finished_summaries/cliffnotes/The Tempest/section_6_part_0.txt
The Tempest.act 3.scene 3
scene 3
{"name": "Scene 3", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20201219151049/https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/the-tempest/summary-and-analysis/act-iii-scene-3", "summary": "The royal party has searched futilely for Ferdinand and collapses, exhausted upon the beach. Unknown to the royal party, Prospero arrives and watches their actions. Within a few moments, a number of ghostly shapes arrive and with them, a lavish banquet. After gesturing to the party that they should approach and eat, the spirit shapes depart. The royal party is incredulous, but they are also hungry and ready to eat. Yet Ariel appears, disguised as a harpy. He makes the banquet disappear and accuses Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso of being the instruments of sin. Although the men draw their swords, they are frozen in place by magic and unable to lift up their arms. The king is shaken by what he has seen and heard, and he flees, as do Antonio and Sebastian. Worried that they might do themselves harm, Gonzalo sends Adrian and Francisco to watch them.", "analysis": "This scene provides the climax of Prospero's plan and the denouement of Antonio's many plots. Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso are powerless against Prospero's magic. Their plotting against him -- and Antonio and Sebastian's subsequent plotting against Alonso -- is ineffectual in the face of Prospero's greater power. This is the moment of revenge that Prospero has awaited for 12 long years, and he offers no clue what form the punishment will take. However, because he has encouraged Miranda and Ferdinand's love, it is clear that any retribution directed toward Alonso will not be severe, since he would not risk his daughter's happiness in such a way. That is not the case, however, for Sebastian and Antonio, who have every reason for concern. As he has from the beginning, Ariel carries out Prospero's wishes efficiently and effectively. Ariel, who projects delicacy and eagerness in all that he does, is a spirit of the air. He is eager to be free, and his freedom has been promised in two days, at the conclusion of this mission. Ariel is eager to please Prospero, who freed him from Sycorax, the witch who had imprisoned him in a tree for refusing to do her bidding. Although he wants his freedom in exchange, Ariel approaches his tasks with enthusiasm, quickly doing what is asked and reporting promptly any activities that he observes. Earlier, Ariel had reported the plot to murder Prospero, and now he assists in punishing Prospero's enemies. Ariel's obedience is an important symbol of Prospero's humanity because he ameliorates Prospero's role on the island and humanizes the action that he takes against his old adversaries. Finally, Ariel's willing obedience of Prospero's wishes stands in stark contrast to Caliban's cursing and plotting against the same master. This scene illustrates the deep disparity between what is real and what is imagined. The disappearing banquet was never real, although it briefly appears so to the hungry captives. Ariel appears briefly as a harpy, a mythical creature with a vulture's wings and claws and the face of a woman, yet it is not Ariel's voice that speaks but a deep voice that seems to come from the heavens. Neither the harpy nor the voice is real. None of this is real, and all of it is carefully staged, a theatrical spectacle designed to frighten and punish Prospero's enemies. Prospero is the puppet-master, carefully pulling the strings and manipulating the action. But he remains unseen and, like the deep voice and the banquet, even this scene is illusionary. His victims cannot know that Prospero waits, unseen in the wings. All that is real is the madness that this confrontation has evoked in the three sinners. Glossary Br'r lakin \"By your ladykin\"; a referece to the Virgin Mary. a living drollery probably a puppet-show with live actors. Wallets here, meaning wattle, the fleshy, wrinkled, often brightly colored piece of skin that hangs from throat of a turkey. dowle small feather. too massy unable to move. Here, through magic, the men are paralyzed. bass my trespass Here, meaning that the condemnation  was uttered in a deep bass voice. The thunder proclaimed his sin, according to Alonso, like a noise from the heavens."}
SCENE III.

_Another part of the island._

  _Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO,
  and others._

_Gon._ By'r lakin, I can go no further, sir;
My old bones ache: here's a maze trod, indeed,
Through forth-rights and meanders! By your patience,
I needs must rest me.

_Alon._             Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attach'd with weariness,                               5
To the dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest.
Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it
No longer for my flatterer: he is drown'd
Whom thus we stray to find; and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.                     10

_Ant._ [_Aside to Seb._] I am right glad that he's so out of hope.
Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose
That you resolved to effect.

_Seb._ [_Aside to Ant._] The next advantage
Will we take throughly.

_Ant._ [_Aside to Seb._] Let it be to-night;
For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they                       15
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance
As when they are fresh.

_Seb._ [_Aside to Ant._] I say, to-night: no more.

  [_Solemn and strange music._

_Alon._ What harmony is this?--My good friends, hark!

_Gon._ Marvellous sweet music!

  _Enter PROSPERO above, invisible. Enter several strange Shapes,
  bringing in a banquet: they dance about it with gentle actions of
  salutation; and, inviting the King, &c. to eat, they depart._

_Alon._ Give us kind keepers, heavens!--What were these?            20

_Seb._ A living drollery. Now I will believe
That there are unicorns; that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one phoenix
At this hour reigning there.

_Ant._                     I'll believe both;
And what does else want credit, come to me,                         25
And I'll be sworn 'tis true: travellers ne'er did lie,
Though fools at home condemn 'em.

_Gon._                          If in Naples
I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders,--
For, certes, these are people of the island,--                      30
Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note,
Their manners are more gentle-kind than of
Our human generation you shall find
Many, nay, almost any.

_Pros._              [_Aside_] Honest lord,
Thou hast said well; for some of you there present                  35
Are worse than devils.

_Alon._              I cannot too much muse
Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing--
Although they want the use of tongue--a kind
Of excellent dumb discourse.

_Pros._                    [_Aside_] Praise in departing.

_Fran._ They vanish'd strangely.

_Seb._                         No matter, since                     40
They have left their viands behind; for we have stomachs.--
Will't please you taste of what is here?

_Alon._                                Not I.

_Gon._ Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys,
Who would believe that there were mountaineers
Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at 'em             45
Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men
Whose heads stood in their breasts? which now we find
Each putter-out of five for one will bring us
Good warrant of.

_Alon._        I will stand to, and feed,
Although my last: no matter, since I feel                           50
The best is past. Brother, my lord the duke,
Stand to, and do as we.

  _Thunder and lightning. Enter ARIEL, like a harpy; claps his
  wings upon the table; and, with a quaint device, the banquet
  vanishes._

_Ari._ You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,--
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in't,--the never-surfeited sea                          55
Hath caused to belch up you; and on this island,
Where man doth not inhabit,--you 'mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad;
And even with such-like valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves.    [_Alon., Seb. &c. draw their swords._
                   You fools! I and my fellows                      60
Are ministers of Fate: the elements,
Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
One dowle that's in my plume: my fellow-ministers                   65
Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths,
And will not be uplifted. But remember,--
For that's my business to you,--that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;                              70
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. Thee of thy son, Alonso,                        75
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me:
Lingering perdition--worse than any death
Can be at once--shall step by step attend
You and your ways; whose wraths to guard you from,--
Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls                  80
Upon your heads,--is nothing but heart-sorrow
And a clear life ensuing.

  _He vanishes in thunder; then, to soft music, enter the Shapes
  again, and dance, with mocks and mows, and carrying out the
  table._

_Pros._ Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Perform'd, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring:
Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated                           85
In what thou hadst to say: so, with good life
And observation strange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done. My high charms work,
And these mine enemies are all knit up
In their distractions: they now are in my power;                    90
And in these fits I leave them, while I visit
Young Ferdinand,--whom they suppose is drown'd,--
And his and mine loved darling.    [_Exit above._

_Gon._ I' the name of something holy, sir, why stand you
In this strange stare?

_Alon._              O, it is monstrous, monstrous!                 95
Methought the billows spoke, and told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder,
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounced
The name of Prosper: it did bass my trespass.
Therefore my son i' th' ooze is bedded; and                        100
I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded,
And with him there lie mudded.    [_Exit._

_Seb._                       But one fiend at a time,
I'll fight their legions o'er.

_Ant._                       I'll be thy second.

    [_Exeunt Seb. and Ant._

_Gon._ All three of them are desperate: their great guilt,
Like poison given to work a great time after,                      105
Now 'gins to bite the spirits. I do beseech you,
That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly,
And hinder them from what this ecstasy
May now provoke them to.

_Adr._                 Follow, I pray you.    [_Exeunt._


  Notes: III, 3.

  2: _ache_] _ake_ F2 F3 F4. _akes_ F1.
  3: _forth-rights_] F2 F3 F4. _fourth rights_ F1.
  8: _flatterer_] F1. _flatterers_ F2 F3 F4.
  17: Prospero above] Malone. Prosper on the top Ff. See note (XIV).
  20: _were_] F1 F2 F3. _are_ F4.
  26: _'tis true_] _to 't_ Steevens conj.
  _did lie_] _lied_ Hanmer.
  29: _islanders_] F2 F3 F4. _islands_ F1.
  32: _gentle-kind_] Theobald. _gentle, kind_ Ff. _gentle kind_ Rowe.
  36: _muse_] F1 F2 F3. _muse_, F4. _muse_; Capell.
  48: _of five for one_] Ff. _on five for one_ Theobald.
    _of one for five_ Malone, (Thirlby conj.) See note (XV).
  49-51: _I will ... past_] Mason conjectured that these lines formed
    a rhyming couplet.
  53: SCENE IV. Pope.
  54: _instrument_] _instruments_ F4.
  56: _belch up you_] F1 F2 F3. _belch you up_ F4. _belch up_ Theobald.
  60: [... draw their swords] Hanmer.
  65: _dowle_] _down_ Pope.]
  _plume_] Rowe. _plumbe_ F1 F2 F3. _plumb_ F4.
  67: _strengths_] _strength_ F4.
  79: _wraths_] _wrath_ Theobald.
  81: _heart-sorrow_] Edd. _hearts-sorrow_ Ff. _heart's-sorrow_ Rowe.
    _heart's sorrow_ Pope.
  82: mocks] mopps Theobald.
  86: _life_] _list_ Johnson conj.
  90: _now_] om. Pope.
  92: _whom_] _who_ Hanmer.
  93: _mine_] _my_ Rowe.
  [Exit above] Theobald.]
  94: _something holy, sir_,] _something, holy Sir_, F4.
  99: _bass_] Johnson. _base_ Ff.
  106: _do_] om. Pope.






Scene 3
The royal party has searched futilely for Ferdinand and collapses, exhausted upon the beach. Unknown to the royal party, Prospero arrives and watches their actions. Within a few moments, a number of ghostly shapes arrive and with them, a lavish banquet. After gesturing to the party that they should approach and eat, the spirit shapes depart. The royal party is incredulous, but they are also hungry and ready to eat. Yet Ariel appears, disguised as a harpy. He makes the banquet disappear and accuses Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso of being the instruments of sin. Although the men draw their swords, they are frozen in place by magic and unable to lift up their arms. The king is shaken by what he has seen and heard, and he flees, as do Antonio and Sebastian. Worried that they might do themselves harm, Gonzalo sends Adrian and Francisco to watch them.
This scene provides the climax of Prospero's plan and the denouement of Antonio's many plots. Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso are powerless against Prospero's magic. Their plotting against him -- and Antonio and Sebastian's subsequent plotting against Alonso -- is ineffectual in the face of Prospero's greater power. This is the moment of revenge that Prospero has awaited for 12 long years, and he offers no clue what form the punishment will take. However, because he has encouraged Miranda and Ferdinand's love, it is clear that any retribution directed toward Alonso will not be severe, since he would not risk his daughter's happiness in such a way. That is not the case, however, for Sebastian and Antonio, who have every reason for concern. As he has from the beginning, Ariel carries out Prospero's wishes efficiently and effectively. Ariel, who projects delicacy and eagerness in all that he does, is a spirit of the air. He is eager to be free, and his freedom has been promised in two days, at the conclusion of this mission. Ariel is eager to please Prospero, who freed him from Sycorax, the witch who had imprisoned him in a tree for refusing to do her bidding. Although he wants his freedom in exchange, Ariel approaches his tasks with enthusiasm, quickly doing what is asked and reporting promptly any activities that he observes. Earlier, Ariel had reported the plot to murder Prospero, and now he assists in punishing Prospero's enemies. Ariel's obedience is an important symbol of Prospero's humanity because he ameliorates Prospero's role on the island and humanizes the action that he takes against his old adversaries. Finally, Ariel's willing obedience of Prospero's wishes stands in stark contrast to Caliban's cursing and plotting against the same master. This scene illustrates the deep disparity between what is real and what is imagined. The disappearing banquet was never real, although it briefly appears so to the hungry captives. Ariel appears briefly as a harpy, a mythical creature with a vulture's wings and claws and the face of a woman, yet it is not Ariel's voice that speaks but a deep voice that seems to come from the heavens. Neither the harpy nor the voice is real. None of this is real, and all of it is carefully staged, a theatrical spectacle designed to frighten and punish Prospero's enemies. Prospero is the puppet-master, carefully pulling the strings and manipulating the action. But he remains unseen and, like the deep voice and the banquet, even this scene is illusionary. His victims cannot know that Prospero waits, unseen in the wings. All that is real is the madness that this confrontation has evoked in the three sinners. Glossary Br'r lakin "By your ladykin"; a referece to the Virgin Mary. a living drollery probably a puppet-show with live actors. Wallets here, meaning wattle, the fleshy, wrinkled, often brightly colored piece of skin that hangs from throat of a turkey. dowle small feather. too massy unable to move. Here, through magic, the men are paralyzed. bass my trespass Here, meaning that the condemnation  was uttered in a deep bass voice. The thunder proclaimed his sin, according to Alonso, like a noise from the heavens.