prospero

Question 1

lived on the island

Answer 1

for 12 years with his daughter Miranda ,where he has became a powerful enchanter and the master of the spirit Ariel and the “monster” Caliban.

Question 2

Prospero as author

Answer 2

Prospero’s power on the island is so complete that many critics compare him to an author of a play—just as an author controls the actions of the characters in a play, Prospero controls the actions of the people on the island.

” these our actors”

Question 3

prosperos traits

Answer 3

Prospero is domineering, and expects gratitude and devotion from both his daughter and his servants.

Question 4

usurped

Answer 4

“he was

The ivy which had hid my princely trunk”

Question 5

playwright

Answer 5

“the great globe itself” - meaning the theatre

Question 6

virtue

Answer 6

“The rarer action is

In virtue, than in vengeance.”

Question 7

renouncing magic

Answer 7

“I’ll break my staff”

“I’ll drown my book”

Question 8

restoration of his position

Answer 8

” I have my dukedom got

And pardoned the deceiver”

Question 9

his magic cloak

Answer 9

Prospero’s magic cloak represents his ability to construct illusions. He takes it off when he decides to tell Miranda the truth about her past.

Question 10

antonios power

Answer 10

To overthrow his brother, Antonio makes himself subservient to Alonso, trading one master for another. He gains no more power, but he does gain the title of duke.

Question 11

ariel and Prospero

Answer 11

Prospero and Ariel have a complex relationship.

Prospero freed Ariel from imprisonment but then enslaved him himself. Prospero appears pleasant and kind to Ariel, until Ariel says he would prefer not to have a master. Then Prospero wields his power more harshly, and becomes friendly only when Ariel begs his pardon.

Question 12

caliban and Prospero

Answer 12

Ariel is cheerful in his servitude, Caliban is bitter.

Prospero rescued Ariel from a worse imprisonment, while Caliban had been free and powerful.

Prospero first befriended Caliban, educated him, and then enslaved him

Question 13

calibans freedom

Answer 13

The viewpoints of colonizer and colonized are shown

Miranda believes Caliban owes her a debt of gratitude for trying to civilize him. But Caliban sees himself as having been free, and insists he was better off without all the “elevating,” which resulted in him losing his autonomy.

Question 14

Shakespeare’s farewell

Answer 14

“let your indulgence set me free”

Question 15

civilising Caliban

Answer 15

“Caliban is lost without the civilising influence” of Prospero - Trevor R Griffiths

Question 16

Prospero’s attraction to Caliban

Answer 16

“Caliban’s childish innocence first attracted Prospero… now childish lawlessness enrages him” - Meredith Skula

Question 17

control

Answer 17

Prospero “is the controller, the manipulator” - Robert Wilson

Question 18

action of the play

Answer 18

“The action of the play is Prospero’s discovery of an ethic of forgiveness” - Gregory Doran

Question 19

passion

Answer 19

“Both sorceress and magician are driven by the same passion - anger” - De Grazia

Question 20

Prospero’s art

Answer 20

Prospero’s art represented the world of civility and learning in contrast to the ‘natural’ black magic of Sycorax, anti-colonial revisions of the play challenged this rather abstract Eurocentric division between art and nature.

Question 21

Dukedom

Answer 21

“my libary was dukedom large enough” - arrogant as he saw his magic as more important than fulfilling his responsibilities as duke of Milan

Question 22

torture of Caliban

Answer 22

Tyrannical practice of torture: “thou shalt be pinch’d… each pinch more stinging than bees”

In the Tempest production directed by Julie Taymore, Prospera (Helen Mirren) presents this line in an embittered and threatening tone, which suggests tyrannical attributes.

Question 23

quote about “fits”

Answer 23

“in these fits I leave them”.

becomes Tyrannical as Prospero may be suggesting they are in pain

Question 24

blasphemy

Answer 24

Blasphemous in 17th Century England - disturbing the natural order

“graves at my command”

Question 25

“books

Answer 25

for without them he is but a sot”

Question 26

his “art”

Answer 26

he can take off his cloak which indicates that black magic hasn’t taken over him

Question 27

Sycorax

Answer 27

a mute character as she dies before the action but Prospero presents her in a hellish and demonic way

“foul witch”

Question 28

Prospero tells that Sycorax

Answer 28

had treated Ariel awfully by trapping him in a pine tree, yet he too threatens this - “peg thee in his knotty entrails”

Question 29

prospero and sycorax

Answer 29

“the only difference between Prospero and Sycorax is one of gender” - Lillah Grindlay

Question 30

sympathetic protrayal

Answer 30

Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2011 - “has a dignity and humanity that make the character more sympathetic than is usually the case” - Evening Standard

Question 31

during the historical period of the Enlightenment

Answer 31

(around 100 years after the play was written)

Prospero’s studies and his attempts to civilise Caliban would have been seen as the most significant part of the play

Question 32

in the Romantic Period

Answer 32

Prospero’s “attempts to restrain Caliban’s natural impulses” would have been frowned upon - Joanna Williams

Question 33

Prospero as a usurper

Answer 33

although he considers himself “a victim of usurpation” - doesn’t see himself as “a usurper” - Joanna Williams

Question 34

the Victorians

Answer 34

could have felt “sympathy” for Prospero at the end of the play as he has to claim Caliban as his property - Joanna Williams

Question 35

in the post war era

Answer 35

critics hoped to make people aware of the “barbaric nature of colonialism” and the “consequences of racism” - Joanna Williams

Question 36

thing of darkness

Answer 36

“thing of darkness I Acknowledge mine” - suggested that here Prospero could be taking responsibility for what has happened to Caliban or that he is taking responsibility for the dark side of his personality

Question 37

alternative reading of lines

Answer 37

“stripes may move, not kindness” “human care” “thou didst seek to violate the honour of my child”

compassionate: stress the words “kindness” and “human care” - makes the statement that he tried to rape Miranda more poignant
heartless: “stripes”, “I have used thee”, “filth as thou art”

Question 38

“O ho! Would’t had been done! (…) I had peopled else This isle with Calibans”

Answer 38

monstrous savage: amoral, unrepentant response

sympathetic: “peopled” - his island and it is right that he should populate it with his offspring

Question 39

behaviour as a father

Answer 39

should Prospero be manipulative, possessive and unwilling to relinquish power or should he be sensible and a justifiably protective father

Question 40

when he breaks his staff

Answer 40

does he relinquish power having exacted justice, or does his quiet authority in stance and tone imply that he is not losing his power, but merely transferring it from rough magic to dukedom

Question 41

does he forgive antonio

Answer 41

, recognising that justice has been done or does harbour resentment, and effectively retain his power over his brother

Question 42

humanist reading

Answer 42

looks at Prospero’s limitations within the play, his character flaws and how these make him interesting