Ariel reports to Prospero

Act 1 Scene 2 – Key Scene

In this scene, Ariel describes for Prospero what the storm was like for those on the ship and how he terrified everyone on board the ship with his magical antics.

You can take a look at the scene and watch it in performance here. Using the following steps, remember to look at it line by line and if you’re watching the scene for the first time, don’t worry if you don’t understand everything at once.

• Look

  Take a look at the scene. Who has the most lines? Are they using prose or verse? Actors at the RSC often put the language into their own words to help them understand what they are saying. We’ve added some definitions (in green), questions (in red) and paraphrased some sections (in blue) to help with this. You can click on the text that is highlighted for extra guidance.

  Close

  Prospero

  Come away, servant, come. I am ready now.
  Approach, my Ariel, come

  Enter ARIEL.

  Ariel

  All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come
  To answer thy best pleasure; be’t to fly,
  To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
  On the curled clouds: to thy strong bidding task
  Ariel and all his quality.

  Close

  Learned and respected gentleman.

  Close

  Ariel may be talking about all the skills or 'quality' he has here, or he may be talking about the other spirits of the island who work with him.

  Prospero

  Hast thou, spirit,
  Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?

  Ariel

  To every article.
  I boarded the king’s ship: now on the beak,
  Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
  I flamed amazement: sometime I’d divide
  And burn in many places; on the topmast,
  The yards and bowsprit would I flame distinctly,
  Then meet and join. Jove’s lightning, the precursors
  O’th’dreadful thunderclaps, more momentary
  And sight-outrunning were not; the fire and cracks
  Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune
  Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble,
  Yea, his dread trident shake.

  Close

  I went on-board the king’s ship and appeared as fire on the prow of the ship, then in the middle of the ship, on the deck and in the cabins.

  Close

  Quicker than the eye can follow.

  Close

  What do these lines suggest about the strength of the storm?

  Prospero

  My brave spirit!
  Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
  Would not infect his reason?

  Close

  Who was so calm and together that this turmoil would not make him go mad?

  Ariel

  Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad and played
  Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners
  Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,
  Then all afire with me: the king’s son, Ferdinand,
  With hair up-staring — then like reeds, not hair —
  Was the first man that leaped; cried ‘Hell is empty
  And all the devils are here.’

  Close

  Everyone except the sailors jumped into the turbulent sea and left the ship which was all flaming with my presence.

  Prospero

  Why, that’s my spirit!
  But was not this nigh shore?

  Close

  Why do you think Prospero seems so pleased that everyone on the ship was scared?

  Ariel

  Close by, my master.

  (Text edited for rehearsals by Gregory Doran)
• Watch

  Read the scene aloud, then watch the actors trying it in different ways. Which way feels right? What in the language makes you think that? Are there any words or lines that really stand out? At the end of the film you will see their final performance. How do the characters come across in this?

  

  Play Scene in rehearsal and performance
• Imagine

  Explore some images from past versions of The Tempest at the RSC. Which sets and costume choices for this first scene between Prospero and Ariel feel right to you?