Prospero calls him a 'lying slave’ and says they cannot trust him because he tried to force Miranda to sleep with him. Caliban calls curses at them and complains that although he helped them find food and water when they first arrived on the island, ‘here you sty me / In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me / The rest o’th’island’. She is reluctant, ‘Tis a villain, sir, / I do not love to look on’, but Prospero insists. Prospero wakes Miranda and takes her to see Caliban, ‘my slave’. Ariel objects and Prospero threatens him but he also promises the spirit his freedom ‘after two days’ if he obeys.Īriel leaves. Prospero is pleased but tells Ariel ‘there’s more work’. Ariel describes how he created the storm and that the ship is now ‘Safely in harbour’ and everyone on board is safe. Prospero then uses his magic to put Miranda to sleep and calls to his spirit servant Ariel. Eventually, ‘By providence divine’, they washed up on the shores of the island.

They were given some provisions by ‘A noble Neopolitan, Gonzalo’ and cast adrift. Antonio, with the help of Alonso, King of Naples, had Prospero and Miranda captured at night and put into an old boat. He explains ‘Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and / A prince of power’ until his brother Antonio, ‘thy false uncle’ betrayed him. He then tells her the story of how they ended up on the island. Prospero reassures her, saying ‘There’s no harm done’. She describes the ship as ‘a brave vessel / Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her, / Dashed all to pieces!’ She asks her father, the sorcerer Prospero, to calm the storm if he can. Miranda is upset, having watched the storm engulf the ship just offshore.

Synopsis of the god of small things