The Storm, Prospero & Ariel
The Storm (Act 1, Scene 1)
The play opens with a violent storm at sea — the tempest of the title. Shakespeare plunges the audience into chaos: the Boatswain shouts commands, nobles panic, and the ship breaks apart. The storm immediately establishes a key theme — the disruption and restoration of order. On the ship, social hierarchy collapses: the Boatswain tells the courtiers that "the elements" care nothing for their rank, asking "What cares these roarers for the name of king?"
This challenge to authority is significant. In Jacobean England, the idea that nature could override the power of a king was both thrilling and disturbing. The storm also functions as a pathetic fallacy, reflecting the political chaos caused by Antonio's usurpation of Prospero's dukedom twelve years earlier.
The storm is not natural — it is created by Prospero's magic, performed by Ariel. No one is actually harmed. This reveals Prospero's immense power and his ability to manipulate others through illusion, establishing the theme of art and control.
Prospero's Exposition (Act 1, Scene 2)
Act 1, Scene 2 is the longest scene in the play and serves as the exposition. Prospero tells Miranda their history: he was the rightful Duke of Milan, but his brother Antonio, whom he trusted with "a confidence sans bound," conspired with Alonso, King of Naples, to overthrow him. Prospero and the infant Miranda were set adrift in a "rotten carcass of a butt" — a barely seaworthy boat — and left to die.
Prospero's account reveals his own flaw: he neglected his ducal duties to study "the liberal arts" and magic, giving Antonio the opportunity to seize power. The phrase "my library / Was dukedom large enough" suggests Prospero valued intellectual power over political responsibility. This self-awareness is important — he is not a simple victim but a character who contributed to his own overthrow.
Miranda's function in this scene is largely as an audience surrogate. She asks questions so Prospero can explain the backstory. However, she is also presented as deeply empathetic: "O, I have suffered / With those that I saw suffer!" Her compassion for the shipwrecked sailors establishes her as the play's moral heart — she represents the natural goodness that Prospero's control sometimes lacks.
Ariel and the Bond of Servitude
Ariel is an airy spirit who serves Prospero. Before Prospero arrived, Ariel was imprisoned in a "cloven pine" by the witch Sycorax for refusing to carry out her "earthy and abhorred commands." Prospero freed Ariel but bound the spirit to serve him in return. When Ariel requests freedom — "Is there more toil?" — Prospero responds with anger and threats, reminding Ariel of the imprisonment and asking "Dost thou forget / From what a torment I did free thee?"
This exchange is morally complex. Prospero freed Ariel from Sycorax's cruelty, but he has replaced one form of servitude with another. Ariel serves willingly but is not free. The promise of liberty — "After two days / I will discharge thee" — keeps Ariel obedient. A postcolonial reading sees Ariel as a colonised subject who cooperates with the coloniser in exchange for eventual freedom, contrasting with Caliban's open resistance.
Ariel and Caliban represent two contrasting responses to Prospero's power: willing service versus rebellious resistance. Shakespeare uses this contrast to explore whether cooperation or defiance is the more effective response to authority.
Caliban's Introduction
Caliban enters cursing: "A southwest blow on ye / And blister you all o'er!" Prospero calls him "poisonous slave" and threatens him with cramps and pinches. Caliban's response reveals the history of their relationship: Prospero arrived, Caliban showed him "all the qualities o' th' isle," and in return Prospero enslaved him. Caliban's bitterest complaint is about language: "You taught me language, and my profit on't / Is I know how to curse."
Yet Shakespeare complicates our sympathy for Caliban. Prospero states that Caliban attempted to "violate / The honour of my child" — an attempted assault on Miranda. This alleged crime is used to justify Caliban's subjugation. Whether we accept this justification depends on our interpretive lens: a Jacobean audience might see it as proof of Caliban's savagery; a modern audience might question whether the coloniser's narrative is trustworthy.
Sycorax never appears in the play, yet her presence haunts it. She is described by Prospero as a "foul witch" whose "sorceries" were terrible. But we only hear Prospero's version. Caliban calls her his mother and claims the island through her. Shakespeare creates an interesting parallel: both Sycorax and Prospero are magicians who arrived on the island from elsewhere. The difference is that Prospero's story is the one we hear.