The Tempest Exam Practice Questions: A. Discuss The Following Passage From Act 1 Scene 1, Exploring Shakespeare's Use of

The Tempest exam practice questions
Answer one question, both parts (a) and (b), from this section. You should spend about 1 hour
and 15 minutes on this section.
The Tempest
Answer both parts (a) and (b)
a. Discuss the following passage from Act 1 Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of
language and dramatic effects.
BOATSWAIN Down with the topmast! Yare, lower, lower! Bring her to try
with main-course.
A cry within
Enter SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, and GONZALO
A plague upon this howling! They are louder than the
weather or our office. [To the lords] Yet again? What do you
here? Shall we give o’er and drown? Have you a mind to sink?
SEBASTIAN A pox o’ your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable
dog!
BOATSWAIN Work you, then.
ANTONIO Hang, cur! Hang, you whoreson, insolent noisemaker! We are
less afraid to be drowned than thou art.
GONZALO I’ll warrant him for drowning though the ship were no
stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an unstanched
wench.
BOATSWAIN Lay her a-hold, a-hold! Set her two courses off to sea again.
Lay her off!
Enter Mariners, wet
MARINERS All lost! To prayers, to prayer, all lost!
BOATSWAIN What, must our mouths be cold?
GONZALO The king and prince at prayers.
Let’s assist them,
For our case is as theirs.
SEBASTIAN I’m out of patience.
ANTONIO We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards.
This wide-chopped rascal — would thou mightst lie drowning
The washing of ten tides!
GONZALO He’ll be hanged yet,
Though every drop of water swear against it
And gape at widest to glut him.
[Exeunt Boatswain and Mariners]
A confused noise within
Mercy on us!
[VOICES We split, we split!’—’Farewell, my wife and children!’—
OFFSTAGE] ‘Farewell, brother!’—’We split, we split, we split!’
ANTONIO Let’s all sink with the king.
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SEBASTIAN Let’s take leave of him.
[Exeunt ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN]
GONZALO Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of
barren ground, long heath, brown furze, anything. The wills
above be done, but I would fain die a dry death.
Exit
And
b. ‘The tempest is a metaphor for relationships within The Tempest.’
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of The
Tempest.
Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

The Tempest
PROSPERO Shake it off. Come on.

We’ll visit Caliban, my slave, who never
Yields us kind answer.
MIRANDA ’Tis a villain, sir,
I do not love to look on.
PROSPERO But, as ’tis,
We cannot miss him. He does make our fire,
Fetch in our wood and serves in offices
That profit us. — What, ho! Slave! Caliban!
Thou earth, thou! Speak.
CALIBAN [Within] There’s wood enough within.
PROSPERO Come forth, I say! There’s other business for thee.
Come, thou tortoise! When?
Re-enter ARIEL like a water-nymph
Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
Hark in thine ear. [Whispers to Ariel]
ARIEL My lord, it shall be done.
Exit
PROSPERO [To Caliban] Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
Enter CALIBAN
CALIBAN As wicked dew as e’er my mother brush’d
With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen
Drop on you both! A south-west blow on ye
And blister you all o’er!
PROSPERO For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up. Urchins
Shall, forth at vast of night that they may work,
All exercise on thee. Thou shalt be pinch’d
As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made ’em.

CALIBAN I must eat my dinner.
This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me
Water with berries in’t, and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee
And show’d thee all the qualities o’ the isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile.
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king. And here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o’ the island.
And
b. ‘The main aim of The Tempest is to challenge social hierarchies.’
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view.

The Tempest
Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others
GONZALO Beseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause,

So have we all, of joy; for our escape
Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe
Is common; every day some sailor’s wife,
The masters of some merchant and the merchant
Have just our theme of woe; but for the miracle,
I mean our preservation, few in millions
Can speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weigh
Our sorrow with our comfort.
ALONSO Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN He receives comfort like cold porridge.
ANTONIO The visitor will not give him o’er so.
SEBASTIAN Look he’s winding up the watch of his wit;
by and by it will strike.
GONZALO Sir,—
SEBASTIAN One: tell.
GONZALO When every grief is entertain’d that’s offer’d,
Comes to the entertainer—
SEBASTIAN A dollar.
GONZALO Dolour comes to him, indeed: you
have spoken truer than you purposed.
SEBASTIAN You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.
GONZALO Therefore, my lord,—
ANTONIO Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
ALONSO I prithee, spare.
GONZALO Well, I have done: but yet,—
SEBASTIAN He will be talking.
ANTONIO Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first begins to crow?

And
b. ‘The Tempest is a play about control and manipulation.’
Tempest.

The Tempest
language and its dramatic effects.
STEPHANO [Gives bottle to Trinculo] Here, kiss the book. Though thou
canst swim like a duck, thou art made like a goose.
TRINCULO O Stephano, hast any more of this?
STEPHANO The whole butt, man. My cellar is in a rock by the sea-side
where my wine is hid. [To Caliban] How now, moon-calf? How
does thine ague?
CALIBAN Hast thou not dropp’d from heaven?
STEPHANO Out o’ the moon, I do assure thee. I was the man i’ the moon
when time was.
CALIBAN I have seen thee in her and I do adore thee. My mistress
show’d me thee and thy dog and thy bush.
STEPHANO Come, swear to that! [Giving him the bottle] Kiss the book. I
will furnish it anon with new contents, swear.
[CALIBAN drinks]
TRINCULO [Aside] By this good light, this is a very shallow monster. I
afeard of him! A very weak monster. The man i’ the moon! A
most poor credulous monster.—Well drawn, monster, in good
sooth!
CALIBAN I’ll show thee every fertile inch o’ th’ island. And I will kiss
thy foot. I prithee, be my god.
TRINCULO [Aside] By this light, a most perfidious and drunken monster.
When’s god’s asleep he’ll rob his bottle.
CALIBAN I’ll kiss thy foot. I’ll swear myself thy subject.
STEPHANO Come on then. Down, and swear.
TRINCULO [Aside] I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed
monster. A most scurvy monster. I could find in my heart to
beat him—
STEPHANO [To Caliban] Come, kiss.
TRINCULO But that the poor monster’s in drink. An abominable monster!
CALIBAN I’ll show thee the best springs. I’ll pluck thee berries.
I’ll fish for thee and get thee wood enough.
A plague upon the tyrant that I serve!
I’ll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee,
Thou wondrous man.

TRINCULO [Aside] A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder of a
poor drunkard!
CALIBAN I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow.
And I with my long nails will dig thee pignuts,
Show thee a jay’s nest and instruct thee how
To snare the nimble marmoset. I’ll bring thee
To clustering filberts and sometimes I’ll get thee
Young scamels from the rock. Wilt thou go with me?
And
b. ‘Comic characters are no better behaved than nobility.’

The Tempest
Enter CALIBAN with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard

CALIBAN All the infections that the sun sucks up
From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him
By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me
And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch,
Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i’ the mire,
Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid ’em; but
For every trifle are they set upon me;
Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me
And after bite me, then like hedgehogs which
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount
Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I
All wound with adders who with cloven tongues
Do hiss me into madness.
Enter TRINCULO
Lo, now, lo!
Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me
For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat;
Perchance he will not mind me.
TRINCULO Here’s neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any weather at all,
and another storm brewing; I hear it sing i’ the wind: yond
same black cloud, yond huge one, looks like a foul bombard
that would shed his liquor. If it should thunder as it did
before, I know not where to hide my head: yond same cloud
cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. What have we here? a man
or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he smells like a fish; a very
ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of not of the newest Poor-
John. A strange fish! Were I in England now, as once I was,
and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but
would give a piece of silver: there would this monster make a
man; any strange beast there makes a man: when they will
not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lazy out
ten to see a dead Indian. Legged like a man and his fins like
arms! Warm o’ my troth! I do now let loose my opinion; hold
it no longer: this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately
suffered by a thunderbolt.
Thunder

Alas, the storm is come again! my best way is to creep under
his gaberdine; there is no other shelter hereabouts: misery
acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows. I will here shroud
till the dregs of the storm be past.
And
b. ‘Caliban is inherently bad and must be controlled and educated in order to become
good.’

The Tempest
Near Prospero’s cave

Enter FERDINAND, bearing a log
FERDINAND There be some sports are painful, and their labour
Delight in them sets off: some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone and most poor matters
Point to rich ends. This my mean task
Would be as heavy to me as odious, but
The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead
And makes my labours pleasures: O, she is
Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed,
And he’s composed of harshness. I must remove
Some thousands of these logs and pile them up,
Upon a sore injunction: my sweet mistress
Weeps when she sees me work, and says, such baseness
Had never like executor. I forget:
But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours,
Most busy lest, when I do it.
Enter MIRANDA, and PROSPERO [following at a distance]
MIRANDA Alas, now, pray you,
Work not so hard: I would the lightning had
Burnt up those logs that you are enjoin’d to pile!
Pray, set it down and rest you: when this burns,
’Twill weep for having wearied you. My father
Is hard at study; pray now, rest yourself;
He’s safe for these three hours.
FERDINAND O most dear mistress,
The sun will set before I shall discharge
What I must strive to do.
MIRANDA If you’ll sit down,
I’ll bear your logs the while: pray, give me that;
I’ll carry it to the pile.
FERDINAND No, precious creature;
I had rather crack my sinews, break my back,
Than you should such dishonour undergo,
While I sit lazy by.

And
b. ‘Prospero mercilessly exploits Miranda to achieve his revenge.’

The Tempest
Thunder and lightning. Enter ARIEL, like a harpy, claps his wings upon the
table, and, with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes.
ARIEL You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in’t, the never-surfeited sea
Hath caused to belch up you — and on this island
Where man doth not inhabit, you ’mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad,
And even with such-like valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves.
[ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO draw their swords.]
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’s sorrow
And a clear life ensuing.
He vanishes in thunder; then, to soft music enter the Shapes again, and dance,
with mocks and mows, and carrying out the table.

PROSPERO Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Perform’d, my Ariel. A grace it had, devouring.
Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated
In what thou hadst to say. — So with good life
And observation strange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done. My high charms work
And these mine enemies are all knit up
In their distractions. They now are in my power,
And in these fits I leave them, while I visit
Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drown’d,
And his and mine loved darling.
And
b. ‘Prospero is a power-hungry tyrant.’

The Tempest
a. Discuss the following passage from Act 4 Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language
and its dramatic effects.
IRIS A contract of true love to celebrate,

And some donation freely to estate
On the blest lovers.
CERES Tell me, heavenly bow,
If Venus or her son, as thou dost know,
Do now attend the queen? Since they did plot
The means that dusky Dis my daughter got,
Her and her blind boy’s scandal’d company
I have forsworn.
IRIS Of her society
Be not afraid. I met her deity
Cutting the clouds towards Paphos and her son
Dove-drawn with her. Here thought they to have done
Some wanton charm upon this man and maid,
Whose vows are that no bed-right shall be paid
Till Hymen’s torch be lighted - but in vain.
Mars’s hot minion is returned again.
Her waspish-headed son has broke his arrows,
Swears he will shoot no more, but play with sparrows
And be a boy right out.
CERES High’st queen of state,
Great Juno, comes. I know her by her gait.
[JUNO descends]
JUNO How does my bounteous sister? Go with me
To bless this twain, that they may prosperous be,
And honour’d in their issue.
[Singing] Honour, riches, marriage-blessing,
Long continuance, and increasing,
Hourly joys be still upon you.
Juno sings her blessings upon you.
CERES [Singing] Earth’s increase, foison plenty,
Barns and garners never empty,
Vines and clustering bunches growing,
Plants with goodly burthen bowing -
Spring come to you at the farthest
In the very end of harvest.
Scarcity and want shall shun you.
Ceres’ blessing so is on you.
FERDINAND This is a most majestic vision, and
Harmonious charmingly. May I be bold
To think these spirits?

And
b. ‘A play that aims to provide spectacular magic and illusion.’
Tempest.

The Tempest
Near PROSPERO’S cave.

Enter PROSPERO in his magic robes, and ARIEL
PROSPERO Now does my project gather to a head:
My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time
Goes upright with his carriage. How’s the day?
ARIEL On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,
You said our work should cease.
PROSPERO I did say so,
When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit,
How fares the king and’s followers?
ARIEL Confined together
In the same fashion as you gave in charge,
Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir,
In the line-grove which weather-fends your cell;
They cannot budge till your release. The king,
His brother and yours, abide all three distracted
And the remainder mourning over them,
Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly
Him that you term’d, sir, ‘The good old lord Gonzalo’;
His tears run down his beard, like winter’s drops
From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works ‘em
That if you now beheld them, your affections
Would become tender.
PROSPERO Dost thou think so, spirit?
ARIEL Mine would, sir, were I human.
PROSPERO And mine shall.
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
One of their kind, that relish all as sharply,
Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art?
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick,
Yet with my nobler reason ’gaitist my fury
Do I take part: the rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel:
My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore,
And they shall be themselves.

And
b. ‘Ariel is a non-human character who shows more innate humanity than many humans in
The Tempest.’
Tempest.

The Tempest
PROSPERO [To Caliban] Go, sirrah, to my cell.
Take with you your companions. As you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.
CALIBAN Ay, that I will; and I’ll be wise hereafter,
And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass
Was I to take this drunkard for a god,
And worship this dull fool!
PROSPERO Go to, away.
ALONSO [To Stephano and Trinculo] Hence, and bestow your luggage
where you found it.
SEBASTIAN Or stole it, rather.
Exeunt CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO
PROSPERO Sir, I invite your highness and your train
To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest
For this one night, which, part of it, I’ll waste
With such discourse as I not doubt shall make it
Go quick away — the story of my life,
And the particular accidents gone by
Since I came to this isle. And in the morn
I’ll bring you to your ship and so to Naples,
Where I have hope to see the nuptial
Of these our dear-beloved solemnized;
And thence retire me to my Milan, where
Every third thought shall be my grave.
ALONSO I long
To hear the story of your life, which must
Take the ear strangely.
PROSPERO I’ll deliver all,
And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales,
And sail so expeditious, that shall catch
Your royal fleet far off.
[Aside to ARIEL] My Ariel, chick,
That is thy charge. Then to the elements
Be free, and fare thou well. — Please you draw near.
Exeunt all but Prospero
EPILOGUE, spoken by PROSPERO

Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
And what strength I have’s mine own,
Which is most faint. Now, ’tis true
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon’d the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so, that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon’d be,
Let your indulgence set me free.
Exit
And
b. ‘A play that prioritises the themes of forgiveness and redemption.’
Tempest.

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The Tempest exam practice questions

© www.teachitenglish.co.uk 2019 32286 Page 1 of 20

b. ‘The tempest is a metaphor for relationships within The Tempest.’

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

© www.teachitenglish.co.uk 2019 32286 Page 2 of 20

PROSPERO Shake it off. Come on.

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b. ‘The main aim of The Tempest is to challenge social hierarchies.’

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

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Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others

GONZALO Beseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause,

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b. ‘The Tempest is a play about control and manipulation.’

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

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© www.teachitenglish.co.uk 2019 32286 Page 7 of 20

b. ‘Comic characters are no better behaved than nobility.’

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

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Enter CALIBAN with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard

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Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

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Near Prospero’s cave

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b. ‘Prospero mercilessly exploits Miranda to achieve his revenge.’

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

© www.teachitenglish.co.uk 2019 32286 Page 12 of 20

© www.teachitenglish.co.uk 2019 32286 Page 13 of 20

b. ‘Prospero is a power-hungry tyrant.’

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

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IRIS A contract of true love to celebrate,

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b. ‘A play that aims to provide spectacular magic and illusion.’

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

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Near PROSPERO’S cave.

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Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

© www.teachitenglish.co.uk 2019 32286 Page 18 of 20

© www.teachitenglish.co.uk 2019 32286 Page 19 of 20

b. ‘A play that prioritises the themes of forgiveness and redemption.’

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

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