CSEC English B: The Tempest - Revision Notes: Revenge, Repentance and Reconciliation

Struggling to find examples in the text? Find it hard to muster up some quotes? Well, Quelpr is here to provide 2 easy examples for quick and fast essay plugins.

Definition: This theme encompasses the multitude of actions that comprise the process of inflicting harm on someone in return for being wronged, allowing that person to express sincere regret or remorse, and erasing any negative emotion towards them.

Examples in the Play

The situation with Antonio, Sebastian, Alonso, and Prospero.

1. Revenge: Prospero seeks to exact revenge on his brother Antonio and King Alonso for plotting against him to usurp him from the throne of the Duke of Milan.

2. Quotes:

   1. Act 1 Scene 2 - "Should presently extirpate me and mine out of the dukedom and confer fair Milan," (Decision to oust Prospero)

   2. Act 1 Scene 2 - "Thy false uncle…" (Prospero referring to Antonio)

   3. Act 1 Scene 2 -"The government I cast upon my brother," (Prospero gives up his state to pursue his "secret studies" and "liberal arts")

   4. Act 1 Scene 2 - "…and thy father was Duke of Milan," (Prospero refers to himself as the Duke of Milan)

   5. Act 1 Scene 2 - "So dry he was for sway - wi'th King of Naples…Subject his coronet to his crown" (Prospero says that both Antonio and the King of Naples were hungry for power and worked together to usurp him)

   6. Act 3 Scene 3 - "…for some of you there present are worse than devils…" (Prospero expresses resentment towards his offenders)

3. Literary Devices:

   1. Flashback - Prospero talks about his history through the use of a flashback (Act 1 Scene 2 - "For thou must know farther…")

   2. Repetition - (Act 1 Scene 2 - "Dos't thou attend me?") - Prospero says this repeatedly to Miranda to ensure that she is listening. However, it is more than just stage interaction, but an attempt at indirectly interacting with the audience. Such a lengthy flashback may be quite drawn out and information may be lost. Therefore, this repetition is used to break the flow of the flashback and call the story back to action in order for information to be grasped more effectively

4. Repentance and Reconciliation: Prospero uses his supernatural might to create a grand display of power in a large spectacle, to reprimand King Alonso's party for the exile of Prospero.

5. Quotes:

   1. Act 3 Scene 3 - "You are three men of sin…" (Ariel reprimands the three men on behalf of Prospero)

   2. Act 3 Scene 3 - "You fools!....My fellow ministers are like invulnerable…" (Ariel reinforces the fact that they cannot hurt him when the three men draw their swords. He presents the notion that the supernatural will always exist above the power of mankind)

   3. Act 3 Scene 3 - "…that you three from Milan did supplant good Prospero; exposed unto the sea…" (Ariel brings up the topic of Prospero and instills guilt)

   4. Act 3 Scene 3 - "Thee of thy son, Alonso, they have bereft…worse than any death" (Ariel targets Alonso, confirming his son's death and adding false information that he had suffered)

   5. Act 3 Scene 3 - "…mine enemies are knit up in their distractions…" (Prospero is observing the men below as confirmation to him and the audience that his plan had worked)

   6. Act 3 Scene 3 - "All three of them are desperate. Their great guilt…" (Gonzalo realizes that Prospero's spectacle had awakened dormant guilt inside the three men)

6. Literary Devices

   1. Spectacle - The banquet and Ariel's appearance are in the form of a spectacle which is a combination of stage directions, sound effects, lighting, and music

   2. Sound Effects and Music - "Solemn and strange music" initiated the banquet and this eventually shifts to harsh "thunder"

   3. Lighting - Lighting

   4. Stage direction - Controlling the movement of the spirits setting up the banquet

   5. Aside - Prospero is above the men invisible and observing their torment.

1. Caliban and Prospero

   1. Revenge: Caliban wants to take revenge on Prospero who has enslaved him and portrays himself as a cruel and oppressive master to Caliban

   2. Quotes:

      1. Act 1 Scene 2 - "A south-west blow on ye, and blister you all o'er" (Caliban curses Prospero for his torment and expresses his desire for revenge)

      2. Act 1 Scene 2 - "The red plague rid you For learning me your language" (Caliban again curses Prospero)

      3. Act 3 Scene 2 - "I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island" (Caliban tells Stephano and Trinculo of Prospero and initiates a plot for revenge)

      4. Act 3 Scene 2 - "Beat him enough; after a little time" (Caliban plots his revenge)

   3. Reconciliation and Repentance: After plotting against Prospero, Caliban repents for his wrongdoing. However, expecting torment, he is surprised to meet pardon and forgiveness from Prospero.

      1. Act 5 Scene 1 - "As you look to have my pardon, trim it handsomely." (Prospero issues pardon).

      2. Act 5 Scene 1 - "…what a thrice-double ass was I to take this drunkard for a god And worship this dull fool!" (Caliban realizes his foolish mistakes)

Conclusions are a bother. You need to find some easy yet sweet way to finish off your essay. Here are some life lessons and quotes that you could snap-in on the last line of your essay to wrap things up.

• Lewis F. Kornis - "Genuine repentance must bear the seal of a corrected life."

• Thomas Carlyte - "Of all acts of man repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none."

• Robert Lewis Stevenson - "Sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences." (This one is especially nice because a banquet of consequences literally happens in the play)