The Tempest

Roles

• Caliban
• Trinculo
• Stephano

About this piece

Caliban meets Trinculo and Stephano during a storm

Summary

The play starts with a storm hitting a ship that carries the King of Naples, Alonso, his son Ferdinand, Alonso's brother Sebastian, Antonio the Duke of Milan and two servants, Trinculo and Stefano. In the second scene we find Miranda with her father Prospero on the shore of an island close to the shipwreck. Miranda asks her father to help the people on the ship. After Prospero confesses that he is actually responsible for the shipwreck (using his magic powers), he tells her the story of his and her past, of how they got to the island. He used to be the Duke of Milan until his brother Antonio, with the help of the King of Naples, usurped his position and he was forced to flee to the island with his daughter. We are then introduced to two servants of Prospero, Ariel and Caliban. Ariel is a spirit servant who carries out Prospero's magic. We learn that he was actually the one that made the ship sink in the beginning of the play. The other servant is Caliban, the son of the witch that rules the island before Prospero's arrival. Caliban is always cursing Prospero and Miranda for the way they treat him. Prospero sends Caliban to get firewood. In this scene Caliban enters with firewood in his hands. There is noise of thunder on the background. In the monologue Caliban curses Prospero for how he mistreats him and punishes him by sending spirits that pinch and bite him every time that he curses. Trinculo, a drunken jester who has survived the shipwreck, then enters the scene and Caliban thinks he is one of the spirits Prospero sent to punish him. He lies down and covers himself with a cloak. Trinculo is looking for shelter from the storm. Then he notices Caliban and wonders if he is a man or a fish. He realizes that is an islander and decides to find shelter under his cloak. Stephano, another jester who was on the ship, enters singing and sees Caliban and Trinculo under the cloak. He doesn't recognize Trinculo and thinks he has just seen a four legged monster. Comedy of errors ensues til Trinculo and Stephano recognize each other and narrate to each other how the survived the shipwreck. Comic relief is given by Caliban who, drunk with Trinculo's wine, offers them to show them the island and be their guide.

Tone

Use cases