crime, he immediately communicates his guilt and regret, knowing that he caused pain and sorrow, which he is now feeling for his son.
Alonso: Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat
Thy pardon me my wrongs. (5.1.118-9)
He accordingly reinstates Prospero as the rightful Duke and ultimately transforms himself by asking for their forgiveness, showing true penitence, which would never have come from him before this experience, and has cleansed him and brought about a new beginning, symbolised through the betrothal of Miranda and Ferdinand.
Antonio was willing to kill both his brother and his niece to gain the dukedom of Milan. Having usurped Prospero’s estate and wealth, we soon find that he is prepared to kill Alonso, who had helped him carry out this deed, and have his new accomplice, Sebastian, become king.
Antonio: My strong imagination sees a crown
Dropping upon thy head. (2.1.205)
He is relatively blunt about his lack of moral principles and ethics, when it occurs to Sebastian that Antonio had done a similar thing to his brother and his reply is truly frank and honest,
Antonio: And look how well his garments sit upon me,
Much feater than before. (2.1.269-70)
His lust for power makes him unable to identify with lesser beings, and he is always seeking new authority, at whatever cost. But whether his visions to kill Alonso, would have been carried out remains unclear, as it was Prospero who provided the correct circumstances for the suggestion and controlled the situation, despite the fact that he wasn’t there. Prospero may not have implanted the ideas there, however he organised that potentially fatal situation. Antonio experiences minimal transformations by the end of the play consisting of a loss of dukedom and a step down in status.
Antonio’s most recent conspirator is Sebastian. Along with the belief that Ferdinand is dead the two proceed to kill the King so as to instigate Sebastian’s promotion to King. Currently the prince, Sebastian’s desire to become king is easily brought about by a little persuasion by Antonio. Infact, if it was not for Prospero’s intervention through Ariel, to wake Gonzalo at the almost definitive moment of their plan, just before they kill the King, Alonso would have been murdered and the play turned into a tragedy. Neither Antonio nor Sebastian are satisfactory redeemed by the end of the play and Prospero’s forgiveness almost wavers as he come to address the two, and pronounces that he could, “justify them traitors” (5.1.128), but in a peculiar contradiction , he forgives “thy rankest fault” (5.1.133). Sebastian’s character also has an element of sarcasm, firstly, when himself and Antonio ridicule Gonzalo’s efforts to appease the king, and secondly he refers to Ferdinand’s survival as “a most high miracle” (5.1.177); which we know that he is considerably irritated by, as it obliterates his plans to become King and so not only is he not sorry for his wrongs but he is completely unchanged by them.
Stephano is Alonso’s butler, and Trinculo is his Jester, the two are put into the play for comic relief but also participate in transforming Caliban. Stephano arrives on the island on a barrel of wine and soon gets drunk. When he encounters Trinculo and Caliban he rapidly reproduces the same affect on them. He soon takes the role of the leader among the three of them and believes that he and Trinculo are the sole survivors of the tempest. Caliban informs him both of Prospero and Miranda. He agrees to kill Prospero and take Miranda as his wife. This plan is easily stopped by the sheer vainness that accompanies himself and Trinculo, who, incidentally distrusts Caliban but believes him to be a successful money making scheme, if taken to England and put on show. Prospero effortlessly delays them by exhibiting elegant clothes that they stop to sample. When Prospero assembles his enemies together, and comes to address Caliban and his newly found friends, he succeeds in ensuring their loss of dignity, and the dignitaries are appalled at the state at which their employees are found but they do agree to take Trinculo and Stephano back to Naples.
It is important to note how the characters react differently to the same situation. In Act III scene 3 before Antonio and Sebastian decide to make their murderous move on Alonso, later on in the evening, their conspiracy is interrupted by the appearance of a huge banquet (summoned by Prospero via Ariel). Ariel addresses Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian. Accusing them of being “three men of sin” (3.3.53) and persist to slander them and their actions against Prospero in Milan. They all react in different ways. Alonso and takes this as proof that his son, Ferdinand, is dead, and subsequently develops suicidal thoughts, stating,
Alonso: I’ll seek him deeper than e’er plummet sounded,
And with him their lie mudded. (3.3.101-2)
Sebastian contrasts this reaction by threatening to fight “their legions o’er.” (3.3.103) Here he demonstrate his bravery but also shows his inability to take criticism. Antonio follows his example, and exits with him, “I’ll be thy second” (3.3.104). Gonzalo as a spectator understands the guilt of all three and that the revelation by Ariel, will work on their minds throughout the play,
Gonzalo: All three of them are desperate. Their great guilt,
Like poison given to work a great time after,
Now ‘gins to bite their spirits. (3.3.105-7)
The scene is important in that Alonso recognises Ariel’s words as being that of Prospero; and the great guilt of Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian begins to take them over, at the thought of Prospero being alive and so nearby.
In conclusion, a major theme running throughout the entire work is forgiveness versus vengeance; Prospero causes the tempest out of a wish for revenge, but by the end of the work, he decides to forgive the crimes against him, fabricated or otherwise. Prospero declares his friends repentant, though they are not; Alonso expresses his regret, but Antonio, who has the most to be sorry for, expresses no remorse. The circle of forgiveness remains unresolved by the end of the play, but, in a moment of irony, Prospero believes that closure has been reached. Throughout the play, Prospero does direct a disproportionate amount of blame towards Alonso, leading him to abduct and enslave Alonso’s son Ferdinand; when confronting his friends Prospero’s actually call his Antonio “a furtherer in the act”, a great understatement of Antonio’s actual role as prime perpetrator of the crime against Prospero. Alonso expresses complete penitence, asking Prospero to “Pardon me my wrongs” (5.1.119), and he achieves some sort of reconciliation with Prospero, through his willingness to cooperate with Prospero’s wishes of reconciliation. Also ironic is that the only crime that Prospero charges Antonio with is conspiring to kill Alonso, which Prospero himself arranged through Ariel; although Prospero focused his great anger on Antonio almost exclusively in Act I, by the end of the play he has quite ironically forgotten his primary motivation in causing the tempest and brining the dignitaries and their companions to the island. In this sense, the transformation that the characters have undergone has not been that great.
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