Act 3

Three scenes, three tests of power

Act 3 of The Tempest moves between the separate groups on Prospero’s island. Ferdinand and Miranda promise to marry; Caliban recruits Stephano and Trinculo to murder Prospero; and Ariel confronts the nobles with their guilt. Love, rebellion and punishment seem to develop separately, but Prospero and Ariel watch or steer all three strands.

The act also contrasts different kinds of service. Ferdinand willingly labours because he loves Miranda. Caliban wants to escape Prospero but offers himself to another master. Ariel serves Prospero by disrupting the rebels and performing the terrifying accusation at the banquet. The same question runs through these scenes: what makes someone accept or resist another person’s authority?

Act 3 Scene 1: love transforms Ferdinand’s labour

Ferdinand enters carrying a log. Although he is Alonso’s son and a prince, Prospero has ordered him to perform exhausting manual work. His opening reflection, “There be some sports are painful”, introduces a paradox: an activity can involve suffering yet still bring pleasure. Ferdinand’s point is that hardship becomes worthwhile when it leads to something valuable. Loving Miranda makes his humiliating task bearable.

Later in Act 3 Scene 1, Ferdinand calls the work “This wooden slavery”. “Wooden” identifies the logs, while “slavery” emphasises the loss of freedom and status. Yet he also says that his heart flew to Miranda’s “service”. Shakespeare turns the language of captivity into the language of devotion: Ferdinand resents being forced to labour for Prospero, but willingly serves Miranda through love.

Miranda’s response makes that affection reciprocal. She asks him to rest and offers to carry the logs herself. Ferdinand refuses to let her suffer while he remains idle. Their concern for each other demonstrates love through actions before they formally declare it.

Ferdinand’s language also idealises Miranda. In Act 3 Scene 1, he describes her as “So perfect and so peerless”. The repeated “so” intensifies his praise, while “peerless” means without an equal. He has admired other women, but presents Miranda as combining every desirable quality. His enthusiasm can suggest sincere wonder, although its exaggeration also reveals how quickly he has fallen in love.

Miranda’s proposal: innocence and independence

Miranda has far less experience of other people than Ferdinand. In Act 3 Scene 1, she declares, “I would not wish / Any companion in the world but you”. The sweeping phrase “in the world” makes her commitment absolute. “Companion” suggests a shared life rather than simply admiration of his appearance.

Her limited experience allows two connected readings. Her directness can seem refreshingly honest: she does not disguise her feelings through elaborate courtship. However, the audience may also recognise how little opportunity she has had to compare Ferdinand with anyone else. Shakespeare presents the intensity of her love alongside her sheltered upbringing.

Miranda knows that she is disregarding her father’s instructions: she reveals her name and worries about speaking too freely. Nevertheless, she takes the initiative. Her declaration in Act 3 Scene 1, “I am your wife, if you will marry me”, is plain and decisive. The opening “I am” makes the desired relationship sound almost established, while “if” still leaves Ferdinand a choice. He accepts, and they exchange hands as a sign of their commitment. They are promising marriage, not conducting a wedding.

Their verse becomes a quick exchange of short questions and answers. This change from longer declarations to responsive dialogue makes the agreement feel immediate and mutual. The language of husband, wife and pledged hearts anticipates marriage vows.

Miranda’s description of her modesty as “The jewel in my dower” in Act 3 Scene 1 connects the moment to contemporary expectations of marriage. A dower is associated with marriage gifts or property; the metaphor presents her honour and chastity as her most precious contribution. She challenges her father’s control by choosing to speak, but still expresses herself within the values of a male-dominated society.

Prospero watches the lovers

Miranda believes her father is occupied with study, but Prospero is watching unseen. This creates dramatic irony: the lovers think they have privacy, while the audience sees that their apparent independence remains within his oversight.

Prospero’s delighted aside in Act 3 Scene 1, “Fair encounter / Of two most rare affections!”, confirms his approval. An aside allows the audience to hear a remark that the lovers do not hear. “Fair” suggests beauty and goodness, while “rare” presents their mutual love as exceptional. His warmth supports a reading of him as a caring father. His concealed supervision also supports a more controlling reading: he has arranged circumstances in which the relationship develops.

The marriage has political importance as well as emotional value. Ferdinand is heir to Naples, and Miranda is the daughter of Milan’s rightful duke. Their union can connect households divided by the wrong done to Prospero. Shakespeare therefore makes sincere private affection serve Prospero’s wider plans. The lovers are surprised by their happiness; Prospero has been expecting it.

Act 3 Scene 2: rebellion creates another master

The next scene replaces mutual affection with drunken ambition. Caliban tells Stephano in Act 3 Scene 2, “I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer”. “Subject” identifies his subordinate position, while “tyrant” presents Prospero’s rule as oppressive rather than legitimate. “Sorcerer” identifies the magical power that makes resistance difficult.

Caliban claims Prospero has cheated him of the island. This gives his rebellion a motive beyond simple malice: he believes he has lost both his land and his freedom. A colonial reading can connect this grievance to the domination of an island’s inhabitant by a European ruler. However, his proposed solution is contradictory. He promises to serve Stephano if Stephano becomes lord of the island. He is seeking a replacement master, not clearly establishing independence.

Caliban’s murder plan is specific. Prospero should be attacked during his afternoon sleep, using a nail, a log, a stake or a knife. Above all, Caliban insists in Act 3 Scene 2, “Remember / First to possess his books”, followed by “Burn but his books.” The imperative “Remember” makes the books the essential first target. Caliban understands them as the source of Prospero’s ability to command spirits: destroying them would remove his greatest protection.

To persuade Stephano, Caliban offers power, possessions and Miranda as a potential wife and mother of children. This treatment of Miranda as a reward sharply contrasts with the mutual choice in the preceding scene. Stephano imagines himself as king, with Miranda as queen and the others as subordinate rulers. His imagined court parodies monarchy: a drunken butler adopts grand authority while threatening and beating his companion.

Ariel disrupts the plot, and Caliban changes the mood

Invisible Ariel repeatedly accuses Caliban of lying, making the men believe Trinculo is interrupting. Stephano eventually strikes Trinculo. The audience knows the cause of the quarrel, so the misunderstanding produces comedy while demonstrating how easily their alliance breaks down. Ariel then promises to report the conspiracy to Prospero.

When Ariel plays music on a pipe and small drum, Stephano and Trinculo are frightened. Caliban instead reassures them in Act 3 Scene 2: “Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, / Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.” Here “airs” means melodies. The sibilance in “Sounds and sweet” helps make the speech itself musical, while “delight” and “hurt not” replace the scene’s earlier threats with reassurance.

Caliban’s lyrical blank verse contrasts with the clowns’ conversational prose. Blank verse is unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter: a rhythm based on five unstressed–stressed pairs per line, with variations in actual speech. Its measured, absorbing rhythm gives dignity to Caliban’s description. The change matters for characterisation: the man mocked as a monster has a sensitive relationship with the island that his companions cannot share.

His account moves from sounds into dreams of clouds opening to reveal riches. He ends in Act 3 Scene 2 with “I cried to dream again.” “Cried” exposes longing and vulnerability beneath his aggression. His capacity for beauty complicates an audience’s judgement of him without cancelling the violence of his plan.

Stephano immediately reduces this experience to personal advantage: “This will prove a brave kingdom to me” in Act 3 Scene 2. Here “brave” means splendid. He wants music without having to pay for it; Caliban treasures the experience itself. The men follow Ariel’s music away, so even their movement across the island is being directed by Prospero’s servant.

Act 3 Scene 3: the banquet becomes an accusation

The nobles are exhausted, and Alonso abandons hope of finding Ferdinand alive. Antonio and Sebastian privately agree to renew their murder plot that night. This briefly recalls the conspiracy from Act 2 and connects it with Caliban’s plan: both groups seek power by attacking a sleeping ruler.

Strange spirits bring a banquet, dance courteously and invite the nobles to eat. Gonzalo notices that their behaviour is kinder than that of many humans. Appearance and moral character are therefore separated: strange-looking creatures may behave well, while noblemen may act monstrously.

Just as Alonso agrees to eat, thunder and lightning accompany Ariel’s entrance as a harpy, a winged creature from classical mythology. Ariel strikes the table with his wings, and the banquet vanishes through a stage device. The abrupt withdrawal of food changes welcome into punishment. Music, movement and sudden disappearance make the nobles experience a loss of control before Ariel explains their offence.

Prospero watches from above, unseen by them. An elevated acting space could make his oversight physically visible to the audience. The disappearing banquet requires theatrical illusion; a concealed or turning tabletop is one possible means, rather than a mechanism specified by Shakespeare.

Guilt, repentance and resistance

Ariel begins in Act 3 Scene 3, “You are three men of sin”. He addresses Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian as a guilty group and accuses them of removing Prospero from Milan and exposing him and his innocent child to the sea. The direct “You” makes the accusation confrontational. “Sin” frames the wrong as a moral offence, not merely a political dispute.

Ariel presents himself as an agent of Fate and says Alonso’s loss of his son is punishment. The audience knows Ferdinand is alive. Prospero subsequently praises Ariel for following his instructions, revealing the accusation as a carefully controlled performance. It can be read as an attempt to produce moral change, but its deception and terror also show Prospero using overwhelming power against his enemies.

The nobles draw swords, but Ariel explains that weapons cannot injure the spirits. Physical rank and force are useless here. He offers a way out of punishment: “heart-sorrow / And a clear life ensuing” in Act 3 Scene 3. This means sincere remorse followed by better conduct. Repentance requires change, not simply fear.

Alonso responds in Act 3 Scene 3, “O, it is monstrous, monstrous”. The repetition conveys horror, and his description of sea, wind and thunder speaking Prospero’s name makes guilt seem to surround him. He concludes that his wrongdoing has caused Ferdinand’s death and speaks of joining his son beneath the water. Recognition of guilt has brought dangerous despair, not yet reconciliation.

Sebastian and Antonio respond differently: they prepare to fight the supposed supernatural enemies. Their defiance contrasts with Alonso’s remorse. Gonzalo recognises that all three are in a desperate state and sends others to prevent them from harming themselves. Act 3 ends with Prospero’s enemies under his power, but with their moral responses still divided.

Worked paragraph for part (a): analysing Caliban’s speech

This paragraph practises close analysis of Caliban’s speech about the island in Act 3 Scene 2, without adding context.

Shakespeare presents Caliban as sensitive to the island’s beauty. His reassurance, “Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not”, uses gentle sibilance to make the description itself sound musical. The phrase “hurt not” establishes the sounds as comforting rather than threatening, while his lyrical blank verse gives dignity to an experience that others might dismiss. The speech develops from hearing music to imagining clouds opening and revealing riches, drawing the audience into his private dream world. Its ending, “I cried to dream again”, then replaces wonder with loss. The emotional verb “cried” exposes vulnerability, suggesting that waking reality cannot satisfy the longing his dreams briefly fulfil.

Worked paragraph for part (b): punishment and its limits

This paragraph could form part of a whole-play argument about punishment, using Act 3 as evidence alongside relevant events elsewhere.

Prospero’s punishment aims to make his enemies confront their wrongdoing, but it does not produce the same response in everyone. At the banquet, Ariel accuses Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian of their offence against Prospero and Miranda and demands sincere sorrow followed by better conduct. This connects punishment to a religious understanding of repentance: suffering matters morally if it leads to changed behaviour. Alonso accepts that his wrongdoing has brought disaster upon his son, although his despair becomes dangerous. Antonio and Sebastian instead remain ready to fight, continuing the resistance to rightful authority already shown in their plot against Alonso. The scene therefore presents punishment as a means of exposing guilt, but not as a guarantee of reform.

Act 3 Scene 1: willing service

• Ferdinand carries logs: love turns painful work into pleasure.
• “This wooden slavery” contrasts forced labour with willing service to Miranda.
• Miranda offers help, reveals her name and proposes marriage.
• Prospero watches unseen: genuine affection also advances his political plans.

Act 3 Scene 2: rebellion and contradiction

• Caliban recruits Stephano to murder Prospero during sleep; seize and burn the books first.
• Stephano wants kingship and Miranda; Caliban offers to serve a new master.
• Invisible Ariel causes quarrels, reports the plot and leads the men through music.
• Caliban’s lyrical blank verse contrasts with the clowns’ prose: violence coexists with sensitivity and longing.

Act 3 Scene 3: performed judgement

• Antonio and Sebastian renew their conspiracy.
• The banquet, thunder and Ariel’s harpy appearance turn hospitality into terror.