William Shakespeare's Play

William Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, begins with Alonso, the king of Naples, his son Ferdinand, and his brother Sebastian on a boat. Among them are also the Antonio, the duke of Milan, and Adrian, Gonzalo, Stefano, Trinculo, and Fransisco. A storm tosses them around. The passengers offer to help the crew, when in actuality, all they are doing is getting in the way.

Meanwhile on the island, Miranda watches the ship and pleads to Prospero, her father to save the ship. He is a sorcerer who created the tempest. He tells Miranda that the passengers aboard the boat will not get hurt, and then tells Miranda the story of how they got on the island. Twelve years ago, Prospero was the Duke of Milan. His brother, Antonio, usurped the position from him and cast Miranda and her father away.

Prospero calls for the magical spirit Ariel, asking him to spread the passengers out and inform him of their whereabouts. Ariel proceeds to tell him that the boat has already been crashed and all those aboard are safe, but disoriented. Then, Prospero calls for Caliban, a misformed human, whose mother is Sycorax. Originally, Caliban was alone on the island. When Prospero and Miranda came, they enslaved him.

The king's son, Ferdinand, meets Miranda, and they fall in love, talking about plans to go back to the mainland and getting married.

The rest of the shipwrecked crew are celebrating their survival and grieving for lost loved ones. Alonso believes that he has lost his beloved son, Ferdinand.

Stefano, Alonso's drunken butler, discovers Caliban in a glade. Caliban decides to worship the drunken Stefano and make him his new master in order to escape Prospero's power. Caliban describes Prospero's cruelty and persuades Stefano to murder him by promising that Stefano can marry Miranda and rule the island.