Shakespeare's "The Tempest" ACT III Summary

Question 1

Act III, Scene 1

Answer 1

Ferdinand is visited by Miranda. Prospero observes them unseen as they exchange marriage vows and clasp hands.

Question 2

Act III, Scene 2

Answer 2

Trinculo and Caliban quarrel, and Stephano takes Caliban’s part. Ariel, invisible, imitates Trinculo’s voice and accuses Caliban of lying, causing further trouble among the three. Caliban calls Prospero a tyrant and urges Stephano to kill Prospero and take Miranda as his consort. Stephano and Trinculo join Caliban in following the music that Ariel plays to lead them out of their way.

Question 3

Act III, Scene 3

Answer 3

King Alonso and his party, weary with searching, are visited by “strange shapes” bringing in a banquet, while Prospero, unseen, observes them. But when Alonso and his party take up the shapes’ invitation to eat and drink, Ariel appears as a Harpy and makes the food and drink vanish. The Harpy accuses Alonso, Sebastin, and Antonio of usurping Prospero’s dukedom and threatens them with worse than death. The three “men of sin” leave in a desperate state.

Question 4

Completed Act III “Who Said It?”

Answer 4

DONE!