Flashcards for The Tempest

Alonso

Alonso, King of Naples, is a figure of authority who is deeply affected by guilt and grief in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

character

Antonio

Antonio, the Duke of Milan, is the play's main human villain and drives its central backstory.

character

Ariel

Ariel is Prospero's airy spirit-servant in Shakespeare's The Tempest, serving as the main vehicle for the play's magic and its moral guide.

character

Caliban

Caliban is the island's original inhabitant and Prospero's enslaved servant in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

character

Ferdinand

Ferdinand is the Prince of Naples and the son of King Alonso.

character

Gonzalo

Gonzalo is Alonso's elderly, loyal advisor and the moral compass of The Tempest.

character

Miranda

Miranda is the young, sheltered daughter of Prospero and the moral center of The Tempest.

character

Prospero

Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan and the mastermind behind every event in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

character

Stephano

Stephano is a drunken butler in Shakespeare's The Tempest, serving as the ringleader of the play's low comic subplot.

character

Trinculo

Trinculo is Alonso's court jester, shipwrecked on Prospero's enchanted island alongside the rest of the Neapolitan party.

character

“The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance.”

This line is spoken by Prospero in Act 5, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Prospero · Act 5

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”

This famous line is delivered by Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan and master sorcerer, in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Prospero · Act IV

“Our revels now are ended.”

This famous line is delivered by Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan and a master sorcerer, in Act IV, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Prospero · Act IV

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”

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 (quoting Ferdinand) · Act I

“You taught me language, and my profit on't is I know how to curse.”

This powerful line is delivered by Caliban, the island's native inhabitant, to Prospero and Miranda in Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Caliban

“Now I will believe that there are unicorns.”

This line is spoken by Antonio in Act III, Scene iii of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Antonio · Act III

“O brave new world, that has such people in't!”

This exclamation comes from Miranda, the sheltered daughter of the exiled sorcerer Prospero, in Act V, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Miranda · Act V

“I am your wife, if you will marry me; if not, I'll die your maid.”

This declaration is made by Miranda to Ferdinand in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Miranda · Act III

“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.”

These lyrical lines are spoken by Caliban to Stephano and Trinculo in Act III, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Caliban

“What's past is prologue.”

This line is spoken by Antonio in Act II, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's The Tempest, directed at Sebastian as he tries to convince him to murder his sleeping brother, King Alonso, and take the throne of Naples.

Antonio · Act II

“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”

This line is delivered by Trinculo, the jester, in Act 2, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Trinculo · Act 2

Ariel as Spirit of Freedom

In The Tempest, Ariel represents the ideal of pure freedom—a spirit constantly pushing against limitations and longing for liberation.

Caliban's Enslavement

In The Tempest, Caliban's enslavement highlights the violence and moral contradictions inherent in colonial power.

Prospero's Books and Staff

In The Tempest, Prospero's books and staff represent the influence of knowledge, art, and humanity's control over nature and destiny.

The Island

In The Tempest, the island represents a space for power, illusion, and transformation.

The Storm (Tempest)

In Shakespeare's The Tempest, the storm stands out as the most powerful symbol of Prospero's magical authority and his ability to manipulate power.

Metaphor

Shakespeare fills The Tempest with metaphors that blur the lines between art and nature, power and illusion.

Allegory

The Tempest offers a rich allegorical interpretation where Prospero represents the Renaissance artist-magician, his island symbolizes the colonial New World, and the storm signifies a violent upheaval of political order.

Dramatic Monologue

Several speeches in The Tempest serve as dramatic monologues, revealing character under pressure through extended self-revelations.

Imagery

Water imagery flows throughout The Tempest, starting with the opening storm and continuing to Prospero's epilogue.

Personification

Ariel’s song "Full fathom five thy father lies" brings the sea to life as a powerful agent of change: "Those are pearls that were his eyes; / Nothing of him that doth fade / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange."

Symbolism

Prospero's books and staff are the play's most powerful symbols.

Irony

Dramatic irony fills The Tempest because the audience, like Prospero, knows that the storm is created while the shipwrecked characters think they are facing death and chaos.

Blank Verse

Shakespeare gives noble characters their lines mostly in unrhymed iambic pentameter, while the comic subplot featuring Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban's drunken scheme is delivered in prose.

Allusion

Gonzalo's utopian speech in Act II references Montaigne's essay 'Of Cannibals,' adopting its idea of a society 'by contraries' — free from sovereignty, commerce, and toil.

Motif

Sleep and waking emerge as a recurring theme that blurs the lines between reality and magic.

Enjambment

Shakespeare employs enjambment in The Tempest to express psychological overflow—those moments when a character's thoughts or feelings spill over the confines of a single line.

Apostrophe

Prospero's decision to give up magic comes across as a heartfelt address to the spirits of nature: "Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves, / And ye that on the sands with printless foot / Do chase the ebbing Neptune."

roarers

A word used for the roaring waves and winds of a storm, which obey no human authority and cannot be calmed by rank or title.

noun · Chapter 1

tak'st

An archaic second-person singular form of 'take,' meaning 'you take' or 'you have taken away from me.'

verb · Chapter 1

profit

Here, the gain or benefit one gets from something — used bitterly to mean the only useful thing learned from being taught language was the ability to curse.

noun · Chapter 1

contraries

The opposite of what is normally done; doing everything in reverse of the usual order or custom, as in running a society by rules that contradict all established ones.

noun · Chapter 2

traffic

Trade or commerce between people; the buying and selling of goods. Here it refers to any form of business or economic exchange in an imagined ideal society.

noun · Chapter 2

magistrate

An official who holds public authority and enforces laws; a government officer or judge. Here it stands for any form of official rule or governance.

noun · Chapter 2

dams

Small barriers or walls built across a stream or shallow water to trap fish, used as a method of catching them without a rod or net.

noun · Chapter 2

firing

Firewood or fuel gathered for burning; the act of fetching wood to keep a fire going, here presented as a menial chore imposed on a servant.

noun · Chapter 2

trenchering

Wooden plates or flat boards used as dishes for serving food; scraping them clean was a lowly kitchen task assigned to servants.

noun · Chapter 2

afeard

An archaic or dialect form of 'afraid,' meaning frightened or alarmed. Shakespeare uses it to give the speech a folk or rustic quality.

adjective · Chapter 3

maid

A female servant, but also an unmarried woman who remains chaste; here Miranda uses it to mean she will serve Ferdinand faithfully as a devoted companion if he will not marry her.

noun · Chapter 3

hath to instrument

Uses as its tool or agent; Destiny employs the natural world — including the sea — as an instrument to carry out its purposes and punish wrongdoers.

phrase · Chapter 3

never-surfeited

Never overfull or satisfied, no matter how much it swallows; the sea is described as endlessly hungry, never glutted by all the things it consumes.

adjective · Chapter 3

belch up

To expel or vomit out forcefully; the sea is said to have spat the sinners onto the shore the way a stomach expels something it cannot digest.

phrase · Chapter 3

revels

Festive entertainments, celebrations, or theatrical performances; here it refers specifically to the elaborate magical masque Prospero has staged for Ferdinand and Miranda.

noun · Chapter 4

melted into air

Dissolved and vanished completely, leaving nothing behind; used to describe how the spirit-actors of the masque simply disappeared when Prospero ended the performance.

phrase · Chapter 4

rounded

Completed, enclosed, or brought full circle; here life is said to be rounded — framed at both ends — by sleep, suggesting it is as brief and insubstantial as a dream.

verb · Chapter 4

dropsy

A disease causing painful swelling of the body due to fluid build-up; used here as a curse, wishing illness on a foolish character.

noun · Chapter 4

dote

To be foolishly or excessively fond of something; to waste attention and affection on something trivial or worthless.

verb · Chapter 4

luggage

Here used to mean worthless, burdensome junk or stolen goods — not travel bags, but rubbish that weighs one down and is not worth carrying.

noun · Chapter 4

goodly

Fine, admirable, and pleasing in appearance or character; Miranda uses it to express her wonder at seeing so many impressive-looking human beings at once.

adjective · Chapter 5

beauteous

An archaic form of 'beautiful,' used in elevated or poetic speech to describe something of striking loveliness or excellence.

adjective · Chapter 5

brave

In this period usage, 'brave' means splendid, fine, or admirable — not courageous. Miranda is marvelling at how magnificent and wonderful the new world seems to her.

adjective · Chapter 5

abjure

To formally and solemnly renounce or give up something, especially a power or belief; Prospero publicly swears to abandon his magic arts forever.

verb · Chapter 5

fathoms

Units of depth used in measuring water or underground distance, each equal to six feet; Prospero will bury his staff very deep in the earth.

noun · Chapter 5

o'erthrown

An archaic contracted form of 'overthrown,' meaning defeated, destroyed, or stripped of power; Prospero says his magical charms have been undone.

verb · Chapter 5