The Tempest
Shakespeare’s play of a storm, an island and a magician: what happens, what the characters want, and how the language shows power, freedom and forgiveness.
Learn
The Tempest, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Know what happens in The Tempest, from the storm to the ending
Twelve years ago Prospero, the Duke of Milan, was overthrown by his brother Antonio and set adrift with his baby daughter, Miranda. They reached an island. Now Prospero uses magic to raise a storm that wrecks his enemies on the same island. Over one afternoon he tests them, lets Miranda fall in love with Ferdinand, forgives his enemies and gives up his magic.
Explain how Prospero uses his power, and how he changes
Prospero rules the island with magic learned from his books. He commands the spirit Ariel, keeps Caliban as a slave and decides what happens to everyone else. He is loving to Miranda but often harsh to his servants. At the end he chooses forgiveness over revenge and gives up his magic: ‘this rough magic / I here abjure’.
Describe Miranda and Ferdinand, and why Prospero tests their love
Miranda has grown up on the island and remembers almost no other people. She is kind and quick to feel pity. She and Ferdinand, the son of the King of Naples, fall in love at first sight. Prospero pretends to be harsh and makes Ferdinand carry logs, to test whether his love is real.
Explain what Ariel wants, and how Prospero keeps him serving
Ariel is a spirit of the air. The witch Sycorax trapped him in a pine tree, and Prospero set him free. Ariel serves Prospero with storms, music and tricks, but he keeps asking for his freedom. Prospero reminds him what he owes, sometimes with threats. At the end Prospero keeps his promise and sets him free.
Explain how Caliban sees the island, and how the others treat him
Caliban is the son of Sycorax and lived on the island before Prospero came. He says ‘This island’s mine’. At first Prospero was kind and taught him to speak, but after Caliban tried to harm Miranda, Prospero kept him as a slave. Many readers today see Caliban as someone whose land was taken, so weigh both sides before you judge him.
Show how the plots in the play echo what Antonio did to Prospero
Power is taken, or nearly taken, again and again. Antonio persuades Sebastian to kill his own brother, Alonso, the King of Naples, and take the crown. Caliban persuades the drunken Stephano and Trinculo to kill Prospero and rule the island. Both plots copy what Antonio did in Milan, and Ariel stops them both.
Explain how the play ends in forgiveness, not revenge
In the last act Prospero has his enemies in his power. Ariel says he would pity them if he were human, and Prospero decides that ‘the rarer action is / In virtue than in vengeance’. He forgives Alonso and even Antonio, and gets his dukedom back. Miranda and Ferdinand will marry, so two families that were enemies are joined.
Quote short phrases and explain what Shakespeare’s words suggest
Choose a few words, not a whole speech, and put them in quotation marks. Say what they mean in your own words, then what they suggest about a character or an idea. Look closely at images, such as Prospero calling his brother ‘The ivy which had hid my princely trunk’, and ask why Shakespeare chose them.
Remember the play was written to be performed, and can be staged in different ways
The Tempest was first performed around 1611 and is full of magic, music, songs and spirits. Think about how a director might show the storm, Ariel’s magic or the feast that vanishes. Productions show characters differently: Caliban can be played as a monster, or as a man who has been treated unfairly.
Build a clear argument that answers the question across the extract and the whole play (AO1)
Open with the idea the whole answer will prove, not "Prospero is powerful" but "Shakespeare presents Prospero’s power as something he must learn to give up". Start with the extract, then move through the play: the storm, Ariel and Caliban, the masque, the choice of ‘virtue’ over ‘vengeance’, and the Epilogue. Every paragraph is a step in the argument.
Analyse Shakespeare’s methods - language, form and structure - with the right terms (AO2)
Name the method, then explain its effect: Caliban speaks some of the play’s most beautiful verse in ‘the isle is full of noises’; Prospero’s long speeches to Miranda and Ariel show his control; the play keeps the unities of time and place, so it runs in about the time it takes to watch. The effect on the audience is where the marks are, not the label.
Link the play to its context where it sharpens a point (AO3)
The Tempest was first performed around 1611, when travellers’ accounts of the voyages to the Americas and the 1609 wreck of the Sea Venture on Bermuda were being read in London. Jacobean ideas about rightful rule, usurpation, magic and the masques performed at court all bear on the play. Use context to explain a point you are making, never as a paragraph of history on its own.
Write with accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar under time pressure (AO4)
On AQA’s paper the Shakespeare question carries 4 extra marks for technical accuracy. Spell the names and the key terms correctly (Prospero, Caliban, Sycorax, soliloquy, usurp) and keep your sentences controlled. Leave two minutes to read your answer back.
The Tempest key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Tempest
- A violent storm. The play opens with the storm Prospero raises to wreck his enemies’ ship.
- Duke
- A nobleman who rules a region, called a dukedom. Prospero was the Duke of Milan until his brother took his place.
- Usurp
- To take someone’s power or position by force or trickery. Antonio usurped Prospero, and later urges Sebastian to usurp Alonso.
- Spirit
- A magical being without a human body. Ariel is a spirit of the air who serves Prospero.
- Art
- In The Tempest, Prospero’s word for his magic, which he learned from his books.
- Colonisation
- When people from one place take control of another land and the people already living there. Many readers see Prospero’s rule over Caliban’s island this way.
- Forgiveness
- Choosing to let go of anger towards someone who has hurt you. Prospero forgives his enemies instead of taking revenge.
- Aside
- A line a character speaks to the audience, or to one other character, that the rest on stage do not hear.
- Soliloquy
- A speech in which a character alone on stage speaks their thoughts aloud, so the audience learns what they really think.
- Masque
- A short show of music, dance and costume. Prospero’s spirits perform one for Miranda and Ferdinand in Act 4.
- Epilogue
- A speech at the end of a play, spoken straight to the audience. In The Tempest, Prospero asks the audience to set him free with their applause.
- Verse and prose
- Verse is written in lines with a regular rhythm; prose is ordinary sentences. Shakespeare’s nobles mostly speak verse, while the comic characters such as Stephano and Trinculo often speak prose.
Common mistakes in The Tempest
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Retelling what happens in the extract instead of answering the question.
Start with a sentence that answers the question. Then use a short quotation as evidence and explain it. If a sentence could sit in a summary of the scene, it is not explaining yet.
Copying out whole lines instead of choosing a few words to quote.
Pick two to six words that prove your point, such as ‘My liberty’, and put them in quotation marks. A short quotation leaves you room to explain what the words suggest.
Mixing up who is who: Prospero and Antonio, or Sebastian and Alonso.
Prospero is the magician and Antonio is his brother, who took his place. Alonso is the King of Naples and Sebastian is his brother, who plots to kill him. Check the speaker’s name above each speech.
Calling Caliban a monster as if that settles it, or seeing Prospero only as a hero.
Say who calls Caliban a monster and why. Show both sides: Caliban says the island was his, and Prospero can be harsh. The play lets you judge each character for yourself.
Writing about the play as if it were a story in a book.
The Tempest was written to be watched. Write ‘the audience’, not ‘the reader’, and think about what we would see and hear on stage: the storm, the music, Ariel appearing and vanishing.
Practice
Try a The Tempest question
A GCSE-style original task from this topic. Sketch a quick plan of your own before you open what a strong answer covers.
In Act 1 Scene 2, Prospero promises Ariel his freedom. In which act of the play does Prospero finally set Ariel free? [1 mark]
Show what a strong answer covers
The marking points an examiner looks for. Not a model answer - a checklist to plan against.
- AO1: Act 5 (accept the last scene, or the end of the play, when Prospero tells Ariel ‘to the elements / Be free, and fare thou well!’).
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