they have brought from Eldorados far away. No other work of Shakespeare reflects so vividly this enthralling aspect of Elizabethan life, and this is a main secret of its charm. § 20. But The Tempest transports us not only to new-found regions over seas, but to poetic wonderlands undiscoverable by the most adventurous of voyagers. The distinction, however, in that age of geographical marvels was less well defined than to-day, and Shakespeare, if questioned as to the whereabouts of the uninhabited island, might well have natural in The answered in the semi-serious vein of Spenser's Tempest. Introduction to Book II. of The Faerie Queene The super "Who ever heard of the Indian Peru? Or who in venturous vessel measured The Amazons' huge river, now found trew? Yet all these were, when no man did them know; It is in an age when the borderlands of the natural and the supernatural thus overlap that the creative artist can most unerringly give to the latter the "form and pressure" of reality. Prospero's kingdom, the island, "Full of noises, Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not", has as unquestionable an existence for us as if it were marked on every map of the southern seas. But it is characteristic of Shakespeare that he shows a wise economy in his use of supernatural effects, and, as a rule restricts their display to a limited time and area. In A Midsummer-Night's Dream the fairies are seen exercising their powers of enchantment only within the haunted wood, and for a single night. Similarly in The Tempest we witness the operation of Prospero's omnipotent art for the short space of three hours, and not beyond the confines of the mysterious isle. Hence in form the work has many of the characteristics of a Classical play. It preserves the Unities of time, and, in essentials, of place; and Act i. sc. 2, as far as line 375, is practically equivalent to the Classical Prologue which enlightens the audience on preceding events necessary to the understanding of the action. In its closely-knit structure The Tempest forms the strongest contrast to The Winter's Tale and Pericles, which, with kindred incidents, exhibit the license of the Romantic type in its extreme form. § 21. Of the majority of the spirits with which the island is thronged, and which form its original inhabitants, we only get passing glimpses, as in Prospero's final invocation: "Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves, In Ariel's songs we catch echoes of the burthen of the “sweet sprites", as they foot it featly on the yellow sands, and of the "ding-dong" of the sea-nymphs as they ring the knell of the drowned mariner. Other spirits we see performing varied services at Prospero's command. They invite strangers to partake of a banquet which vanishes in thunder and lightning, they play the parts in a masque, or in the shape of dogs hunt misdoers till they roar with fright. Akin to these "meaner ministers”, but of loftier degree in the elfin hierarchy, is Ariel. He had been imprisoned by Sycorax, the mother of Caliban, for twelve years in a cloven pine because he was "a spirit too delicate To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands". Ariel. From this thraldom he had been set free by Prospero, and his gratitude is shown by his willing service: "All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task As his name implies, he is a spirit of the air, though he has affinity too with the element of fire. "Like air and fire he can penetrate everywhere, treading the ooze of the salt deep, running upon the sharp wings of the north, doing business in the veins of earth when it is baked with frost. His natural speech is music or waves of air."1 This music of Ariel's works strangely on all who hear it. As it creeps by Ferdinand on the waters, it allays their fury and his passion, and draws him to Prospero's cell. It wakes Gonzalo at the critical moment, when Sebastian and Antonio are threatening the King's life; it speaks through the elements to Alonso, and arouses remorse in his breast. But just because he is a spirit of the air, Ariel, though he is correspondent to command, finds all human service galling, and begs for his liberty. The announcement that it is at hand makes him burst into a jubilant carol, and in the closing words of the play we see him dismissed to his natural haunts. Caliban. At the opposite scale of being is Caliban, son of the devil, and the witch, Sycorax. This "freckled whelp" not honoured with a human shape is allied to the grosser natural forces, and is contemptuously hailed as "thou earth", "thou tortoise". In his outward appearance, probably owing to his long, finny arms, he must have had some resemblance to a fish, which Trinculo at first sight takes him to be. Not without reason has he been claimed as an unconscious anticipation of the evolutionary "missing link", for he typifies humanity scarcely, if at all, raised above the brute stage. His name is probably an anagram of Cannibal, and he represents the savage, seen in his naked 1 Moulton, Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist, p. 257. deformity, not through a rose-coloured Arcadian or Utopian mist. For a while this creature had been "lord of the island", or as he proudly puts it, his own king. But his dynasty had been overthrown when a strange succession of events brought a new ruler to the lonely domain. anew. Prospero. § 22. Prospero, Duke of Milan, had abandoned the reins of government to his brother, Antonio, and given himself up entirely to secret studies. Antonio, ambitious of the ducal title as well as the power, had, with the aid of the King of Naples, deposed Prospero, and set him adrift with his infant child, Miranda. Borne by wind and wave to the shores of the island, Prospero had begun life His misfortunes had not been entirely unmerited, for in Shakespeare's eyes the primary duty of a ruler is to rule, not to retire into seclusion for religious or intellectual meditation. Thus it is that Henry VI. and the Duke in Measure for Measure bring disaster upon their realms, and likewise is it with Prospero. But in his case "sweet are the uses of adversity", and he learns to the full the lessons of exile. Stripped of temporal sway he still retains his precious books, whence he wrings the secrets of magic lore, and becomes an all-powerful enchanter. And it must be remembered that to an Elizabethan audience this would have seemed far from impossible. Wizards, like Dr. Dee, with their symbolic staff and mantle, were familiar personages at the time, and they figure frequently in the literature of the day. But either like Spenser's Archimago, they use their powers for wicked ends, or, like Marlowe's Faustus, for purely personal gratification. The noble originality of Shakespeare's conception lies in the fact that Prospero turns his art to entirely beneficent purposes, and to the practical illustration of his own lofty words: "the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance". Thus if we miss the aesthetic gratification which comes from the gradual resolution of suspense, we are compensated by the spectacle of an omnipotent force overruling the dramatic issues into correspondence with our conception of a righteous government of the world. Thus Prospero frees Ariel from imprisonment, but imposes a term of service on him before he grants him full liberty. Thus too he seeks at first to educate Caliban, until the monster puts his lessons to evil use, and repays the enchanter's kindness by an attack on Miranda's honour. Thereupon follows his reduction to slavery, and though we realize the necessity of such treatment, Prospero perhaps appeals to us least powerfully when he is showering abuse and threats on the creature of whom he confesses, "We cannot miss him: he does make our fire, Fetch in our wood and serves in offices The degradation of the savage by the civilized man for his own purposes has been so frequent an episode in the history of colonization that we are apt to sympathize instinctively with the weaker side. §23. But it is characteristic of Shakespeare's marvellous impartiality that while he remorselessly unveils all that is gross and brutal in Caliban, he does not picture him as a mere Yahoo. His speech is not without a rude eloquence, and in his description of the island and its products he shows a vein of untutored imagination. Moreover, the course of events provides him with a couple of foils, who prove that even barbarism surpasses a stunted caricature of civilization, and acquires a classical dignity through the comparison. The shipwrecked butler, Stephano, by the magic of Stephano, and his "celestial liquor", wins in a moment CaliTrinculo. ban's complete allegiance, which Prospero's nobler gifts have failed to secure. Confident in the powers of this "brave god", Caliban enters into a conspiracy with him and his shipmate to overthrow Prospero's rule, and to secure "freedom" for himself. However nefarious his design, he pursues it with a concentration of purpose that puts to shame his worthless allies, who let themselves be lured from their object by the bait of some trumpery booty. And when Caliban, |