Hello everybody and welcome to today’s video, analysing Act 3
Scene 2 of William Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. Challenging powerful authority is the dominant
theme in this scene. Structurally, Act 3, Scene 2 parallels Act 2, Scene 1 when Antonio persuaded
Sebastian to attempt murder. Before we analyse these parallels with Act 2, Scene 1 in detail,
it is worth reminding ourselves what the parallels are.
In both scenes, there is a failed murder plot. In this scene (Act 3, Scene 2), Stephano thinks
about what the island would be like if he ruled it: ‘I will kill this man. His daughter and I
will be King and Queen’. The repetition of ‘I will’ stresses his intention to do whatever is
necessary to gain power. He is prepared to become a murderer and, by forcing Miranda to marry him,
he will attempt to legitimise his claim to the island. This forced marriage between Stephano and
Miranda contrasts with the purity of Ferdinand and Miranda’s love in the preceding scene.
It underlines the unpleasant character of Stephano (and his accomplices) and, consequently,
he forfeits the audience’s sympathy and support. Having judged Stephano in this scene, the viewer
will want to review Sebastian and Antonio’s failed attempt at murder in Act 2, Scene 1. Shakespeare
intends the audience to see that Sebastian and Antonio, despite their aristocratic status,
are no better than Stephano and Trinculo. High social class, suggests Shakespeare,
is not a guarantee of good character. In each scene, the invisible Ariel foils
the murder plot by magical means. In the first attempted murder in Act 2, Scene 1, Ariel uses
music to wake up Gonzalo just in time, thus preventing Antonio and Sebastian from killing
King Alonso. The would-be murderers had to invent some feeble excuses for their drawn swords.
In the second attempted murder, the invisible Ariel sows comical confusion amongst the trio
of drunken plotters by shouting ‘thou liest’. Ariel then easily leads Stephano and Trinculo away
and thus saves Prospero. In each case, we sense Prospero controlling events
behind the scenes and rendering the would-be murderers completely powerless. Stephano and
Trinculo therefore become lower status parodies of Antonio and Sebastian; and Shakespeare proves
his loyalty to King James I, by encouraging the audience to laugh at those who challenge power.
As well as comical, both murder plots are illogical: Sebastian on an island would
have been king of nothing; Caliban is so desperate to rid himself of Prospero that
he is prepared to exchange one master for another. Shakespeare therefore encourages
us to see the short-sightedness and inadequacy of those who attempt to usurp their rightful
Shakespeare uses humour to undermine the characters in this scene. Trinculo, being
a court jester, is the master of puns and jokes, and he ridicules Caliban and Stephano’s alliance.
For example, Stephano tells Caliban: ‘By this light, thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster,
or my standard’. And Trinculo replies: ‘Your lieutenant if you list; he’s no standard’.
Trinculo plays with the double meanings of ‘list’ and ‘standard’ with this response, which means
Your lieutenant if you like; he’s no flag-carrier or Your lieutenant if you keel over like a
sinking ship; he can’t stand without support. Trinculo may be jesting, but he is speaking
the truth, and through his jokes, we see how ridiculous is their plot to overthrow Prospero.
Another parallel is that, just as Antonio used a range of strategies to persuade Sebastian to kill
Alonso, Caliban now uses a range of strategies to encourage the drunken Stephano to kill Prospero:
• Caliban flatters Stephano and plays him off against Trinculo: ‘How does thy honour?
Let me lick thy shoe. I’ll not serve him (i.e. Trinculo). He’s not valiant’ (i.e. like you!).
• He appeals to Stephano for protection: ‘Lo, how he (Trinculo)
mocks me. Wilt thou let him, my lord?’ • Once Stephano is on his side (Stephano
tells Trinculo ‘The poor monster’s my subject, and he shall not suffer
indignity’), Caliban introduces the subject of killing Prospero: ‘Wilt thou be pleased to
hearken once again to the suit I made to thee?’ • He insults Prospero to heighten the implied
contrast between him and Stephano: ‘I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by
his cunning hath cheated me of the island’. • He humbles himself: ‘I know thou dar’st/But
this thing dare not— ‘(The word ‘I’ is implied.) • He makes a promise: ‘Thou shalt be lord of it,
and I’ll serve thee’. • He explains how easy it is:
‘I’ll yield him thee asleep/Where thou mayest knock a hole in his head’.
• He says that all the other spirits hate Prospero as well: ‘they all do hate
him/As rootedly as I’ • He tempts him with the reward
of Miranda with whom he can create a dynasty: ‘She will become thy bed,
I warrant/And bring thee forth brave brood’. The quantity of strategies illustrates
Caliban’s intelligence and ambition as he manipulates Stephano. This manipulation
continues when Caliban reassures the frightened Stephano about the ‘noises’ of the island:
It is clear that Caliban has a deep love and understanding of the magical island,
and this helps the audience to understand his resentment about being confined to a ‘hard rock’
and made a slave. Caliban’s lines, delivered in blank verse, are some of the most beautiful lines
of poetry in the play; they are not the words of a ‘monster’ despite how he is perceived by others.
Hearing him speak, the audience understands and possibly sympathises with him.
In his speech, we see that Caliban's island is like Gonzalo's utopia. They both believe
that nature provides what is needed, yet Gonzalo would make himself king while Caliban,
whilst calling himself king, would have no subjects. This fits Montaigne’s argument about
‘savage’ societies being able to live in harmony and peace with others (presumably, Ariel and the
spirits would still be living on the island). However, Caliban is not quite Montaigne’s ‘noble
savage’, unspoilt by civilisation, because he embraces the drunken Stephano and Trinculo,
gets drunk himself, tempts Stephano with Miranda, and incites Stephano and Trinculo to murder
Prospero. Caliban’s desire to see Prospero dead indicates that, contrary to Montaigne’s beliefs
about noble savages in a state of grace, he is ambitious to overthrow the more powerful Prospero.
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Everything in this video comes from Mr Bruff’s guide to the Tempest,
which I co wrote with Kerry Lewis. If you’d like to pick up a copy it’s linked in the description.