Stephano repeatedly uses phrases such as “servant monster” towards Caliban. Stephan orders Caliban about with artificial language such as this which makes Stephano sound ridiculous.
Trinculo is a very different character to Stephano. He is not as affected by the alcohol as Stephano is, which means he can still blurt out funny comments to annoy Stephano and Caliban. Trinculo is more sensible in the beginning of the scene until he sees the trumpery, which makes him act like Caliban “O king Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! Look what a wardrobe is here for thee”. Trinculo is a jester, he is used to standing in court having permission to make fun of the people standing there, “licence to mock” . He uses this in this scene to make fun of the way Caliban treats Stephano. He also makes fun of the way that Stephano tries to be in charge of the island, as he says “They say there’s but five upon this isle. If the other two be brained like us, the state totters.” What Trinculo is trying to say is that Stephano is trying so hard to be king over this island. If he does manage in the end to take control over it, who’s he even king over already anyway… 5 people? He adds to that, that if the other two are as brainy as them the whole island collapses anyway.
Ariel is Prospero’s servant, he is the person whom Prospero uses all his power on. We see just how powerful Prospero is through Ariel. Ariel is Prospero’s representative in the play, the one who tells us that Prospero actually knows about all his enemies’ plans.
Ariel appearance in this scene is a huge comedy moment in the play, when he stands behind Trinculo shouting “thou lest” . in this scene Ariel on behalf of Prospero leads the drunken trio into a slimy pit stinking of H.P. He is continually tricking the 3, firstly into believing him that Trinculo was shouting thou liest and then leading them with his incredible music.
Caliban is a very different type of character to any I have ever come across before. He is annoyed with Prospero claiming that he is taking over HIS land. But when Caliban meets Trinculo and Stephano he is determined to treat Stephano like the ruler of the island like he says “let me lick thy shoe”. Caliban could be just tricking Stephano into helping him to kill Prospero so that the job is easier Caliban thinks of the island as his because of his mother Sycorax and from this he thinks he gets the power. He has extremely violent fantasies when it comes to punishing people. “Thou may’st knock a nail into his head…”
Caliban is a grotesque monster who looks very savaged or deformed, this makes it very surprising when Caliban comes out with one of the most beautiful lines in the Tempest about how he hears noises whilst dreaming at night and how Stephano and Trinculo shouldn’t be scared of them.
Extract 2 – Act 4 Scene 1
In extract 2 all the power is on Prospero, deciding whether or not to punish Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban.
One of the other most famous speeches in the Tempest is the one made by Prospero in the beginning of this extract. In this speech, he discusses three different aspects of the punishment he wants to give the drunken trio.
Prospero begins by talking about life and about a theatre. He says how no one is going to live forever and how everything however powerful it may be is going to die after a while. He makes the comparison between the theatre and real life, how one minute they are acting on stage and the next minute it’s all over. Within this comparison he talks about “the great globe itself”, which could be referring to the actual globe or to do with the famous globe, which was the theatre that Shakespeare held all his plays.
All this makes him unsure what to do when it comes to punishing his enemies, as he says, “ The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance”.
The second thing Prospero goes on to talk about is the actual punishment he can give the three through Ariel. He thinks about just how powerful his powers are the way he can summon Ariel by just his thoughts, as Ariel says, “thy thoughts I cleave to”. Towards the end of this part of the speech, he is really uncomfortable and doesn’t know whether or not to punish them.
The language he uses in this section is very strange. He compares a few characters to animals, he uses similes like “Like unpacked colts” and “calf-like”, bovine language. He also uses avian language to describe Ariel, when he says “my fleeting bird”
The last point Prospero doesn’t make it clear whether or not he is going to punish his enemies.
Power and Punishment are probably the biggest parts of the tempest there is. This essay has just described two of the extracts with all the hints in them to power and punishment.
