Ariel as prospero’s conscience
- “your affections would become tender… mine would sir were i human”
- His tears run down his beard like eves of reeds” - simile relatable to everyday lives of towns and cities.
- “this music crept by me upon the waters, allaying both their fury and my passion, with its sweet air”.
“subject to no
Subject to no sight but thine and mine, invisible to every eyeball else” -
- Ariel executing P godlike authority
- Prospero is given an omniscient eye over the island through his control over ariel. He has the advantage of seeing without being seen - Thus is authority is inflicted due to his inhuman vision through Ariel. “(Prospero’s) Spirits can hear me”.
[enter ariel…. (harpy bit)
- Ariel goes in the form of a harpy (echoing Virgil’s influence) but Prospero distinguishes Ariel’s “grace” as a harpy in contrast to the disgusting Virgilian prototype
- Harpy classical purpose of Divine punishment from Zeus (in the aeneid, the harpys appear after the Trojans arrive on their land and slaughter many sheep and goats)
- Harpies being classically known as ‘the hounds of Zeus’ further gives Prospero a godlike presence as Ariel is serving him much like the Harpies.
Ariel forfilling P tasks to his enemies
” i flam’d amazement”
“I charm’d their ears”
Malignant
- ‘Malignant thing’ - this term was used in 16 century to describe someone ‘likely to rebel against god or authority’
- Ariel role in presenting P as a godlike figure
Ariel as P conscience and human side
Yet, Ariel reminds Prospero that he is only human and that his powers are robbing him of his natural empathy: “His tears runs down his beard like winter’s drops from eaves of reeds… your affections would become tender”…. “mine would, sir, were i human” - prompting Prospero and acting as Prospero’s conscience.
Ariel as music
Ariel, being synonymous for ‘air’, embodies the natural music of the isle. Montagne essay states how what is natural is good. The natural music of the island is shown to be peaceful and gentle: “sounds and sweet airs which give delight and hurt not”.
where the bee sucks
Ariel’s own songs, such as “where the bee sucks, there such i, / in a cowslip’s bell i lie”. shows the spirits natural interactions with nature. The trochaic verse gives a childish rhyming effect. not scripted by Prospero.
P exploits Ariel’s music
Prospero uses Ariel’s music as a means of leading characters in a direction dictated by himself. Corrupted by Prospero: “full fathom five, your father lies;/” same melodic tone through the alternating of iambic and trochaic lines, yet with darker undertones through the suggestions of Prospero’s ambition.
“i shall have my music for free” - Stephano
“from the leaves we did thatch our houses” - strachey: exploiting the island
Similarities Ariel and Caliban
Similarities: Both embody the elements “thou earth”. represent naturalness and both natives of the island.Thou liest, malignant thing” Prospero uses violent language to assert authority. diminishes Ariel to a ‘thing’ and Caliban “thou tortoise”.
Contrast with Caliban enhances the idea of Prospero as a colonial oppressor, but also as a tool for generating sympathy for Caliban due to his treatment from Prospero differing to Ariel’s.
Ariel and Caliban both subservient, but for different reasons
- Both are subservient to Prospero, yet Ariel is given a reason: “dost thou forget from what a torment i did free thee?” For filling a dept. Yet Caliban “we cannot miss him”. Caliban therefore rebels against Prospero
- Ariel suberviently calls him “great master, grave sir, hail”. Ariel therefore treated with tenderness “delicate spirit” where as Caliban is threatened “thou shalt be pinch’d
- Colonial Prospero
i will render an oak
I will render an oak and peg thee in his knotty entrails till thou hast howl’d away twelve winters”
Ariel is subservient due to fear of Prospero: “i will render an oak”
The Requerimento
The Requerimento: read aloud to the newly encountered peoples in the new world, demanding obedience to the king and queen of Spain as rulers of the Indies. If the natives resisted colonialism, they would be informed “[the settlers] will take you, and your wives, and your children, and shall make slaves of them…the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault” - They claimed the right to saying this due to the Pope being ‘the head of the whole human race’
