A Tempest

Nature is a dominant feature of A Tempest. Descriptions of the natural landscape of the island as well as discussions of relationships between various characters and different elements of nature demonstrate the significance of nature to the meaning of the play overall.

At the start of the play, the Master of Ceremonies allows the actors to self-select their roles, but he insists that he must select one important role: “the part of the Tempest” (7). His insistence that a large man take the role of the wind establishes the importance of the wind to the action of the play. At the end of his monologue, he coaches the wind to blow and the rain and lightning to begin, and the action of the first scene relies on these natural weather patterns.

Caliban and Ariel, Prospero’s slaves, both identify closely with nature. Ariel waxes poetic about trees and birds until Prospero rudely interrupts him; Prospero’s disinterest in nature is juxtaposed against his supernatural powers as well as Caliban’s perception that Prospero is the “Anti-Nature.” When Caliban determines to start a revolution on the island in order to gain his freedom, he recruits creatures on the island and the sea to take his side.