The Tempest

Ariel’s name befits him. He is described at the outset as an “airy Spirit” and a magical denizen of the island, ethereal and usually invisible but able to take human form as needed. Prospero long ago rescued him from a trap inside a tree and then promptly enslaved him. Ariel’s one desire is for freedom, and he performs whatever magic Prospero demands on the promise of his eventual liberation. Ariel’s human form is androgynous—onstage, he’s sometimes played by a woman. When speaking, he employs the iambic pentameter of nobility; when happy, he sings rhyming ditties. Ariel and his fellow sprites represent the innocent natural beauty of the island. He suffers under Prospero’s arrogance, and in this respect he symbolizes the natural world as it bends under the weight of human ambition.

Miranda is the teenage daughter of Prospero. Raised on the island from age three, she learned about the world at her father’s knee and grew into an intelligent, beautiful, poised, and compassionate young lady—a worthy match for a king. She falls in love with Ferdinand, the son of the king of Naples, and they decide to marry. Their struggle to unite, despite Prospero’s apparent objections, forms the play’s romantic subplot.

The son of a witch, Caliban is a young native boy when Prospero finds him, enslaves him, and tutors him. Caliban’s body is deformed, making him appear monstrous, but his mind is sound, if resistant to Prospero. The magician decides Caliban is unteachable and malicious, but his speech can be eloquent, and he yearns only to be free. He plots with two drunken ship passengers to murder his master but comes to regret this foolish decision. Caliban’s deformity symbolizes the European view of foreign Indigenous peoples as inferior and uncivilized; his rage represents native resentment of mistreatment at the hands of recent European arrivals. Caliban’s anger also symbolizes the frustration of an adopted son toward an overly ambitious, impatient father.

Trinculo is Alonso’s court jester and the fool of the play. He follows Stephano’s lead and soon becomes drunk and generally useless. His purpose is to provide comic relief.

Wine and liquor butler to the king, Stephano is an unrepentant drunk who gets his companions Trinculo and Caliban thoroughly soused alongside him. Caliban foolishly suggests that Stephano murder the hated Prospero; this conspiracy, monitored by Ariel and reported back to Prospero, never has a chance of succeeding. Trinculo and Stephano, in their foolish plotting, comically echo the real villains, Antonio and Sebastian.

The king of Naples, Alonso supported Antonio’s overthrow of Prospero in Milan, and he grieves for his son Ferdinand whom he assumes was lost at sea during the storm. His counselor Gonzalo tries to cheer him up but to no avail. Prospero takes advantage of Alonso’s gloom by making him feel guilty about his part in Antonio’s conspiracy. Alonso is a weak character in contrast with Prospero, and the sorcerer easily manipulates the king.

Antonio is the main villain of the story. He and King Alonso of Naples conspired to topple Antonio’s brother Prospero from the throne of Milan and cast him out to sea. Antonio later encourages Sebastian to kill his own brother Alonso and take his throne. Prospero draws Antonio and Alonso to the island, where he manipulates events to trap them into returning the throne of Milan to him.

Not evil but easily manipulated, Sebastian falls under Antonio’s influence and agrees to kill his own brother, King Alonso, and take the throne. Prospero’s spy Ariel informs the magician of the plot, and Prospero uses the threat of revealing that knowledge to guarantee that Antonio will return to him the throne of Milan. Sebastian’s willingness to conspire thus becomes the lever Prospero uses to guarantee his own victory.

Gonzalo is the elderly, wise, optimistic, but overly talkative counselor to Alonso. Trapped within the king’s conspiracy against Prospero, Gonzalo took pity on the exiled duke and provided him and his daughter with supplies that helped save their lives while in exile. Prospero remembers this kindness and expresses gratitude to Gonzalo at play’s end.