Analysis of passage in The Tempest

The content of this passage is fairly obvious. I am have trouble, however, analysing it closely. I need to write a 2000 word essay on it!!!

PROSPERO
Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is perform'd: but there's more work.
What is the time o' the day?

ARIEL
Past the mid season.

PROSPERO
At least two glasses. The time 'twixt six and now
Must by us both be spent most preciously.

ARIEL
Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
Which is not yet perform'd me.

PROSPERO
How now? moody?
What is't thou canst demand?

ARIEL
My liberty.

PROSPERO
Before the time be out? no more!

ARIEL
I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.

PROSPERO
Dost thou forget
From what a torment I did free thee?

ARIEL
No.

PROSPERO
Thou dost, and think'st it much to tread the ooze
Of the salt deep,
To run upon the sharp wind of the north,
To do me business in the veins o' the earth
When it is baked with frost.

ARIEL
I do not, sir.

PROSPERO
Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou forgot
The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy
Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her?

ARIEL
No, sir.

PROSPERO
Thou hast. Where was she born? speak; tell me.

ARIEL
Sir, in Argier.

PROSPERO
O, was she so? I must
Once in a month recount what thou hast been,
Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch Sycorax,
For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible
To enter human hearing, from Argier,
Thou know'st, was banish'd: for one thing she did
They would not take her life. Is not this true?

ARIEL
Ay, sir.

PROSPERO
This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child
And here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave,
As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant;
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine;

Reply 1

Ywiss

Hmm...I've never studied The Tempest in detail (just in Year 8), so I'm not sure how useful this is going to be, but anyway...

What is the actual question you've been asked? If it says something like, "How important is this passage in the context of the whole play?", that's a clue to you to bring in other bits of the play as well. For instance, you could say that this passage serves as a means of informing the audience about Ariel's situation - i.e. Ariel doesn't just turn to the audience and say, "Well, you see, I'm sort of Prospero's slave..." - Shakespeare takes the information and gives it to Ariel's character and Prospero's character as a way of informing the audience in an interesting and engaging way.

You could also mention Prospero's tone in this extract (angry, challenging, defiant) and track his tone throughout the play. Is he always this angry? Or is he sometimes more gentle? (I don't know, I haven't studied the play :biggrin:

)

Alternatively, if the question is just a straight, "Analyse this passage..." you could also bring in some of the really beautiful language which Shakespeare uses. E.g.

Thou dost, and think'st it much to tread the ooze
Of the salt deep,
To run upon the sharp wind of the north,
To do me business in the veins o' the earth
When it is baked with frost.

That's such a lovely image - you could mention the effects of "to run upon the sharp wind of the north", perhaps suggesting Ariel's agility and lightness; "the veins o' the earth", as if the earth is a living thing, and Ariel is so accustomed to it that she can move deep inside it. Also "baked with frost" - you could mention the juxtaposition between hot and cold, which is also interesting.

My feeling is that most of the time, if they give you an extract, they'll want you to look at the rest of the play in terms of it... :frown: