The Shakespeare Book

329

Loves

Ferdinand

Hates and

envies

Antonio

Prospero’s brother

Plot together

value of kindness at the end of the
play that he learns the wisdom of
forgiveness. Up until then he is
proud, vengeful, and something of
a tyrant. When Prospero conjures
the tempest to trap Alonso and
Antonio on the island, he is bent
on revenge, not reconciliation, and
uses his magic to enslave Ariel and
Caliban, not to liberate them.

Art or nature?
Few critics today would argue
that Prospero is a direct portrayal of
Shakespeare, or that The Tempest
is autobiographical. Nonetheless,
there are parallels between
Prospero’s role and the work of a
dramatist. The key word is “art.”
Just as it is Prospero’s “art” to
control Ariel and Caliban through
magic and bring his abusers to the
island, so it is the dramatist’s “art”
to create an enchanted island
on a simple wooden stage.
The play asks what it means
to be human—and art, according to
the humanist philosophers of the

age, was the highest expression

of humanity. Art is what lifts

humanity above “base” nature—

what separates Prospero from the

raw, unprocessed beast Caliban.

Shakespeare puns on the

two meanings of “art”—art as a

noun meaning skill, and art as

a verb meaning “be.” “Thee,”

Prospero tells Miranda, “...who /

Art ignorant of what thou art”

(1.2.18–19). Then a few lines later

he says, “Lie there, my art” (1.2.25)

to his magic robe as she helps him

remove it. The question of which

forms the essence of humanity—

the magic arts of a master scholar

like Prospero, or art as simply

“being”—is at the heart of the play.

Liberal and occult arts

Since classical times, students had

learned the liberal arts, the skills

needed to play an active role in

civic life, and Prospero was, as

Duke of Milan before his exile, “for

the liberal arts / Without a parallel.”

But he became so absorbed in

THE KING’S MAN

Full fathom five thy father lies.

Of his bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that

were his eyes;

Nothing of him that doth fade

But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange.

Ariel

Act 1, Scene 2

study that he delved into deeper

arts, and neglected the real world.

This is, in some ways, an echo of

Doctor Faustus in the famous play

of that name by Christopher

Marlowe, written in the 1590s.

Faustus, whose name, like

Prospero’s means “fortunate,” ❯❯

Tempestuous relationships

Live on

the island

Shipwrecked

by the storm

Caliban

Prospero’s slave

Trinculo Plot together

Alonso’s jester

Hates

Seeks to

murder

Stefano

Alonso’s butler

Respects Prospero

Exiled Duke of Milan

Enslaved to

Alonso

King of Naples

Seeks to

murder

Miranda

Ariel

Spirit of the air

Sebastian

His brother

Father to Father to

Seeks to

murder