The tempest act five

© Boardworks Ltd 20061 of 22

The Tempest Act Five

1 of 22 © Boardworks Ltd 2006

The Tempest Act Five

Icons key:

Teacher’s notes included in the Notes Page

Accompanying worksheet

Flash activity. These activities are not editable.

Web addressesExtension activities Sound

For more detailed instructions, see the User Guide


Learning objectives

2 of 22 © Boardworks Ltd 2006

In this presentation you will…

Gain an overview of the plot of the fifth act

Consider the handling of time in the play

Conclude your examination of the relationship between Prospero and Ariel

Conclude your study of the character of Prospero

Consider the similarities between Prospero and Caliban

Think about the purpose of the epilogue

Revise your knowledge of the whole play


Act Five plot summary


Time in The Tempest

Both Prospero and Shakespeare control time in The Tempest very carefully. All the action takes place in one afternoon – the same time as it takes for the audience to watch the play.

PROSPERO: Ariel, thy charge Exactly is performed; but there’s more work. What is the time o’ the day?ARIEL: Past the mid-season.PROSPERO: At least two glasses. The time ’twixt six

and nowMust by us both be spent most preciously.

[I.2.237–241]

PROSPERO: Now does my project gather to a head.My charms crack not, my spirits obey; and timeGoes upright with his carriage. How’s the day?ARIEL: On the sixth hour – at which time, my lord,You said our work should cease.PROSPERO: I did say so,When first I raised the tempest.

[V.1.1–6]

What effect might seeing events played out in ‘real time’ have on the audience?


What happens when?


Prospero and Ariel


Prospero and Ariel – questions

How do you think Prospero feels in Act Five, Scene One, lines 20–24?

Look carefully at line 20. Do you think Ariel has feelings, or not? If you were the director, how would you ask your Ariel to deliver this line?

If you were the director, how would you ask Prospero to deliver line 19? Sharply? Gruffly? Sarcastically? In surprise? Curiously? Indulgently? As if ashamed?

Do you think Ariel is solely responsible for Prospero deciding to forgive his enemies, or had Prospero’s character already begun to change? Give reasons for your answer!


Ariel’s freedom


Forgiveness

The play began with Prospero raising a tempest to bring his enemies within his grasp.

While they are on the island he torments them with visions and insanity, and allows Alonso to believe that his son is dead.

By the end of the play, however, he resolves to forgive them (providing they are sorry for their crimes).

Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,

Yet with my nobler reason 'gainst my fury Do I take part. The rarer action is

In virtue than in vengeance.(V.1.25–28)


Forgiveness – questions

Read Prospero’s speech from line 25 to line 32.

How can you tell that Prospero is still angry with his enemies?

Do you think he finds forgiveness easy?

To take revenge is to exercise power or control over someone else. What different sort of control has Prospero learned during the course of the play?

Do you think this makes him more or less powerful?

Do you think this makes him a better ruler, or not?


Magic

Revenge is not the only thing Prospero renounces in Act Five.

In lines 33–57 he resolves to give up his study of magic.

Graves at my commandHave waked their sleepers, oped, and let

’em forthBy my so potent art. But this rough magic

I here abjure …… I’ll break my staff,

Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound

I’ll drown my book.

(V.1.48–57)


‘Rough magic’

In the early sixteenth century there was a very thin line between science and magic. On the one hand, many reputable scientists were convinced of the validity of ideas we would now describe as unscientific superstition.

Even Galileo (1564–1642) believed in the influence of the heavenly bodies on human destiny, and Elizabeth I consulted astrologers about many important affairs of state.

On the other hand, witchcraft remained a capital offence.

Many village wise women who prescribed folk remedies (some of which have now been scientifically proven to be effective) were burned as witches.


Good or evil?

Do you think Prospero has used his magic for good rather than evil?

Give reasons for your answer.

Think back to Act One, Scene Two. Prospero contrasted his own learned, rational magic with the ‘sorceries’ practised by Caliban’s mother, the ‘foul witch Sycorax’ (1.2.257–293).


Magic – questions

Does Prospero use magic to restore natural order, or to control, manipulate and enslave other people?

Do you think it is possible for him to restore order without controlling and enslaving others?

What led to him losing his dukedom in the first place?

What does his decision to give up magic say about his character?

Why is it significant that he chooses to give up magic at the same point that he stops seeking revenge?


Prospero’s forgiveness


Prospero and Caliban


‘This thing of darkness…’

What is the significance of Prospero’s line, ‘this thing of darkness I / Acknowledge mine’ (V.1.275–276)? What do you think Caliban could symbolize?

What do you imagine will happen to Caliban now that Prospero and Miranda are going back home?


Prospero’s costume

At certain points in the play, Prospero is described in the stage directions or the dialogue as wearing magic robes.

What is the symbolic significance of Prospero’s change of costume in Act Five?

If you were the costume designer, how would you design Prospero’s robes to represent his different powers?

Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell.I will discase me, and myself present

As I was sometime Milan.

(V.1.84–86)


Hotseat: a brave new world?


Epilogue


Review your predictions!

After you had finished reading Act One you made predictions about what revenge Prospero would take on his enemies. Return to the table you completed and review your

ideas. Did Prospero behave as you expected?

CHARACTER CRIME PUNISHMENT

Antonio, Prospero’s brother

Usurped Prospero as Duke of Milan

Alonso,King of Naples

Aided Antonio against Prospero

Sebastian,Alonso’s brother

Plans to kill Alonso and become King

Stephano, a drunken servant

Plans to kill Prospero and rule the island


How much do you remember?

Documents

The tempest act five