The Tempest flashcards
15 cards on The Tempest: the key points, worked examples and the slips to watch. Swipe through them, or print them.
Card 1 of 15
The Tempest
The story in brief
What happens in The Tempest, from the storm to the ending?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
The story in brief
Key points
- Twelve years ago Antonio took his brother Prospero’s place as Duke of Milan.
- Prospero and baby Miranda were set adrift and reached an island.
- Prospero’s magic storm wrecks his enemies’ ship on that island.
- Miranda falls in love with Ferdinand, son of the King of Naples.
- Prospero forgives his enemies, frees Ariel and gives up his magic.
Watch out
It all happens in one afternoon on the island: the play keeps to a few hours.
The Tempest
Who’s who
Who are the main characters, and how are they linked?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Who’s who
Key points
- Prospero, the magician, was Duke of Milan; Miranda is his daughter.
- Ariel is a spirit who serves Prospero; Caliban is the son of the witch Sycorax.
- Alonso is King of Naples; Ferdinand is his son and Sebastian his brother.
- Antonio is Prospero’s brother; Gonzalo is a kind old lord who once helped Prospero.
- Stephano, a drunken butler, and Trinculo, a jester, team up with Caliban.
The Tempest
Prospero’s power
How does Prospero use his power over the island and the people on it?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Prospero’s power
Key points
- His magic, his ‘art’, comes from his books.
- He raises the storm and sends Miranda to sleep when he chooses.
- He commands Ariel and keeps Caliban as a slave.
- He can be loving to Miranda but harsh and threatening to his servants.
In the play
‘Here cease more questions’ (Act 1 Scene 2): he decides what Miranda may know.
The Tempest
Prospero gives up his magic
How has Prospero changed by the end of the play?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Prospero gives up his magic
Key points
- He could take revenge on everyone who hurt him, but chooses not to.
- He promises to break his staff and drown his book.
- He plans to go home to Milan as its duke again.
- In the epilogue he asks the audience to set him free with their applause.
In the play
‘But this rough magic / I here abjure’ (Act 5 Scene 1): abjure means give up for ever.
The Tempest
Miranda and Ferdinand
How do Miranda and Ferdinand fall in love, and why does Prospero test them?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Miranda and Ferdinand
Key points
- They fall in love at first sight, as Prospero planned.
- Prospero pretends to be harsh and makes Ferdinand carry logs.
- He wants to be sure Ferdinand’s love is real, not easily won.
- Their marriage will join the families of Milan and Naples.
In the play
Miranda on Ferdinand: ‘I might call him / A thing divine’ (Act 1 Scene 2).
The Tempest
Ariel and freedom
What does Ariel want, and how does Prospero keep him serving?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Ariel and freedom
Key points
- Sycorax trapped Ariel in a pine tree; Prospero set him free.
- Ariel serves with storms, music and tricks, but keeps asking for his liberty.
- Prospero reminds him what he owes, and threatens to trap him in an oak.
- At the very end Prospero keeps his promise and frees him.
In the play
‘My liberty.’ (Act 1 Scene 2)
‘then to the elements / Be free, and fare thou well!’ (Act 5 Scene 1)
The Tempest
Caliban and the island
How does Caliban see the island, and how do the others treat him?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Caliban and the island
Key points
- He lived on the island before Prospero came, and says it is his.
- Prospero was kind at first and taught him to speak.
- After Caliban tried to harm Miranda, Prospero kept him as a slave.
- Others call him a monster, yet he speaks some of the play’s most beautiful lines.
In the play
‘This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother’ (Act 1 Scene 2).
‘the isle is full of noises, / Sounds and sweet airs’ (Act 3 Scene 2).
Watch out
Show both sides: say who calls Caliban a monster, and why he feels robbed.
The Tempest
Plots for power
Which plots in the play copy what Antonio did to Prospero?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Plots for power
Key points
- Antonio urges Sebastian to kill his brother, King Alonso, and take the crown.
- Caliban urges Stephano and Trinculo to kill Prospero and rule the island.
- Both plots repeat Antonio’s betrayal of his own brother in Milan.
- Ariel stops both, so power stays in Prospero’s hands.
In the play
Antonio to Sebastian: ‘My strong imagination sees a crown / Dropping upon thy head.’ (Act 2 Scene 1)
The Tempest
Forgiveness, not revenge
Why does Prospero forgive his enemies instead of taking revenge?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Forgiveness, not revenge
Key points
- Ariel tells him he would pity the prisoners if he were human.
- Prospero decides that being good is better than getting even.
- He forgives Alonso and even his brother Antonio.
- Antonio never says sorry, so the ending is not completely happy.
In the play
‘the rarer action is / In virtue than in vengeance’ (Act 5 Scene 1): rarer means finer.
The Tempest
Quote and explain
How do you use a quotation to explain a point about the play?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Quote and explain
Key points
- Make your point first, in your own words.
- Quote a few words, not a whole speech, inside quotation marks.
- Say what the words suggest, then why Shakespeare might have chosen them.
Example
Prospero feels betrayed. He calls Antonio ‘The ivy which had hid my princely trunk’.
Like ivy on a tree, Antonio grew over him and took his place.
The Tempest
A play to be performed
Why does it matter that The Tempest was written to be performed?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
A play to be performed
Key points
- It was first performed around 1611, full of magic, music and songs.
- The storm, Ariel’s tricks and the vanishing feast are written to be seen.
- Directors stage characters differently, so Caliban can seem a monster or a victim.
- Write ‘the audience’, not ‘the reader’.
The Tempest
Building an argument
What turns an answer on The Tempest into an argument rather than a retelling?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Building an argument
Key points
- Open with the idea the whole answer proves: Prospero has to learn to give his power up.
- Start with the extract, then move through the play to show how the idea develops.
- Write about Shakespeare’s choices: "Shakespeare presents Prospero as…", not "Prospero is…".
- End on what the play suggests to its audience about power and forgiveness.
Watch out
If a sentence could sit in a plot summary, it is not analysis yet.
The Tempest
Shakespeare’s methods
Which of Shakespeare’s methods can you write about in The Tempest?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Shakespeare’s methods
Key points
- Verse and prose: Caliban, a ‘monster’ to others, speaks some of the play’s most musical verse.
- Soliloquy and aside show what a character hides from the others.
- Structure: one afternoon on one island, ending with Prospero alone in the Epilogue.
- Name the method, then say what it does to the audience: the effect earns the marks.
In the play
‘Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises’ (Act 3 Scene 2): gentle verse from the character the others call a monster.
The Tempest
Context: voyages, rule and magic
What did The Tempest’s first audiences know that shapes how they saw it?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Context: voyages, rule and magic
Key points
- It was first performed around 1611, when the voyages to the Americas were news in London.
- In 1609 the ship Sea Venture was wrecked on Bermuda, and its survivors’ accounts were read in London.
- Taking a ruler’s place by force, as Antonio did, was usurpation: a crime against the natural order.
- Court masques with goddesses and music were in fashion, like the one Prospero stages in Act 4.
Watch out
Use context to explain the point you are making, never as a paragraph of history.
The Tempest
Writing accurately
How do you earn the marks for accurate writing in a Tempest answer?
Answer it in your head, then turn the card over.
Writing accurately
Key points
- Spell names and terms correctly: Prospero, Caliban, Sycorax, Ferdinand, soliloquy, usurp.
- Write in the present tense: "Shakespeare presents", not "Shakespeare presented".
- Keep sentences controlled, and put quotation marks round every quotation.
- Leave two minutes at the end to reread and correct.
Print these cards
Four cards to an A4 sheet, each the size of a standard A6 revision card.
One-sided
Each card prints on one face: the question at the top, the notes under it.
Two-sided
Questions on the front, notes on the back. Print double-sided and flip on the long edge, then cut along the lines.
Put it into practice
More Shakespeare flashcards
Revising with flashcards
Answer each card out loud before you turn it over, and come back to the cards after a gap rather than all in one go. These cover the rest.