Act 3 — The Tempest — AQA GCSE English Literature 8702
AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702
Act 3
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
Ferdinand's log-carrying and the lovers' promise to marry, Caliban's plot with Stephano and Trinculo, and Ariel as a harpy accusing the 'three men of sin'.
Key quotations: 'There be some sports are painful', 'this wooden slavery', 'I am your wife, if you will marry me', 'I would not wish / Any companion in the world but you', 'Fair encounter / Of two most rare affections!', 'I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer', 'Remember / First to possess his books', 'Burn but his books', 'This will prove a brave kingdom to me', 'Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises', 'Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not', 'I cried to dream again', 'You are three men of sin', 'O, it is monstrous, monstrous!'.
Structure: three scenes of service and rebellion, Ferdinand's willing labour, Caliban's plot against his master and the lords' guilt, all watched or steered by Prospero and Ariel.
Staging: the banquet that vanishes, Ariel as a harpy, and Caliban's verse about the island's music beside the clowns' prose.
