The person01–03
01·Who they are
Who is Ariel?
Ariel is a spirit of air and fire serving Prospero on the enchanted island of The Tempest. Neither fully human nor a conventional supernatural monster, Ariel occupies an ambiguous ontological space: capable of empathy yet not subject to human emotion, obedient yet persistently angling for autonomy. Shakespeare never fixes Ariel's gender, reinforcing a sense of liminality—Ariel exists between categories, slipping from sea-nymph to harpy to the goddess Ceres as the plot demands. This protean quality makes Ariel the play's most theatrically dynamic figure, the engine of its spectacle and, ultimately, the quiet compass of its moral direction.
02·Arc & motivation
What is Ariel's arc and motivation?
Ariel's backstory is the island's original trauma. Imprisoned in a cloven pine by the witch Sycorax for refusing to perform "earthy and abhorred commands" (Act I, sc. ii), Ariel suffered twelve years of confinement before Prospero's arrival and release. That liberation binds Ariel to service—a debt acknowledged but increasingly felt as a burden. From the play's opening moments, Ariel petitions for the freedom Prospero has promised, and the drama of this relationship is whether that promise will be honoured.
The motivation is dual and tightly wound: Ariel serves with genuine competence and apparent loyalty, yet every completed task also represents a step toward the self-determination Sycorax's cruelty and Prospero's authority have both denied. The arc reveals Ariel's interior life—culminating in the crucial Act V confession that watching the suffering lords would move Ariel to tenderness "were I human." That conditional speaks volumes: Ariel's compassion is real, even if its emotional register differs from human grief. The arc closes with Prospero's "then to the elements / Be free," the island's final gift and the play's most quietly moving exit.
03·Key moments
What are Ariel's key moments?
- The tempest itself (Act I, sc. ii): Ariel reports the shipwreck with barely concealed pride—"I flamed amazement," "not a hair perished." The scene establishes Ariel's theatrical flair and precision, but also the immediate petition for liberty that Prospero crushes by invoking Sycorax's pine.
- "Come unto these yellow sands" and "Full fathom five" (Act I, sc. ii): Ariel's enchanted songs draw Ferdinand toward Miranda. The second song, mourning a father who is not actually dead, is a small act of emotional manipulation that nonetheless produces genuine wonder—and genuine love.
- Thwarting Antonio and Sebastian (Act II, sc. i): Acting on Prospero's instruction, Ariel wakes Gonzalo moments before Antonio's blade can fall, preserving both a life and the play's possibility of forgiveness. The intervention is invisible, unhurried, precise.
- The harpy speech (Act III, sc. iii): Ariel's most theatrical transformation. Descending as a harpy and vanishing the banquet, Ariel names Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian "three men of sin" and catalogues their crimes against Prospero. The speech functions as supernatural prosecution, and its effect on Alonso—driving him to repentance—is the pivot on which the play's justice turns.
- "Were I human" (Act V, sc. i): This single conditional sentence redirects the entire play. Ariel's observation that the prisoners weep and that compassion would follow if Ariel were human prompts Prospero's famous resolution: "Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick, / Yet with my nobler reason 'gainst my fury / Do I take part." Ariel does not lecture; the restraint makes the moment more powerful.
The cast04–05
04·Relationships
What are Ariel's most important relationships?
Ariel's relationship with Prospero is the play's central power dynamic and its most psychologically intricate bond. Prospero is simultaneously liberator, employer, and jailer—the man who freed Ariel from one imprisonment and constructed another. When Prospero reminds Ariel of Sycorax's pine (Act I, sc. ii), the tactic is coercive, and Ariel's quick capitulation ("I will be correspondent to command") reads less like contentment than strategic compliance. Yet the relationship contains genuine mutual regard: Ariel addresses Prospero as "my noble master" and works with creative enthusiasm rather than sullen necessity. It is, crucially, Ariel's empathy that unlocks Prospero's mercy in Act V—suggesting that the influence runs both ways, and that Prospero has been changed by his airy servant as much as Ariel has been shaped by his master.
The contrast with Caliban is structural. Both are island inhabitants subjugated by Prospero; both were touched by Sycorax's power; both want freedom. But where Caliban curses openly, conspires clumsily, and is rooted in earth and appetite, Ariel is aerial, subtle, and works within the system to achieve release. Shakespeare sets them as a spectrum of responses to colonised servitude: Caliban's resistance is visceral and futile; Ariel's compliance is strategic and ultimately successful. Neither path is entirely validated—Caliban's final "I'll be wise hereafter" is ambiguous, and Ariel's freedom arrives only on the master's schedule.
Ariel's management of Alonso via the harpy speech shows a different mode: Ariel as instrument of justice rather than affection. The speech is cold, precise, and devastating, and Alonso's collapse into guilt is Ariel's work entirely. Yet when Ariel reports Alonso's suffering in Act V, the tone has shifted—there is something like pity in the description. Ariel does not hate the guilty; Ariel executes Prospero's will and, when permitted, advocates for mercy.
The relationship with Ferdinand is mediated entirely through music and invisibility. Ariel never speaks to Ferdinand directly yet shapes his entire emotional trajectory—from shipwreck grief to enchanted wonder to love. "Full fathom five" is arguably the play's most beautiful piece of psychological engineering, and Ariel performs it without Ferdinand ever knowing the hand that guided him.
05·Connected characters
How is Ariel connected to the other characters?
The evidence06
06·Key quotes
What are Ariel’s most famous quotes?
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
Ariel (quoting Ferdinand) · to Prospero · Act I · Scene 2
Why it matters
This striking line is delivered by Ariel, the spirit servant of the sorcerer Prospero, in Act I, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Ariel describes to Prospero the terrifying chaos of the shipwreck he created at his master's command, detailing how the passengers, filled with panic and horror, jumped into the sea. The line is actually a shout from Ferdinand, one of the passengers, who cries out in sheer terror amidst the storm's supernatural rage.
Thematically, the quote resonates on various levels. On the surface, it captures the raw fear of the tempest itself. More profoundly, it reflects the play's exploration of power, corruption, and moral exile: the "devils" can be seen as the treacherous usurpers — Antonio, Alonso, and their allies — who have committed real acts of betrayal and injustice. In this context, hell isn't a supernatural place but a moral vacuum created when wickedness is allowed to flourish. This line has since become one of Shakespeare's most quoted, often used to describe situations where human evil seems to have overwhelmed decency and order.
Study07–08
07·Questions
Questions readers ask about Ariel
What is Ariel's most famous quote in The Tempest?
Ariel's most quoted line is "Hell is empty and all the devils are here" (Act I), shouted during the chaos of the conjured shipwreck. The exclamation captures Ariel's theatrical flair—reporting the tempest with vivid intensity—and has become one of Shakespeare's most cited phrases, frequently borrowed to describe political or moral catastrophe far beyond the play's island setting.
How does Ariel gain freedom at the end of The Tempest?
Ariel is freed when Prospero fulfills his long-standing promise, dismissing the spirit with the words "then to the elements / Be free." Throughout the play, Ariel completes every assigned task—raising the storm, thwarting conspiracies, delivering the harpy speech—while persistently petitioning for release. Freedom is granted only on Prospero's schedule, making its arrival both the play's emotional resolution and a reminder that Ariel's liberty was never truly Ariel's to claim.
Why does Ariel's speech in Act V make Prospero choose mercy over revenge?
Ariel tells Prospero that the imprisoned lords "cannot choose but weep" and quietly admits that, were Ariel human, the sight would move them to compassion—a conditional that implicitly challenges Prospero to live up to his own humanity. That single observation prompts Prospero to resolve that his "nobler reason" must prevail over his fury. Ariel does not lecture or plead; the restraint makes the moral nudge more powerful than any open argument.
How does Ariel's relationship with Prospero differ from Caliban's?
Both Ariel and Caliban are servants shaped by Sycorax's legacy who desire freedom, but their approaches are opposites. Ariel is subtle, compliant, and works within the system, completing tasks with genuine competence while strategically petitioning for release—and ultimately succeeds. Caliban curses openly and conspires clumsily, his resistance visceral and futile. Shakespeare presents them as a spectrum of responses to subjugation, neither approach being entirely validated by the play's end.
What role does Ariel play in bringing Ferdinand and Miranda together?
Ariel guides Ferdinand to Miranda entirely through enchanted music, most notably the song "Full fathom five thy father lies," which draws the grieving prince across the island in a state of wonder. Ferdinand never knows an invisible spirit is directing him; he simply follows the sound. Ariel is therefore the unseen architect of the lovers' union, shaping one of the play's most important plot outcomes without a single direct conversation with either of them.
What does Ariel do to Antonio and Sebastian when they plot to kill Alonso?
Acting on Prospero's instructions, Ariel wakes Gonzalo moments before Antonio and Sebastian can strike, foiling the assassination and preserving Alonso's life. The intervention is invisible and perfectly timed, illustrating Ariel's function as an unseen moral guardian. Because Antonio escapes full punishment by the play's end, Ariel's thwarting of the plot is a stay of execution rather than true justice—a limit that underscores how far Prospero's authority, channeled through Ariel, actually reaches.
Why was Ariel imprisoned in a pine tree before Prospero arrived on the island?
The witch Sycorax imprisoned Ariel in a cloven pine for refusing to carry out "earthy and abhorred commands"—tasks too brutal for the spirit's nature. Ariel remained trapped for twelve years until Prospero arrived and released him. That liberation creates the debt Prospero repeatedly invokes to demand obedience, making the pine a key piece of psychological leverage: Ariel's gratitude is real, but Prospero weaponizes it whenever Ariel petitions too boldly for freedom.
How does Ariel's lack of a fixed gender or form affect its role in the play?
Shakespeare never fixes Ariel's gender, and the spirit transforms into a sea-nymph, a harpy, and the goddess Ceres across the play's scenes. This protean quality places Ariel between all categories—human and non-human, male and female, servant and moral guide—making Ariel the play's most theatrically dynamic figure. The shape-shifting also reinforces Ariel's liminality: a being capable of genuine empathy who is nonetheless not subject to human emotion or constrained by a single identity.
08·Essay angles
Use this in your essay
Tool · Essay angles