2) EARLY MODERN DRAMA

(C.Marlowe: Dr. Faustus, Shakespeare: Richard III, Macbeth, The Tempest)

Cultural context:

- Drama originally from Greece

- Festivals were held for the god Dionysias b.c. 5th century
- In England mystery plays were popular. (~12th century) These plays were scenes from
the Bible. The plays were played on a pageant wagon (moving stages), they were 15-
20 mins. long.
- There were 3 types of plays:
o Mystery plays were stories taken from the Bible.
o Miracle play was about the life or actions of a saint, usually about the actions
that made that person a saint.
o Morality plays were designed to teach people a lesson in how to live their life
according to the rules of the church.
- 1534. Henry VIII. - ACT OF SUPREMACY. Due to the Act of Supremacy the plays
disappeared, because they were catholic themed.
- The Middle Ages ends in 1485. This is the end of the War of Roses. Henry Tudor
(=Henry VII.) defeats Richard III. at the Battle of Bosworth. Henry Tudor became the
king and this is the beginning of the Tudor dynasty.
- 1509: Henry VIII.
- 1534: Act of Supremacy
- 1546: Edward VI.
- 1553-1558: Bloody Mary
- 1558-1603: Elizabeth I.
- The Renaissance (1485 - 1660)  drama was the main genre in English renaissance.
- The first theatre in England: 1576, called Theatre.

Christopher Marlowe:

- Christopher Marlowe (1564-1592), He was Shakespeare’s rival, influenced by

Machiavelli. He was an atheist.

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

- The play Dr. Faustus was written in 1588.

- It is a morality play. There are good and bad angels.
- The tension is between salvation and damnation.
- 4 dimensions of the play:
o 1 - Morality play
o 2 - Tragedy
o 3 - Heroic dimension
o 4 - Psychology
 - The text has 2 versions: Quarto (cheap, small sized book) and Folio (big sized,
expensive). The longer version, the Folio, contains comic scenes involved Robin and
Dick. They are funny characters, they do magic, tricks, they are turned into monkeys.
These comic scenes were to make a balance.
- Dr. Faustus is a scientist. As soon as he has his magical power he is considered a
demi-god. (félisten)
- He made a contract with Lucifer. He signed the contract with his blood and he said
that “Consumatum est” which means “It is finished”  This is a biblical reference;
these were Jesus’s last words on the cross. As soon as he signed the contract the words
“Homo fuge” appears on his arms, which means “Fly man”.
- Dr. Faustus is a black magician. He brings back Helen of Troy. She is not a human,
but a spirit. He has sex with her as a result his soul is gone.
- The contract says Dr. Faustus has 24 years. This resembles the 24 hour of a day.
Midnight to midnight.
- At the end his body is torn apart, so he can’t be resurrected. Resurrection in
Christianity: The restoration of the dead to life at the Last Judgment.

PLOT:

Doctor Faustus, a well-respected German scholar, grows dissatisfied with the limits of
traditional forms of knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and religion—and decides that he
wants to learn to practice magic. His friends Valdes and Cornelius instruct him in the black
arts, and he begins his new career as a magician by summoning up Mephastophilis, a devil.
Despite Mephastophilis’s warnings about the horrors of hell, Faustus tells the devil to return
to his master, Lucifer, with an offer of Faustus’s soul in exchange for twenty-four years of
service from Mephastophilis. Meanwhile, Wagner, Faustus’s servant, has picked up some
magical ability and uses it to press a clown named Robin into his service.

Mephastophilis returns to Faustus with word that Lucifer has accepted Faustus’s offer.
Faustus experiences some misgivings and wonders if he should repent and save his soul; in
the end, though, he agrees to the deal, signing it with his blood. As soon as he does so, the
words “Homo fuge,” Latin for “O man, fly,” appear branded on his arm. Faustus again has
second thoughts, but Mephastophilis bestows rich gifts on him and gives him a book of spells
to learn. Later, Mephastophilis answers all of his questions about the nature of the world,
refusing to answer only when Faustus asks him who made the universe. This refusal prompts
yet another bout of misgivings in Faustus, but Mephastophilis and Lucifer bring in
personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to prance about in front of Faustus, and he is
impressed enough to quiet his doubts.

Armed with his new powers and attended by Mephastophilis, Faustus begins to travel. He
goes to the pope’s court in Rome, makes himself invisible, and plays a series of tricks. He
disrupts the pope’s banquet by stealing food and boxing the pope’s ears. Following this
incident, he travels through the courts of Europe, with his fame spreading as he goes.
Eventually, he is invited to the court of the German emperor, Charles V (the enemy of the
pope), who asks Faustus to allow him to see Alexander the Great, the famed fourth-century
b.c. Macedonian king and conqueror. Faustus conjures up an image of Alexander, and
Charles is suitably impressed. A knight scoffs at Faustus’s powers, and Faustus chastises him
by making antlers sprout from his head. Furious, the knight vows revenge.
Meanwhile, Robin, Wagner’s clown, has picked up some magic on his own, and with his
fellow stablehand, Rafe, he undergoes a number of comic misadventures. At one point, he
manages to summon Mephastophilis, who threatens to turn Robin and Rafe into animals (or
perhaps even does transform them; the text isn’t clear) to punish them for their foolishness.

Faustus then goes on with his travels, playing a trick on a horse-courser along the way.
Faustus sells him a horse that turns into a heap of straw when ridden into a river. Eventually,
Faustus is invited to the court of the Duke of Vanholt, where he performs various feats. The
horse-courser shows up there, along with Robin, a man named Dick (Rafe in the A text), and
various others who have fallen victim to Faustus’s trickery. But Faustus casts spells on them
and sends them on their way, to the amusement of the duke and duchess.

As the twenty-four years of his deal with Lucifer come to a close, Faustus begins to dread his
impending death. He has Mephastophilis call up Helen of Troy, the famous beauty from the
ancient world, and uses her presence to impress a group of scholars. An old man urges
Faustus to repent, but Faustus drives him away. Faustus summons Helen again and exclaims
rapturously about her beauty. But time is growing short. Faustus tells the scholars about his
pact, and they are horror-stricken and resolve to pray for him. On the final night before the
expiration of the twenty-four years, Faustus is overcome by fear and remorse. He begs for
mercy, but it is too late. At midnight, a host of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell.
In the morning, the scholars find Faustus’s limbs and decide to hold a funeral for him.

William Shakespeare:

- 1564-1616.
- Borne in Statford-upon-Avon. He attended Statford grammar school, he learnt latin
- We are at the age of Renaissance in England. Its official beginning is 1485.
- The intellectual and educational aspect of the renaissance is HUMANISM.
- Humanism: Humans were at the centre. In the Middle Ages God and religion was in
the centre. Now there is the so called Great Chain of Being.
o (GOD --- ANGELS --- HUMANS --- ANIMALS --- and so on)
- In the middle of this chain there are humans. They can go up or down, they have
enormous potentials.
- Shakespeare’s theatre was the Globe. The Globe is rounded, (symbolizes Earth) has no
roof, the stage is divided into 3 parts: heavens - stage -pit.
- There were 4 popular public theatres in London: Swan, Globe, Rose, and Fortune.
- There were also privet theatres for the aristocratic families such as Phoenix.
- These theatres were placed in the south bank of London. The most important was the
Globe. It was a public theatre. Only men actors.

Richard III.:

- A History play. (there are comedies, tragedies, tragi-comedies, and histories)

- Shakespeare was interested in the nature of history.
- He lived after the War of Roses, in which Richard III. was defeated.
 - Richard III. is a villain, crippled, hunched back man in the play. But in real life he was
not. This is Tudor propaganda.
- Richard was dethroned by Henry VII. That time the king was considered to be
appointed by God.
- Richard III. in the play is ugly, but a clever man. He is extremely manipulative, he
manipulates Lady Anne. (And the audience too) He is a spider, and this is his web. He
wants to be a king. He is very similar to a medieval vice.
- Is he a villain by faith or own decision? “I am determined to prove a villain”  He
says this about himself.
- Dreams are very important in the play.
- Richard is an actor: he plays a good brother, a lover, a caring uncle and a pious man.
He stops acting as soon as he becomes king.
- RICHARD + MACHBET comparison: both want power  got the power  fall
down BUT Richard is a villain from the beginning, however Macbeth becomes a
villain due to the circumstances.

PLOT:

After a long civil war between the royal family of York and the royal family of Lancaster,
England enjoys a period of peace under King Edward IV and the victorious Yorks. But
Edward’s younger brother, Richard, resents Edward’s power and the happiness of those
around him. Malicious, power-hungry, and bitter about his physical deformity, Richard
begins to aspire secretly to the throne—and decides to kill anyone he has to in order to
become king.

Using his intelligence and his skills of deception and political manipulation, Richard begins
his campaign for the throne. He manipulates a noblewoman, Lady Anne, into marrying him—
even though she knows that he murdered her first husband. He has his own older brother,
Clarence, executed, and shifts the burden of guilt onto his sick older brother King Edward in
order to accelerate Edward’s illness and death. After King Edward dies, Richard becomes
lord protector of England—the figure in charge until the elder of Edward’s two sons grows
up.

Next Richard kills the court noblemen who are loyal to the princes, most notably Lord
Hastings, the lord chamberlain of England. He then has the boys’ relatives on their mother’s
side—the powerful kinsmen of Edward’s wife, Queen Elizabeth—arrested and executed. With
Elizabeth and the princes now unprotected, Richard has his political allies, particularly his
right-hand man, Lord Buckingham, campaign to have Richard crowned king. Richard then
imprisons the young princes in the Tower and, in his bloodiest move yet, sends hired
murderers to kill both children.

By this time, Richard’s reign of terror has caused the common people of England to fear and
loathe him, and he has alienated nearly all the noblemen of the court—even the power-
hungry Buckingham. When rumors begin to circulate about a challenger to the throne who is
gathering forces in France, noblemen defect in droves to join his forces. The challenger is the
earl of Richmond, a descendant of a secondary arm of the Lancaster family, and England is
ready to welcome him.
Richard, in the meantime, tries to consolidate his power. He has his wife, Queen Anne,
murdered, so that he can marry young Elizabeth, the daughter of the former Queen Elizabeth
and the dead King Edward. Though young Elizabeth is his niece, the alliance would secure
his claim to the throne. Nevertheless, Richard has begun to lose control of events, and Queen
Elizabeth manages to forestall him. Meanwhile, she secretly promises to marry young
Elizabeth to Richmond.

Richmond finally invades England. The night before the battle that will decide everything,
Richard has a terrible dream in which the ghosts of all the people he has murdered appear
and curse him, telling him that he will die the next day. In the battle on the following
morning, Richard is killed, and Richmond is crowned King Henry VII. Promising a new era
of peace for England, the new king is betrothed to young Elizabeth in order to unite the
warring houses of Lancaster and York.

Macbeth:

- Tragedy - dramatic representations of serious and important actions which turn out
disastrously for the chief character
- Aristotle in Poetics: “The imitation of an action that is serious and complete in itself
performed in the medium of poetic language, the events arousing pity and fear, and
thus accomplishing the catharsis of the emotion.”
- 3 Types of tragedies
o Greek (classical)
o Roman (Senecan revenge tragedies)
o Medieval (Historical Antecedents of Shakespearian tragedies)
- Shakespearian Tragedies and Comedies are complementary. Two halves of the same
cycle. Tragedy is fall, winter. Comedy is spring.
- Tragedy’s characters are usually historical figures, meanwhile in comedies they are
fictional characters.
- The aim of the tragedies usually is to hold up a mirror to nature.
- Its movement is downward fall in fortune.
- The 4 GREAT TRAGEDIES: Othello, Hamlet, Lear King and Macbeth

- Macbeth, 1608, First Folio

- Last of the great tragedies. It’s a poetic tragedy, (tragedy of the imagination)
- This is the shortest tragedy, 2107 lines.
- It was performed when Christian, the Danish King visited James I.
- Written definitely after 5th November 1606. (The Guy Fawkes’s restaruration)
- STRUCTURE: no double plot, Shakespeare concentrates on the individual’s
psychology
- The first line of Macbeth is “When shall we meet again?”  It’s a question by the
witches. Needs answers. The 3 witches  eqvivocation = paradoxical usage of words.
- They tell a prophecy, it is to be fulfilled.
- Regicide is the act of killing the king. Macbeth kills the king. That time it was
believed that the kings were appointed by God. This is an act against God.
 - The figure of Lady Macbeth: She wears the trousers. She wants to become a man.
“Unsex me”.
- The witches have beards. They are middle-sex characters.

PLOT:

The play begins with the brief appearance of a trio of witches and then moves to a military
camp, where the Scottish King Duncan hears the news that his generals, Macbeth and
Banquo, have defeated two separate invading armies—one from Ireland, led by the rebel
Macdonwald, and one from Norway. Following their pitched battle with these enemy forces,
Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches as they cross a moor. The witches prophesy that
Macbeth will be made thane (a rank of Scottish nobility) of Cawdor and eventually King of
Scotland. They also prophesy that Macbeth’s companion, Banquo, will beget a line of
Scottish kings, although Banquo will never be king himself. The witches vanish, and Macbeth
and Banquo treat their prophecies skeptically until some of King Duncan’s men come to
thank the two generals for their victories in battle and to tell Macbeth that he has indeed been
named thane of Cawdor. The previous thane betrayed Scotland by fighting for the
Norwegians and Duncan has condemned him to death. Macbeth is intrigued by the possibility
that the remainder of the witches’ prophecy—that he will be crowned king—might be true,
but he is uncertain what to expect. He visits with King Duncan, and they plan to dine together
at Inverness, Macbeth’s castle, that night. Macbeth writes ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth,
telling her all that has happened.

Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband’s uncertainty. She desires the kingship for him and
wants him to murder Duncan in order to obtain it. When Macbeth arrives at Inverness, she
overrides all of her husband’s objections and persuades him to kill the king that very night.
He and Lady Macbeth plan to get Duncan’s two chamberlains drunk so they will black out;
the next morning they will blame the murder on the chamberlains, who will be defenseless, as
they will remember nothing. While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts
and a number of supernatural portents, including a vision of a bloody dagger. When
Duncan’s death is discovered the next morning, Macbeth kills the chamberlains—ostensibly
out of rage at their crime—and easily assumes the kingship. Duncan’s sons Malcolm and
Donalbain flee to England and Ireland, respectively, fearing that whoever killed Duncan
desires their demise as well.

Fearful of the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s heirs will seize the throne, Macbeth hires a
group of murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. They ambush Banquo on his way to a
royal feast, but they fail to kill Fleance, who escapes into the night. Macbeth becomes
furious: as long as Fleance is alive, he fears that his power remains insecure. At the feast that
night, Banquo’s ghost visits Macbeth. When he sees the ghost, Macbeth raves fearfully,
startling his guests, who include most of the great Scottish nobility. Lady Macbeth tries to
neutralize the damage, but Macbeth’s kingship incites increasing resistance from his nobles
and subjects. Frightened, Macbeth goes to visit the witches in their cavern. There, they show
him a sequence of demons and spirits who present him with further prophecies: he must
beware of Macduff, a Scottish nobleman who opposed Macbeth’s accession to the throne; he
is incapable of being harmed by any man born of woman; and he will be safe until Birnam
Wood comes to Dunsinane Castle. Macbeth is relieved and feels secure, because he knows
that all men are born of women and that forests cannot move. When he learns that Macduff
has fled to England to join Malcolm, Macbeth orders that Macduff’s castle be seized and,
most cruelly, that Lady Macduff and her children be murdered.
When news of his family’s execution reaches Macduff in England, he is stricken with grief
and vows revenge. Prince Malcolm, Duncan’s son, has succeeded in raising an army in
England, and Macduff joins him as he rides to Scotland to challenge Macbeth’s forces. The
invasion has the support of the Scottish nobles, who are appalled and frightened by
Macbeth’s tyrannical and murderous behavior. Lady Macbeth, meanwhile, becomes plagued
with fits of sleepwalking in which she bemoans what she believes to be bloodstains on her
hands. Before Macbeth’s opponents arrive, Macbeth receives news that she has killed herself,
causing him to sink into a deep and pessimistic despair. Nevertheless, he awaits the English
and fortifies Dunsinane, to which he seems to have withdrawn in order to defend himself,
certain that the witches’ prophecies guarantee his invincibility. He is struck numb with fear,
however, when he learns that the English army is advancing on Dunsinane shielded with
boughs cut from Birnam Wood. Birnam Wood is indeed coming to Dunsinane, fulfilling half
of the witches’ prophecy.

In the battle, Macbeth hews violently, but the English forces gradually overwhelm his army
and castle. On the battlefield, Macbeth encounters the vengeful Macduff, who declares that
he was not “of woman born” but was instead “untimely ripped” from his mother’s womb
(what we now call birth by cesarean section). Though he realizes that he is doomed, Macbeth
continues to fight until Macduff kills and beheads him. Malcolm, now the King of Scotland,
declares his benevolent intentions for the country and invites all to see him crowned at Scone.

The Tempest:

- Romance - or Tragi-Comedies.
- Begins as a tragedy, ends as a comedy. Usually with young characters.
- There’s the downward movement of a tragedy. (Fall from the Fortune’s Wheel) and
then there’s the upward movement of the comedy.
- Shakespeare’s Final Period (1608 - 1613)
o from opening the Blackfriars to burning of The Globe
o only allegorical plays, because of the political situation (James I - absolute
monarch, need to avoid conflicts)
- The Tempest 1611. Shakespeare’s farewell from theatre. His most original play.
- The genre is romance: hero, magic, natural scenery, forest, a lady  these are required
elements.
- Magic: Prospero, Arial
- Love: Ferdinand + Miranda
- Natural scenery: an unknown island
- Prospero is seen as the alterego of Shakespeare  organising things, direct the play

PLOT:

A storm strikes a ship carrying Alonso, Ferdinand, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Stephano,
and Trinculo, who are on their way to Italy after coming from the wedding of Alonso’s
daughter, Claribel, to the prince of Tunis in Africa. The royal party and the other mariners,
with the exception of the unflappable Boatswain, begin to fear for their lives. Lightning
cracks, and the mariners cry that the ship has been hit. Everyone prepares to sink.
The next scene begins much more quietly. Miranda and Prospero stand on the shore of their
island, looking out to sea at the recent shipwreck. Miranda asks her father to do anything he
can to help the poor souls in the ship. Prospero assures her that everything is all right and
then informs her that it is time she learned more about herself and her past. He reveals to her
that he orchestrated the shipwreck and tells her the lengthy story of her past, a story he has
often started to tell her before but never finished. The story goes that Prospero was the Duke
of Milan until his brother Antonio, conspiring with Alonso, the King of Naples, usurped his
position. Kidnapped and left to die on a raft at sea, Prospero and his daughter survive
because Gonzalo leaves them supplies and Prospero’s books, which are the source of his
magic and power. Prospero and his daughter arrived on the island where they remain now
and have been for twelve years. Only now, Prospero says, has Fortune at last sent his
enemies his way, and he has raised the tempest in order to make things right with them once
and for all.

After telling this story, Prospero charms Miranda to sleep and then calls forth his familiar
spirit Ariel, his chief magical agent. Prospero and Ariel’s discussion reveals that Ariel
brought the tempest upon the ship and set fire to the mast. He then made sure that everyone
got safely to the island, though they are now separated from each other into small groups.
Ariel, who is a captive servant to Prospero, reminds his master that he has promised Ariel
freedom a year early if he performs tasks such as these without complaint. Prospero chastises
Ariel for protesting and reminds him of the horrible fate from which he was rescued. Before
Prospero came to the island, a witch named Sycorax imprisoned Ariel in a tree. Sycorax died,
leaving Ariel trapped until Prospero arrived and freed him. After Ariel assures Prospero that
he knows his place, Prospero orders Ariel to take the shape of a sea nymph and make himself
invisible to all but Prospero.

Miranda awakens from her sleep, and she and Prospero go to visit Caliban, Prospero’s
servant and the son of the dead Sycorax. Caliban curses Prospero, and Prospero and
Miranda berate him for being ungrateful for what they have given and taught him. Prospero
sends Caliban to fetch firewood. Ariel, invisible, enters playing music and leading in the
awed Ferdinand. Miranda and Ferdinand are immediately smitten with each other. He is the
only man Miranda has ever seen, besides Caliban and her father. Prospero is happy to see
that his plan for his daughter’s future marriage is working, but decides that he must upset
things temporarily in order to prevent their relationship from developing too quickly. He
accuses Ferdinand of merely pretending to be the Prince of Naples and threatens him with
imprisonment. When Ferdinand draws his sword, Prospero charms him and leads him off to
prison, ignoring Miranda’s cries for mercy. He then sends Ariel on another mysterious
mission.

On another part of the island, Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, and other miscellaneous
lords give thanks for their safety but worry about the fate of Ferdinand. Alonso says that he
wishes he never had married his daughter to the prince of Tunis because if he had not made
this journey, his son would still be alive. Gonzalo tries to maintain high spirits by discussing
the beauty of the island, but his remarks are undercut by the sarcastic sourness of Antonio
and Sebastian. Ariel appears, invisible, and plays music that puts all but Sebastian and
Antonio to sleep. These two then begin to discuss the possible advantages of killing their
sleeping companions. Antonio persuades Sebastian that the latter will become ruler of Naples
if they kill Alonso. Claribel, who would be the next heir if Ferdinand were indeed dead, is too
far away to be able to claim her right. Sebastian is convinced, and the two are about to stab
the sleeping men when Ariel causes Gonzalo to wake with a shout. Everyone wakes up, and
Antonio and Sebastian concoct a ridiculous story about having drawn their swords to protect
the king from lions. Ariel goes back to Prospero while Alonso and his party continue to
search for Ferdinand.

Caliban, meanwhile, is hauling wood for Prospero when he sees Trinculo and thinks he is a
spirit sent by Prospero to torment him. He lies down and hides under his cloak. A storm is
brewing, and Trinculo, curious about but undeterred by Caliban’s strange appearance and
smell, crawls under the cloak with him. Stephano, drunk and singing, comes along and
stumbles upon the bizarre spectacle of Caliban and Trinculo huddled under the cloak.
Caliban, hearing the singing, cries out that he will work faster so long as the “spirits” leave
him alone. Stephano decides that this monster requires liquor and attempts to get Caliban to
drink. Trinculo recognizes his friend Stephano and calls out to him. Soon the three are sitting
up together and drinking. Caliban quickly becomes an enthusiastic drinker, and begins to
sing.

Prospero puts Ferdinand to work hauling wood. Ferdinand finds his labor pleasant because
it is for Miranda’s sake. Miranda, thinking that her father is asleep, tells Ferdinand to take a
break. The two flirt with one another. Miranda proposes marriage, and Ferdinand accepts.
Prospero has been on stage most of the time, unseen, and he is pleased with this development.

Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban are now drunk and raucous and are made all the more so by
Ariel, who comes to them invisibly and provokes them to fight with one another by
impersonating their voices and taunting them. Caliban grows more and more fervent in his
boasts that he knows how to kill Prospero. He even tells Stephano that he can bring him to
where Prospero is sleeping. He proposes that they kill Prospero, take his daughter, and set
Stephano up as king of the island. Stephano thinks this a good plan, and the three prepare to
set off to find Prospero. They are distracted, however, by the sound of music that Ariel plays
on his flute and tabor-drum, and they decide to follow this music before executing their plot.

Alonso, Gonzalo, Sebastian, and Antonio grow weary from traveling and pause to rest.
Antonio and Sebastian secretly plot to take advantage of Alonso and Gonzalo’s exhaustion,
deciding to kill them in the evening. Prospero, probably on the balcony of the stage and
invisible to the men, causes a banquet to be set out by strangely shaped spirits. As the men
prepare to eat, Ariel appears like a harpy and causes the banquet to vanish. He then accuses
the men of supplanting Prospero and says that it was for this sin that Alonso’s son,
Ferdinand, has been taken. He vanishes, leaving Alonso feeling vexed and guilty.

Prospero now softens toward Ferdinand and welcomes him into his family as the soon-to-be-
husband of Miranda. He sternly reminds Ferdinand, however, that Miranda’s “virgin-knot”
(IV.i.15) is not to be broken until the wedding has been officially solemnized. Prospero then
asks Ariel to call forth some spirits to perform a masque for Ferdinand and Miranda. The
spirits assume the shapes of Ceres, Juno, and Iris and perform a short masque celebrating the
rites of marriage and the bounty of the earth. A dance of reapers and nymphs follows but is
interrupted when Prospero suddenly remembers that he still must stop the plot against his
life.

He sends the spirits away and asks Ariel about Trinculo, Stephano, and Caliban. Ariel tells
his master of the three men’s drunken plans. He also tells how he led the men with his music
through prickly grass and briars and finally into a filthy pond near Prospero’s cell. Ariel and
Prospero then set a trap by hanging beautiful clothing in Prospero’s cell. Stephano, Trinculo,
and Caliban enter looking for Prospero and, finding the beautiful clothing, decide to steal it.
They are immediately set upon by a pack of spirits in the shape of dogs and hounds, driven on
by Prospero and Ariel.

Prospero uses Ariel to bring Alonso and the others before him. He then sends Ariel to bring
the Boatswain and the mariners from where they sleep on the wrecked ship. Prospero
confronts Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian with their treachery, but tells them that he forgives
them. Alonso tells him of having lost Ferdinand in the tempest and Prospero says that he
recently lost his own daughter. Clarifying his meaning, he draws aside a curtain to reveal
Ferdinand and Miranda playing chess. Alonso and his companions are amazed by the
miracle of Ferdinand’s survival, and Miranda is stunned by the sight of people unlike any she
has seen before. Ferdinand tells his father about his marriage.

Ariel returns with the Boatswain and mariners. The Boatswain tells a story of having been
awakened from a sleep that had apparently lasted since the tempest. At Prospero’s bidding,
Ariel releases Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano, who then enter wearing their stolen clothing.
Prospero and Alonso command them to return it and to clean up Prospero’s cell. Prospero
invites Alonso and the others to stay for the night so that he can tell them the tale of his life in
the past twelve years. After this, the group plans to return to Italy. Prospero, restored to his
dukedom, will retire to Milan. Prospero gives Ariel one final task—to make sure the seas are
calm for the return voyage—before setting him free. Finally, Prospero delivers an epilogue to
the audience, asking them to forgive him for his wrongdoing and set him free by applauding.