Scene I explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Love and Marriage

  Prospero blesses Ferdinand and Miranda's union, emphasizing the importance of chastity and proper ceremony.

• Magic and Illusion

  Prospero uses his art to stage a masque with spirits, and later reflects on the ephemeral nature of such illusions.

• Colonization and Servitude

  Caliban's rebellion against Prospero's rule and his characterization as a 'born devil' reflect colonial attitudes.

Characters to notice

• Prospero

  Blesses Ferdinand and Miranda, stages the masque, and orchestrates the thwarting of Caliban's plot.

• Ferdinand

  Receives Prospero's blessing to marry Miranda and vows to remain chaste until the wedding.

• Miranda

  Present as Prospero blesses her union with Ferdinand; observes Prospero's sudden anger.

• Ariel

  Assists Prospero by staging the masque and later reports on leading Caliban and his companions into a filthy pool.

• Caliban

  Leads Stephano and Trinculo in a plot to kill Prospero, but is distracted by the glittering clothes and ultimately hunted off.

• Stephano

  Gets distracted by the fine garments, delaying the murder plot, and is driven away by spirits.

Key passages

• “If I have too austerely punish'd you, Your compensation makes amends, for I Have given you here a third of mine own life, Or that for which I live; who once again I tender to thy hand: all thy vexations Were but my trials of thy love, and thou Hast strangely stood the test here, afore Heaven, I ratify this my rich gift.”

  If I have been too harsh with you, I now make up for it by giving you my daughter, who is more precious to me than my own life. Your hardships were only tests of your love, and you have passed them admirably. Before Heaven, I confirm this generous gift.

  Prospero formally blesses the marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda.

• “Our revels now are ended. 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 a sleep.”

  The entertainment is over. The performers were spirits who have vanished into nothing. Just like this vision, all the great structures of the world—towers, palaces, temples, even the Earth itself—will eventually disappear without a trace. We are made of the same stuff as dreams, and our lives are surrounded by sleep.

  Prospero reflects on the transient nature of life and art after interrupting the masque.

• “A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost; And as with age his body uglier grows, So his mind cankers.”

  Caliban is an innate devil; education and kindness cannot change his nature. All my efforts to civilize him have been wasted. As he ages, his body becomes uglier and his mind becomes more corrupt.

  Prospero expresses his despair over Caliban's incorrigible nature.