THE TEMPEST Q ANS BRITISH DRAMA SHAKESPEAREAN PLAY ENGLISH STUDIES

 THE TEMPEST

Contd from the previous edition……………..

Passage-7

Know thus far forth:

accident most strange, bountiful Fortune

Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies

Brought to this shore; and by my prescience

I find my zenith doth depend um upon

A most auspicious star, whose influence

Ifnow I court not, but omit, myfortunes

ill ever after droop. Here cease more que

Thou art inclined to sleep. Tis a good dull

Angdi ve it this way. I know thou canst not choose

1. Who is the speaker and the listener? What is being spoken of?

2. What is the 'strange accident'?

3. Who are the enemies? Whose enemies have been brought to the shore ? Why?

4. Where are they now ? What does the speaker's foreknowledge tell him?

5. What will happen if he does not take advantage of the present situation?

6. Why does the speaker ask his listener to stop asking more questions?

Passage -8

…..burn in many places. the topmast,

The yards, and bowsprit would 1 flame distinctly

Then meet and john Jove's Lightning, the precursors

Oth' dreadful thunderclaps, more momentar

And sight-outrunning was not. The fire and cracks

of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune

Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves trembl,

Mca, his dread trident shake

1. Who are the people engaged in conversation? What are they talking about?

2. "Flamed amazement". What does the speaker want to say?

3. What did the speaker do by assuming the shape ofa flame? How could he change his shape ?

4. How does he explain the quickness of his movements?

5. How did he fill terror in the heart of the sea-god?

Passage-9

……. But felt a fever of the mad and played

Some trick of desperation. Al but mariners

Plunged in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel,

Then all afire with me The King's son Ferdinand,

with hair p staring-then fike reeds, not hair-

Was the first man that leaped; cried Hellis empty

And all the devils are here

1. The speaker is answering some question put to him. Who is the speaker? Whose question is he going

to answer?

2. Who played 'tricks of desperation'? Why did they do so ?

3. Did the mariners jump into the sea ? What was the condition of the

sea at that time?

4. Why did they quit the vessel ?

5. How did Ferdinand behave ? Who was Ferdinand ?

Passage-10

Not a hair perished.

On their

But fresher than before; and as thou badst me,

In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle.

The King's son have I landed by himse

Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs

In an odd angle of the isle, and siting

sustaining garments nota blemish,

His arms in this sad kuot

Not a hair perished". 

1.What information is being given in this? Explain the context. Who says these words?

2. Whose garments look fresher than before? What does that indicate?

3. What has the speaker done according to some instructions? Whose instructions?

4. Who is the king's son? What has been done to him?

5. What was the prince doing when the speaker last left him?

Passage-11

Safely in harbour

Is the King's ship, in the deep nookwhere once

Thou caled'st me up at midnight to fetch dew

From the still-vexed Bcrmoothes, there she's hidsE

The mariners all under hatches stowed,

Who, with a chamjoinedto their suffered labour

I have left aslecp. And for the rest o'th fleet,

Which I dispersed, they all have met again,

And are upot the Mediteranean flote

Bounsda dlyh ome for Naples,

1. Who is the speaker of these lines? State the context...

2. Where is the king's ship?

3. What has happened to the sailors?

4. Why have they fallen asleep?

5. Where are the remaining ships of the fleet?

6. What is the cause of their sadness?

Passage-12

She did confine thee,

By hep of her more potent ministers,

And in her most unmitigable rage,

Into a cloven pine; within which rift

Imprisoned, thou didst painfuly remain

A dozen years, within which space she died,

And left thee there, where thou didst vent thy groans 

As fast as milkwheels strike. Then was this island

Save for the son that she did litter here, 

1. "She did confine thee." Who confined whom? ldentify the speaker? Explain the context. 2. Why did someone confine the other?

3. What was done with the help of more potent ministers?

4. What continued for twelve years?

5. Who were the residents of the island at that time?

ANSWERS

Passage-7

1. Prospero is speaking to his daughter, Miranda in Shakespeare's play The Tempest. He is telling the story of his past life when he was expelled from Milan. Right here, his daughter wants to know why he has raised a storm in the sea.

2. Prospero describes it as a strange accident by which a ship carrying his enemies has come near his island.

3. Prospero's enemies include his own brother, Antonio who was responsible for expelling him from his own dukedom. Colluding with him was the king of Naples named Alosno. It was with his help that Antonio had forced his brother to quit Milan. The two had conspired to throw Prospero out of his dukedom, replacing him with Antonio as the duke.

4. Now these persons along with others are in a ship near Prospero's island. The ship is caught in a storm raised by Prospero, the magician.

5. Prospero has the power to foresee the coming events. He knows that if he acts now, his good luck will rise to the highest point. Now Prospero is under the influence of a lucky star

6. If he does not take advantage of the present situation, his fortune will sink to the its lowest in the time to come.

7. Prospero asks Miranda to ask no more questions because she is feeling sleepy. Sleep is good for her at the moment. She cannot resist it.

Passage-8

1. In Shakespeare's play The Tempest, Ariel is talking to his ma_ter, Prospero. He is describing how he carried out his order to raise a storm in the sea to frightern the passengers in a particular ship. Ariel tells Prospero how he created a panic among passengers in the ship caught in a terrible storm.

2. Ariel showed the passengers some unusual occurrences to drive them out of their wits. Ariel first got into the king's ship. In the shape of a flame he appeared on the bow, on the waist, on the deck of the ship. Then he moved about in every cabin to terrify the passengers.

3. Ariel was a spirit. It could easily assume a different shape, yet remained invisible. Thus, he divided himself into several and appeared at several places. Then he combined himself in single flame to surprise the passengers in the ship.

4. Ariel is giving an impressive detail of how he executed his plan. He claims that even Jove's lighting, seen before he hurls his dreadfüulthunderbolts, are not so rapid and swift as Ariel's movements were.

5. The flashes of lightning and the loud roar of thunder that Ariel produced seemed to overpower even the most powerful god of sea _haking the powerful waves of the sea and the fearful trident, the three pronged weapon of the sea-god. The description given by Ariel gives the impression that he not only terrified his victims in the ship, but also filled the heart of the sea-god with terror.

Passage-9

1. The speaker is answering the question put to him by Prospero. The speaker's name is Ariel. He is commanded by Prospero, the magician and the Ex-Duke of Milan.

2. The Royal passengers in the ship behaved desperately when Ariel's illusion made them believe that the ship was wrecking imminently.

3. The mariners did not jump into the sea. They stayed back trying to save the ship. But all others jumped into the stormy sea.

4. They quit the vessel because it seemed to be burning in the flames produced by Ariel. They desperately hoped to survive by swimming ashore. The condition on the ship seemed to threaten their lives.

5. Ferdinand was the son of the king of Naples, the heir to the throne. The prince was the first to jump into the sea. He was very badly terrified. His hair stood on end with fear. He cried that all devils had arrived there, and then took a leap into the sea.

Passage-10

1. Ariel is the speaker. He is describing to Prospero how a storm was raised in the sea and how

The passengers jumped into the sea in panic. Ariel assures his master that no harm has actually come to any of the passengers. Not a hair has perished. Ariel has managed to bring them to the island safely.

2. Ariel has just carried out a plan to catch a ship in a storm raised by this spirit. Then he has been able to frighten the passengers who jumped into the sea for safety. These passengers have been conducted to the island safely but separately. Ariel assures Prospero that the passengers are completely safe and unharmed. Even the clothes which bore them on the sea have not suffered the least damage. These garments look even fresher than before.

3. Ariel has just obeyed the orders of his master, Prospero. According to Prospero's instructions,

Ariel has scattered the passengers on the island in groups.

4. Ferdinand is the son of the king of Naples. Ariel has managed to land the prinçe on the island

alone.

5. The speaker (Ariel) left the prince, he was out of the danger sitting in the shore of the island

in cooling the air with sighs of sorrow and with his arms folded. He was looking sad.

Passage-11

1. These lines are spoken by Ariel to Prospero. Ariel has described in detail how he caused the storm, dispersed the courtiers and the king, he narrates about the island according to the orders given to him.

2. The king's ship is safe in the harbour. She is hidden in the deep corner where once Prospero had called Ariel up to bring him dew from the Bermudas islands, ever troubled by storms.

3. All the sailors have been packed away by Ariel in the lower deck with the hatches or gratings battened down to prevent their escape to the shore.

4. They have fallen asleep because of a spell which Ariel has cast upon them. Moreover, they have fallen asleep after the tiring exertions of the day while fighting the storm.

5. The remaining ships of the fleet were scattered by Ariel. They have all assembled together again on the Mediterranean sea.

6. These ships are sailing sadly home for Naples from where they had come along with their king and prince. Now they are under the impression that the king's ship has been destroyed and the king has drowned. The same are their fears about their prince.

Passage-12

1. Prospero refers to that old and ugly witch, Sycorax, who had imprisoned Ariel for not obeying her. Prospero is speaking to Ariel reminding him of his past when Prospero had released him from a painful confinement.

2. Sycorax wanted to engage Ariel in all types of dirty work. But Ariel being a very delicate spirit refused to carry out the hateful commands of the witch. Sycorax punished Ariel by imprisoning him in a cloven pine.

3. The hateful witch had many slaves working for her. When Ariel resisted her authority, she began to punish him with the help of her more powerful agents.

4. Shut in the cloven pine tree, Ariel suffered for a long period of twelve years. During this period, his tormentor died, leaving the prisoner there. There in that painful condition Ariel groaned repeatedly like

the wheels of a windmill striking the water again and again.

5. At that time, the island was uninhabited by any human being except that witch's son whom she had given birth to. This son was no better than a dog with a spotted body.

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