The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Characters

• Alonso: King of Naples
• Sebastian: Alonso's brother
• Prospero: the right Duke of Milan
• Antonio: Prospero's brother, the usurping Duke of Milan
• Ferdinand: Alonso's son
• Gonzalo: honest old Counsellor
• Adrian: Lord
• Francisco: Lord
• Caliban: savage and deformed Slave
• Trinculo: Jester
• Stephano: drunken Butler
• Miranda: Prospero's daughter
• Ariel: airy Spirit, among others (Iris, Ceres, Juno, etc.)

Summary

• As the King of Naples and his crew return home from the wedding of his daughter in Tunis, they are shipwrecked on an island by a spirit commanded by the Duke of Milan. The Duke has been on the island for 12 years along with his daughter, and his brother, the usurping Duke of Milan, washes ashore with the other members of the King's entourage. There is love. There is forgiveness.

Notes/Quotes

• Antonio [usurping Duke]. Let's all sink with the king.
• Sebastian [King's brother]. Let's take leave of him. (1.1)
• Prospero has been in an island gaol for 12 years (1.2)       
• Miranda [Prospero's daughter]. I should sin to think but nobly of my grandmother: good wombs have borne bad sons. (1.2)
• Prospero enlisted Ariel's help in crashing the boat with the King's and his entourage and dispersing them safely on the island in exchange for the spirit's liberty (1.2)
• Sebastian. Thy case, dear friend, shall be my precedent; as thou got'st Milan, I'll come by Naples. Draw thy sword: one stroke shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest; and I the king shall love thee.
• Antonio. Draw together; and when I rear my hand, do you the like, to fall it on Gonzalo. (2.1)
• Trinculo [Jester]. Swum ashore, man, like a duck: I can swim like a duck, I'll be sworn. (2.2)
• Enter Prospero above, invisible. Enter several strange Shapes, bringing in a banquet; they dance about it with gently actions of salutation; and, inviting the King, et cetera, to eat, they depart (3.3)
• Ariel. But remember -- for that's my business to you -- that you three from Milan did supplant good Prospero; exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it, him and his innocent child: for which foul deed the powers, delaying, not forgetting, have incensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures, against your peace. (3.3)
• Miranda. These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air: and, like the baseless fabric of this vision, the cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself, yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve and, like this insubstantial pageant faded, leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with sleep. [emphasis mine] (4.1)