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SYNOPSIS The action of the play starts on a ship carrying the king of Naples, Alonso, and his retinue including Antonio, the usurping duke of Milan, home to Italy after a wedding in Africa. Off the coast of a mysterious island, the ship is hit by a supernatural storm, created by Prospera, the powerful magician who rules the island and the rightful ruler of Milan. The ship is wrecked, casting the survivors ashore, but not together. Ferdinand, the king's son, is washed up alone and, led by Ariel, a flighty spirit who serves Prospera, he meets and falls mutually in love with Miranda, Prospera's daughter. Meanwhile, Alonso mourns Ferdinand, believing him dead, and Alonso's brother Sebastian, now his heir, conspires with Antonio to seize the crown. Elsewhere on the island a third group comes together as another pair of survivors: Stephano, a drunken butler and Trinculo the jester encounter Caliban, the 'monstrous' son of the island's former ruler and now a reluctant and resentful slave to Prospera. He promises the pair that if they will help him kill Prospera he will make Stephano king of the island.These three separate strands are twisted together by Ariel, under Prospera's command, as she and her band of sirens and nymphs beguile, taunt and torment the travellers to distraction, drawing them all together at the last, so matters can be resolved. |