ARIEL'S MONOLOGUE
(3.3.76-101)
ORIGINAL TEXT
Ariel's Monologue
You fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of Fate: the elements,
Of whom your swords are temper’d, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock’d-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
One dowle that’s in my plume: my fellow-ministers
Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths
And will not be uplifted. But remember—
For that’s my business to you—that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
Incensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,
Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me:
Lingering perdition, worse than any death
Can be at once, shall step by step attend
You and your ways; whose wraths to guard you from—
Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls
Upon your heads—is nothing but heart-sorrow
And a clear life ensuing.
INTRODUCTION
Ariel's Monologue
This speech by Ariel occurs in the third scene of the third act of Shakespeare’s play: The Tempest. Ariel, as Prospero’s servant, is obligated to listen to all of Prospero’s commands. Disguised as Harpy, Ariel makes an imaginary feast for Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian to lure them to his upcoming speech. Ariel points out their sins of overthrowing and exiling Prospero and Miranda. Ariel’s motivation in making this speech is to of course obey Prospero’s commands, but to gain his freedom from Prospero. Prospero promised him that he will free him after he obeys his last commands to corner his enemies. The effect of Ariel’s speech made Alonso remember his son’s ‘death’ and attempt to drown himself. Sebastian and Antonio wanted to fight back the spirits. Gonzalo tells the others to make sure that Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio do not do anything reckless.Â
Shakespeare uses symbolism to represent Ariel as one of the ministers of Fate. ‘ I and my fellows / Are ministers of Fate.’ Ariel as Harpy is also a symbol of nature. Shakespeare uses hyperbole to express the damage Ariel did to their swords. ‘The elements / Of whom your swords are tempered may as well / Wound the loud winds or with bemocked-at stabs / Kill the still-closing waters as diminish / One dowl that’s in my plume.’ Ariel exaggerates that their swords can no longer harm big or small things anymore. This is hyperbole because their swords could not have wound the loud winds even before Ariel destroyed them.
ANALYSIS
Ariel's Monologue
Ariel, disguised as Harpy, speaks in a powerful and direct manner, incorporating simile and metaphors that relates to the subject of illusions and magic, which greatly aids his objective of obtaining liberation from Prospero. Following Antonio and Sebastian's plot to assassinate Alonso, Ariel comes as Harpy to tell them that horrible things would continue to happen until they genuinely regret what they did to Prospero and Miranda. Even though Ariel does not have much character growth throughout the play, his speech is significant because he represents nature and fate. The power Ariel has to influence others to do what Prospero desires is a significant to the play. The only incentive offered for Ariel is his desire to free himself from Prospero. The statements said by Ariel in this stanza are solely for the purpose of cornering Prospero's enemies. Alonso, Sebastian, Gonzalo, and Antonio are all afraid of what they did twelve years ago, that casted Prospero and Miranda into the sea. As what ‘the minister of fate’ had said, ‘For that’s my business to you— / that you three / From Milan did supplant good Prospero, / Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it, / Him and his innocent child’ (3.3.69-72). Ariel reminds them of their betrayal of Prospero, as well as the fact that nature and fate are conspiring against them as a result of their transgressions. To describe their swords, Shakespeare utilizes metaphors and simile. ‘Kill the still-closing waters as diminish / One dowl that’s in my plume’ (3.3.61-64). The swords cannot harm or effect the hardest or the smallest thing on Earth anymore. Overall, Ariel's speech is an instance where Prospero is manipulating everyone on the island, including Ariel, to aid him in gathering his enemies.
