In a storm at sea, a ship is floundering. Alonso, King of Naples; his brother, Sebastian; his councillor, Gonzalo; and his son, Ferdinand, are on board, as are Antonio, the Duke of Milan; Stephano, the butler; and Trinculo, the jester. As lightning strikes and the ship begins to sink despite the efforts of the Boatswain and sailors, all fear for their lives. This scene is usually played with the elemental spirit, Ariel, visible in the rigging.
On the shore of a nearby island, fifteen-year-old Miranda pities the drowning ones, but her father, the magician Prospero, says no one has been harmed, and all has been done for her welfare. He then explains why he has raised the tempest.
He, not Antonio, is the rightful Duke of Milan. Because Prospero was wrapped up in the study of magic, he delegated the practical affairs of his dukedom to his brother, who took advantage of the situation to league with Prospero’s political enemy, Alonso. The latter invaded Milan, and Prospero and the three-year-old Miranda were put into a leaky boat with nothing but some clothing and Prospero’s books, supplied to him by the good councillor, Gonzalo. They drifted ashore to the island, where they have been living in a cave-like “cell” for twelve years.
Now an auspicious star and the deity Lady Fortune have brought Prospero’s enemies within his reach. He has ordered the illusion of the tempest to land them onshore. His purposes are twofold: revenge and the betterment of the fortunes of Miranda.
Prospero puts Miranda to sleep, dons his magic robes, and calls upon his chief attendant spirit, Ariel. Ariel serves Prospero in return for having been released from a cloven pine where he had been imprisoned by the witch Sycorax because he wouldn’t fulfill her loathsome commands, but now he wants his freedom.
Prospero scolds him for ungratefulness, but promises that if his present plan against his enemies works out with Ariel’s help, Ariel shall be free. Ariel then
describes the “tempest” he has created. Three groups of travelers have been landed in different places onshore: Ferdinand by himself, Stephano and Trinculo as a pair, though separated, and the court party together.
Next command for Ariel: to dress as a sea nymph, to render himself invisible to all but Prospero, and to find Ferdinand—who believes his father has drowned.
Ariel is to lead him with music to the place where he will see Miranda.
Prospero wakens Miranda and they go in search of Prospero’s other enforced servant, Caliban, the ugly and brutish son of Sycorax. Caliban, Prospero, and even Miranda trade curse words and reproaches: Caliban accuses Prospero of stealing the island from him, and Prospero points out that Caliban has tried to rape Miranda. Caliban wishes he had done so, and peopled the island with Calibans; then, enforced by the pinching of Prospero’s spirits, he goes off to collect wood.
Ariel leads in Ferdinand, who is awestuck by Miranda, as she is by him. So that things won’t be too easy and thus lightly valued, Prospero sets an ordeal: he magically disarms Ferdinand, accuses him of being a pretender and a traitor, and says he will imprison him. Ferdinand claims he can bear that if only he can glimpse Miranda once a day.
Ariel is sent off to keep tabs on the court party: Alonso, Sebastian, Gonzalo, Antonio, and other lords. Alonso is certain that his son has drowned and is very dejected. Gonzalo tries to cheer him up by praising the island and describing the utopian society he would set up if he had the ruling of it. Antonio and Sebastian scoff at him. Ariel appears and puts Alonso and Gonzalo to sleep, whereupon Antonio proposes to Sebastian that they murder them, thus making Sebastian the King of Naples. Ariel, however, wakes the sleepers just in time and speeds off to report developments to Prospero.
Meanwhile, Caliban is gathering wood when he sees the jester Trinculo approaching. Fearing he is a tormenting spirit, he hides under his cloak. A storm approaches and Trinculo hides under the cloak too, despite its fishy smell and the monster underneath. Stephano the butler approaches, reeling drunk. He gets Caliban drunk too, and Caliban decides to worship Stephano like a god, and serve him as master instead of Prospero. He sings a song to this effect.
Meanwhile, Ferdinand has been put to work hauling wood. Miranda appears and pleads with him to rest—she will do the work for him. They pledge their love and promise to marry each other. Prospero, unseen, is happy.
Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo are now even drunker, and after a fight
engineered by Ariel, Caliban proposes that they murder Prospero and set up Stephano as the island king, with Miranda as the queen. Ariel leads them astray with music, and Caliban tells them not to be afraid, as the island is often filled with ravishing sounds.
Alonso, Gonzalo, Sebastian, and Antonio are resting in their search for Ferdinand when a banquet is presented to them by some oddly shaped spirits.
Prospero watches, invisible, as they approach to eat; but the banquet vanishes and Ariel appears in the shape of a harpy, upbraiding Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian for their criminal mistreatment of Prospero, and implying that the loss of Ferdinand is Alonso’s punishment. The three culprits are then driven raving mad, and suicidal as well in the case of Alonso.
Prospero now visits Ferdinand, releases him from bondage, and greets him as his future son-in-law, but warns him against premature intimacy. He commands Ariel to present another illusion—a masque of three goddesses, who shower the young couple with blessings.
The show is interrupted when Prospero recalls Caliban’s plot to murder him.
He explains to Ferdinand that the beings he has seen were spirits, and have vanished, as everything must eventually—being at heart equally insubstantial and dream-like.
Ariel describes to Prospero how he has led Caliban and his two co- conspirators astray. He and Prospero hang out some gorgeous garments to further entrap and delay them. Stephano and Trinculo want to steal these, though Caliban urges the murder first. The theft is interrupted by a pack of spirit dogs who chase the culprits away, egged on by Ariel and Prospero.
At Prospero’s command, Ariel is now to fetch the court party. When he describes to Prospero how much they are suffering and says he feels sorry for them, Prospero is impressed that a mere air-spirit can feel pity and decides to follow Ariel’s example. He orders Ariel to release them from their madness.
Then he says it’s time for him to abjure his “rough magic,” break his staff, and drown his book of spells.
The court party is led in by Ariel. Prospero confronts Alonso and Antonio and their confederate, Sebastian, with their treachery toward him, but says he forgives them. He warns Antonio and Sebastian, in an aside, that he knows about their plan to murder Alonso, but won’t say anything about it just yet.
Alonso is still grieving the loss of Ferdinand. Prospero says he too has lost a child—a daughter—but then brings him to his “cell” and reveals Ferdinand and
Miranda playing chess together. Alonso, amazed and grateful, embraces the marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda. Miranda, for her part, is astonished that there is suddenly a new world filled with such amazing people. Prospero remarks that they are new to her. (He himself knows them for what they are.) The Boatswain enters, fetched by Ariel, and explains how he and the mariners have awakened to find their ship safely in harbor. Enter Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, bedraggled and sore; they are suitably chastised and repentant.
Prospero acknowledges that Caliban, “this thing of darkness,” is in some sense his.
Plans are made for the return to Italy and the impending wedding. Prospero will have his dukedom again. Miranda and Ferdinand will eventually be the Queen and King of Naples. Ariel will ensure calm seas for the voyage.
Prospero finishes the play with an epilogue, in which he tells the audience that since his magic spells have now been overthrown, he must remain imprisoned on the island unless the audience pardons him, and sets him free by using its own magic to applaud the play.
