The Tempest By William Shakespeare
The Tempest is a popular tragi-comedy by William Shakespeare.
➤ First Performed – 1611-12
➤ First Printed – 1623
➤ Literary Genre – Romance, Comedy in First Folio, Tragi-comedy also
➤ Setting of the play – The Sea & Island
➤ Sources of the Play – Ovid’s Metamorphosis
The Tempest Characters
- Alonso – King of Naples
- Antonio – Prospero’s Brother, the usurping duke of Milan
- Ariel – A spirit that in service to Prospero
- Caliban – A servant of Prospero and a savage monster
- Ferdinand – Son of Alonso
- Gonzalo – An honest old councilor
- Miranda – Daughter to Prospero
- Prospero – the right Duke of Milan
- Sebestian – Alonso’s brother
- Stephano – the king’s drunken butler
- Sycorax – a witch and mother of Caliban
- Trinculo – the king’s jester
- Adrian – a lord serving under Alonso
- Francisco – a lord serving under Alonso
- Juno – the Roman goddess of marriage
- Ceres – Roman goddess of agriculture
- Iris – Greek goddess of sea and sky
The Tempest Quotes and Lines
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
“We are such stuffs as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep”
“What’s past is prologue”
“Me, poor man, my library
was dukedom large enough.”
“Now I will believe that there are unicorns”
“This thing of darkness I Acknowledge mine”
“O, brave new world that has such people in it”
“Awake, dear heart, awake. Thou hast slept well. Awake”
“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows”
“I would not wish any companion in the world but you”
“Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.”
“Good wombs have borne bad sons.”
“I am your wife if you will marry me.
If not, I’ll die your maid. To be your fellow
You may deny me, but I’ll be your servant whether you will or no”
“At this hour
Lie at my mercy all mine enemies.”
“There be some sports are painful, and their labour delight in them sets off.”
“That a monster should be such a natural”
The Tempest Question and Answers
1. Who is Trinculo in the play the Tempest?
(a) King’s Butler (b) King’s Jester
(d) King’s son
(c) King’s Slave
(e) King’s Brother
Ans. b
2. Who says, “Good wombs have borne bad sons.”
(a) Caliban
(b) Prospero
(c) Ferdinand
(d) Ariel
(e) Miranda
Ans. e
3. In the play The Tempest, Prospero is the Duke of
(a) Milan
(b) Kent
(c) Edinburgh
(d) Naples
Ans. a
4. On seeing whom does Miranda exclaim, “O, father, surely that is a spirit. Lord! How it looks about?”
(a) Ferdinand
(b) Caliban
(c) Alonso
(d) Stephano
Ans. a
5. Who speaks the following lines in the Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
“For I am all the subjects that you have, Which first was mine own King:”
(a) Caliban
(b) Sycorax
(c) Ariel
(d) Prospero
Ans. a
6. In ‘The Tempest’, Prospero frees Ariel from the witch Sycorax but has enslaved:
(a) Stephano
(b) Boatswain
(c) Trinculo
(d) Caliban
Ans. d
7. The basic theme of The Tempest is
(a) Revenge
(b) Freedom
(c) Revenge and freedom
(d) Forgiveness and freedom
Ans. d
8. From where these lines have been taken and who is the speaker We are such stuffs As dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
(a) Macbeth, Macbeth
(b) Hamlet, Hamlet
(c) Twelfth Night, Malvolio
(d) Tempest, Prospero
Ans. d
9. Who describes the ideal ‘Commonwealth’ in The Tempest?
(a) Prospero
(b) Ferdinand
(c) Miranda
(d) Gonzalo
Ans. d
10. Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a
(a) comedy
(b) Tragedy
(c) tragi-comedy
(d) history play
Ans. c
11. Who is the heroine in Shakespeare’s The Tempest’?
(a) Portia
(b) Nerissa
(c) Desdemona
(d) Miranda
12. The name of Prospero’s daughter in the Tempest is –
(a) Cordelia
(b) Desdemona
(c) Miranda
(d) Olivia
Ans. c
13. “The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance.” This line occurs in Shakespeare’s
(a) Hamlet
(b) King Lear
(c) The Tempest
(d) The Merchant of Venice
Ans. c
14. Caliban-
(a) is the hero of the play The Tempest
(b) married Prospero’s daughter in The Tempest
(c) killed Prospero in The Tempest
(d) is the villain in the Tempest
Ans. d
15. Which of the following plays of Shakespeare has an epilogue?
(a) The Tempest
(b) Hamlet
(c) Henry IV, Pt 1
(d) Twelfth Night
Ans. a
16. Who is the heroine in Shakespeare’s The Tempest?
(a) Viola
(b) Portia
(c) Miranda
(d) Beatrice
Ans. c
17. In The Tempest, Miranda, Caliban and Prospero stay in the island for……….years:
(a) 12
(b) 13
(c) 14
(d) 11
Ans. a
