The Tempest is consider to be among Shakespeare's last plays and one of the greatest.

It is
often referred to as Shakespeares farewell to the stage. However, some critics are against
viewing the play as autobiographical. One of the most outstanding motifs of The Tempest
is the power relationships. Shakespeare plays with the theme of service: master and servant,
king and subject, father and daughter and even in the affairs of the heart. I will focus on the
master and servant relationships between Prospero, Ariel and Caliban. Prospero is a
sorcerer living on an island with his daughter Miranda, he is also the right Duke of Milan
and he is master to Ariel and Caliban. In spite of the fact that both of them serve Prospero
on the island, he conducts the relationships with them differently. Ariel is a spirit associated
with the air. When Ferdinand, son of the King of Naples, hears Ariels song he responds in
this way: With its sweet air: thence I have followed it (I.ii.396). The evil witch Sycorax
had imprisoned Ariel in a tree because he hadnt act earthly. Prospero saved him when he
arrived on the island. Therefore his service towards Prospero is more related to gratitude,
Ariel is completely obedient to Prospero: 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.(I.ii. 246-249) Caliban is a slave associated with the earth:
Thou earth, thou! speak" (V.i.318), he is the son of Sycorax. As the island native, he
regards himself as the rightful owner of the place: This islands mine, by Sycorax my
mother, which thou takst from me (I.ii.334-335) Unlike Ariel, Caliban is forced against
his will to serve Prospero and his daughter, Miranda. He often shows his unwillingness to
serve him, yet he has no option but to be obedient: I must obey: his Art is of such power
(I.ii.334-374). Prosperos relationship with Ariel is close and affectionate. Prospero calls
Ariel 'my bird', 'my industrious servant', 'my chick', 'my tricksy spirit', 'my diligence' and
'fine Ariel'. When Ariel asks Prospero 'Do you love me, master, no?' Prospero replies
'Dearly, my delicate Ariel' (IV.i.48-49). Prospero even expresses his regret at losing Ariel
when he gives him his freedom: 'Why that's my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee; But yet thou
shalt have freedom, so, so, so.' (V.i.95-96). However, the relationship between Prospero
and Caliban is more of conflict and hostility. Prospero refers to Caliban as: poisonous
slave, got by the devil himself (I.ii.321); or thou must lying slave (I.ii.347). For
Prospero, Caliban seems to represent a personal failure because of the impossibility to
educate him or civilize him. a devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nature can never be
stick; on whom my pains, Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost(IV.i.188-190). There is
resentment between both of them, and they mirror one another. Caliban feels betrayed by
Prospero, he thinks the island belongs to him and that Prospero has taken it from him. Like
Canibal, Prospero feels betrayed, his dukedom was taken over by his brother, and Prospero
treated Canibal kindly at the begining, but he had tried to rape his daughter: Thou most
lying slave, whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee, filth as thou art, with
human care, and lodged thee in mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate the honour of
my child. (I.ii.346-350). Nevertheless the bond between the two of them is evident when
Prospero acknowledges Caliban as his: This thing of darkness I aknowlege mine
(V.i.275-276). Prospero is certainly a complex character, he cant hardly be fully
understand without Ariel and Caliban. Prospero can be regarded as a balance of both of
them. According to A Commentary on Shakespeares The Tempest by W.H. Auden.
Prospero is in a dualistic allegorical structure, between the animalistic representation of
Caliban and the non-human figure of Ariel, which shows the relation of Nature to Spirit as
one in conflict. Caliban both mirrors and contrast with Prospero and Ariel, the opposition
with Ariel reflects everything in the play. Caliban's desire for sovereignty of the island
mirrors the ambition for power that led Antonio to overthrow Prospero. Caliban's
conspiracy with Stefano and Trinculo to murder Prospero mirrors Antonio and Sebastian's
plot against Alonso, as well as Antonio and Alonso's original conspiracy against Prospero.
Caliban both mirrors and contrasts with Ariel. While Ariel is an airy spirit, Caliban is
very much of the earth. Regardless of the description of Caliban as a monster, he has a
nobler and more sensitive side, like Ariel, or Prospero when he renounces vengeance. He is
also a character who like Ariel, delivers some of the most beautiful speeches in the play, as
shown in the scene where Caliban describes the beauty and wonders of the island: Be not
afeard; the isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears, and sometime
voices that, if I then had waked after long sleep, will make me sleep again: and then, in
dreaming, the clouds methought would open and show riches ready to drop upon me that,
when I waked, I cried to dream again. (3.2.133-140). However, to understand more this
characters we have to think of the context of the play. This particular play by Shakespeare,
should not be detached from the worldview that prevailed at the time it was written.
Shakespeare describes an order, the Elizabethans viewed this order as a chain, the chain of
being, the idea of a hierarchical universe ordained by God. People believed that everyone
and everything was arranged in a specific order. Everything was allocated a place on the
great chain including angels, humans, animals, plants and minerals. There was also a strong
belief that everything that existed beneath the moon was made from a combination of the
four elements: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. The four elements had their counterparts in the
four humours of the human body: blood, phlegm, melancholy and choler. If any of these
humours predominated in the body, they determined the mood of the person. In this way, In
the Elizabethan view, Prospero, as the superior order of being, would have the right to
dominate the inferior, Ariel and Caliban. If we take into consideration that Caliban
represents a creature of earth, and the element of earth was regarded as the heaviest and the
lowest in the chain of being, then Caliban represents the lower dimension of humanity.
Caliban may also represent as well a primitive man, who struggles to become civilized into
European values. A lot of literary critics say that Caliban's name is an anagram or at least a
play on the word cannibal, a term derived from "carib" (as in the Caribbean), which
became a European term used to describe flesh-eaters. If this is the case, Calibans name is
an allegory on European colonial practices, yet we cannot come to any conclusions about
Shakespeare's vision of colonial practices. In contrast, Ariel as an airy spirit is likened to a
creature of the heavens, a creature of god, a gentle spirit. In the Renaissance world God and
heaven maintain order and justice on earth. Which is similar to Ariels role in the play. The
meaning of Ariels name may be helpful to understand this hierarchical position in the
chain of being. The source of Ariel's name and character is unknown, although several
critics have pointed out his similarities to the Ariel mentioned in Isaiah chapter twenty nine
in the Bible. The name means "Lion of God". Ariel may also be a simple play on the word
"aerial". The fact that they are related to elements helps us to comprehend more their
characters and function in the play, their opposition as elements and characters in itself
reveals us everything that is happening in the play. Yet, I feel Im not doing justice to the
complexity of those characters, more studies about them should be done.
Bibliography:
Wells, Stanley. (Ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 1986.
W. H. Auden: The Sea and the Mirror. UK, Princeton University Press, 2003.
The Oxford Anthology of English Literature.