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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: A. Discuss The Following Passage From Act 1 Scene 1, Exploring Shakespeare's Use of
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.
And
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of The
Tempest.
And
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view.
And
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of The
Tempest.
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.
And
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view.
And
b. ‘Caliban is inherently bad and must be controlled and educated in order to become
good.’
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view.
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view.
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.
And
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view.
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of The
Tempest.
b. ‘Ariel is a non-human character who shows more innate humanity than many humans in
The Tempest.’
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of The
Tempest.
And
Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of The
Tempest.